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World Premiere of The New Sincerity May 26 – June 14 at Bay Street Theater

Written by Long Island News & PR  |  05. May 2015

Sag Harbor, NY - May 1, 2015 - Bay Street Theater is pleased to announce the cast and full creative team of the World Premiere of THE NEW SINCERITY, A New Comedy by Alena Smith, directed by Bob Balaban. The production will run from May 26-June 14.

This new play explores how in today’s world, balancing politics, love and the quest for success (along with one’s social media presence) can get complicated.  When her ambitious literary circle gets involved with a rowdy Occupy-style movement, young journalist Rose Spencer finds herself in a love triangle where it’s hard to tell the difference between sincere action and skillful self-promotion.  Alena Smith offers a smart and savvy portrait of a rising generation in her new comedy.

The cast stars Teddy Bergman (Peter and the Starcatcher, Sex Lives of Our Parents) as Benjamin, Peter Mark Kendall (Girls, The Americans) as Django, Justine Lupe (Cristela, Shameless) as Rose, and Elvy Yost (Pocatello, The Belle of Belfast ) as Natasha.

The production team includes Tony Award winner Beowulf Boritt (Set Designer), Alex Distler (Co-Set Designer), Mike Billings (Lighting Designer), Brandon Wolcott (Sound Designer), Eliot Davoren (Associate Sound Designer), Heather Urgina (Props), and Jennifer Kahn (Production Stage Manager).

A “Pay What You Can” performance will be on May 26 at 7 pm. “PWYC” tickets are limited and will be available at the Box Office beginning at 2 pm on May 26. Previews are sponsored by Peconic Landing.

STUDENT SUNDAY MATINEES returns this summer for the Mainstage Season, High School and College students can receive (1) FREE admission for the 2pm performance of THE NEW SINCERITY. Photo ID must be shown.

Returning this year is TALKBACK TUESDAY with Bay Street’s Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz, and members of THE NEW SINCERITY cast following each Tuesday performance except for preview week.

Alena Smith (Playwright) was one of Variety's 10 TV Writers To Watch in 2014. She lives in Los Angeles, where she writes for Showtime's The Affair, and previously wrote for HBO's The Newsroom. Alena created the Twitter character Tween Hobo (featured in PasteThe BelieverA.V. Club, and elsewhere); Tween Hobo: Off The Rails, a novel, was published by Gallery Books in 2014. Alena’s plays have been produced internationally, including The Bad Guys, which was made into an independent film. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, and studied Philosophy at Haverford College and Oxford. Her essays about writing for theater, TV, and the internet have been published in Grantland and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Bob Balaban (Director) has directed and produced the off-Broadway production of The Exonerated (Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Lortel Award, New York Times Play of The Year). Other theater directing includes the world premiere of Lucy Boyle’s The Blue Deep starring Blythe Danner (WTF), Paul Grellong’s Manuscript (DR2), Sherry Glaser’s Family Secrets (37 Arts), and Arthur Kopit’s Y2K (MTC). He produced and co-starred in the film Gosford Park (Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, New York Critics and BAFTA awards). He received Golden Globe, DGA, PGA and Emmy nominations for directing and producing the HBO film Bernard and Doris as well as DGA and Emmy nominations for directing Georgia O’Keeffe. He directed the movies The Last Good Time and Parents and the TV series “Alpha House,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “Oz.” As an actor, Bob has appeared in nearly a hundred films including Moonrise Kingdom, Capote, Waiting for Guffman, Absence of Malice, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Catch-22, Midnight Cowboy, and, most recently, George Clooney’s The Monuments Men and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. He will soon be seen in the HBO miniseries "Show Me a Hero."

Teddy Bergman (Benjamin) his theater credits include: Peter and the Starcatcher (Original Broadway Cast), Sex Lives of Our Parents (2nd Stage), Philip Goes Forth (The Mint), The Cloud (Slant Theater), Peter and the Starcatcher (NYTW), Seven Minutes in Heaven (HERE), Hell House (St. Ann’s), I.E. (The Flea), I Was Tom Cruise (Fringe NYC, Best Play Award), and regionally at Williamstown, Huntington, La Jolla. TV credits include: Law and Order: SVU, As The World Turns. Film work includes: Fading Gigolo, Listen Up Philip, Hairbrained, Ex-Girlfriends, Julie and Julia, Little Big League, and Honeymoon in Vegas. As Artistic Director of Woodshed Collective, he has directed and/or conceived productions including: The Confidence Man and The Tenant. His work as a director has been seen at Portland Center Stage, Clubbed Thumb, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Columbia University, Space on Ryder Farm, Vineyard Arts Project, and Primary Stages.  Currently under commission from Ars Nova Theater, and developing an immersive theater event for acclaimed producer Randy Weiner (Sleep No More, Queen of the Night, Donkey Show).

Peter Mark Kendall (Django) This will be his Bay Street debut. His TV credits include: recurring roles on Girls, The Americans, & Eye Candy; Law and Order: SVU, The Leftovers. Film credits include: Time Out of Mind, Louder Than Bombs, The Ticket, Seven Lovers. Broadway: The Rose Tattoo (concert reading with Patti Lupone and Bobby Cannavale). Theatre: NYTW, Red Bull, Ensemble Studio, Baltimore Center Stage, Trinity Rep, Chautauqua, Gloucester Stage, Baltimore Shakespeare, Studio Theatre (DC), Rep Stage, Kennedy Center. Peter is also a musician, and has created original music for many regional theaters. Training: Proud graduate of Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program. 

Justine Lupe (Rose) can currently be seen as a series regular on the ABC’s hit show Cristela. A Julliard grad, she recently appeared in Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha opposite Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver. In 2013, she starred in the Philip Seymour Hoffman-directed family drama A Family for all Occasions at the Bank Street Theater. Last year Justine starred in the FOX’s pilot Dead Boss, with David Cross and Jane Krakowski. Additionally, Justine has guest starred in shows such as Shameless, Southland, and Hulu’s Deadbeat

Elvy Yost (Natasha) her credits include New York: Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons), Black Tie (Primary Stages), The Belle of Belfast (Cherry Lane), Balm in Gilead in a warehouse, music for Ivanov and The Seagull at Lake Lucille. Regional: Romeo and Juliet at Actors Theatre of Louisville and with SF Shakes at Festival del Sole, Curse of the Starving Class (Long Wharf), Richard III and The Merchant of Venice (California Shakespeare Theater), Arcadia (Pear Avenue Theatre). Film: OldboyBandslam, Brightest Star, HowardCantour.com (short). TV: Mildred PierceSouthland, The Office.

The 2015 Mainstage Season is sponsored in part by New York State through the generosity of Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle; the New York State Council on The Arts, a State Agency; Town of Southampton; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Shubert Foundation; and fully or partially funded by the Suffolk County Executive’s Office. Preview weeks for all three productions are sponsored by Peconic Landing. Support for new work comes from The Scott Schwartz New Development Fund and the Joseph Stein New Musical Fund.

To purchase a 2015 Mainstage Season subscription, log on to www.baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725-9500 Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm. For more information about Bay Street Theater, click here.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. We serve as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.

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