Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July" is next main stage play at Bay Street Theatre"

“Fifth of July,” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson’s funny and moving play about how people’s lives are affected by the time in which they live, will be the next mainstage production at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor.

“Fifth of July” begins previews Tuesday, July 6, with opening night set for Saturday, July 10. The show runs Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m., with matinees on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and Saturdays at 4 p.m., except during preview week.

On Tuesday, July 13, there will be a talkback with the actors following the performance. The show will close on Sunday, August 1. “Fifth of July” is a co-production with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, where it will move following its run at Bay Street.

Bay Street will be offering a limited number of two-fer tickets for preview nights only from July 6 through 9, as well as for matinee performances during the run. On preview days and matinee days, on the day of the performance only, theatergoers may purchase two tickets for the price of one starting at 2 p.m. (or noon for Wednesday matinees) based on availability. Tickets must be purchased in person at the box office on Long Wharf. There will be a limit of two tickets per person.

The New York Times called the 1980 Broadway premiere of the Sag Harbor playwright’s part-comedy, part-drama “the wisest and funniest play of its generation.”

Set in a Southern Missouri farmhouse, “Fifth of July” reunites a group of friends and former activists drawn together to scatter the ashes of a relative and friend who has died. The group reconsiders the past as the disillusionment that defines their lives in the present is revealed.

A Sag Harbor resident since 1970, Mr. Wilson began his career in the early 1960s writing one-act plays. One of his early works, “The Madness of Lady Bright,” was Caffe Cino’s first significant hit and its longest running play.

In 1969, the playwright co-founded the Circle Repertory Company. His production of “The Hot L Baltimore” at the Circle Rep won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Obie Award.

In 1979 he received the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for “Talley’s Folly,” part of the Talley Trilogy, which has “Fifth of July” as its third play. “Fifth of July” was last revived in 2002 as part of the Signature Theater Company’s season-long tribute to Lanford Wilson.

For the Bay Street revival, Broadway director Terry Kinney is putting his own imprint on the classic play. Mr. Kinney is a founding member, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry, of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. His directing credits at Steppenwolf include “The Violet Hour,” “Of Mice and Men” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

He recently directed Piper Perabo in “Reasons To Be Pretty” on Broadway. Mr. Kinney is also an accomplished actor, having appeared in “Save The Last Dance” and “Sleepers,” among other films. He is perhaps best known for his role as Tim McManus in the HBO hit series “Oz.”

Mr. Kinney will oversee a cast that includes David Wilson Barnes as John Landis; Danny Deferrari as Weston Hurley; Kally Duling as Shirley Talley; Elizabeth Franz as Sally Friedman; Shane McRae as Jed Jenkins; Anson Mount as Kenneth Talley Jr.; Jennifer Mudge as Gwen Landis and Kellie Overbey as June Talley.

The production team includes David Gallo as set designer; Sarah Holden as costume designer; David Weiner as lighting designer; original composition and sound design by Obadiah Eaves; and Bay Street regulars Kathy Fabian as props designer and Brian Meister as production stage manager.

Single tickets are $55 and $65 and can be purchased at www.baystreet.org or by calling Bay Street at 725-9500, or in person at the box office in the theater on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.