A Full-Immersion Weekend of New Plays at Bay Street Theater

Theater only works if it is seen. It needs an audience, but an audience suggests passivity, as in filmgoing. You can watch a film any time, even one with a dead actor, and it makes no difference. You can always see Lawrence Olivier in the movie version of “Othello.” But you could never witness his monolithic performance at the Royal Court Theatre unless you had been there. Theater only exists if you see it happen. Like a murder. It only happens if you witness it.

So, Scott Schwartz, the artistic director of Bay Street Theater, cleverly invited theater lovers to witness new plays, still in development, all for free during the theater’s fourth annual three-day, four-show New Works Festival last weekend. Bay Street flung open the doors and let people in all weekend regardless of age or income level or cultural pedigree and made them feel connected to the process. Clever, indeed, because a theater that values the importance of shepherding new work is one that is looking to the future.

It was a weekend of no-frills theater, par excellence. No staging, minimal direction, and actors who barely had a day with the material. It was, as Mr. Schwartz explained at the beginning of the festival, “a chance for your mind to imagine the possibilities of the work.”

The four performances — they were readings, yes, but artfully performed by some accomplished actors — were each very different. The festival kicked off with “Molly Sweeney: A New Musical,” proving that our love for a Friday night out in the company of a heartwarming story set to music shows no sign of abating. 

“Molly Sweeney,” written by the late Brian Friel, one of Ireland’s greatest playwrights, originated as a serious drama in 1994. Before his death in 2015, Mr. Friel gave his blessings to the playwright, Eric Ulloa, and the composer and lyricist, Caleb Damschroder, for this musical interpretation of a story involving a blind but content woman, ambivalent about undergoing an operation to restore her sight.

 It was the most “in progress” of the four readings, with Broadway talents such as Mamie Parris, a cast member of “Cats,” Danny Bolero from “In the Heights,” and the rest of the ensemble all very capable of carrying a tune. 

Each show was followed by a talk with the production team. Varied and lively opinionated criticism is not necessarily good for individual productions or artists, but it is good for audience members who harbor fantasies of being a producer or director. The creative teams seemed more than happy to receive input from the weekend’s patrons, who seemed more than happy to offer it. One supposes that without intellectual, aesthetic, or passionate arguments about theater development, the box office is left to be the only arbiter of judgment.

The second reading was staged at 3 p.m. on Saturday, which happened to be a glorious, 80-degree day. Those who sunbathed during “The Impossibility of Now” by Y York really missed out. The dark comedy is set within the love triangle of a talented but unknown poet, her brilliant but brooding writer husband suffering memory loss following a freak accident, and a younger, callow but nonetheless irresistible dentist. It was definitely not “ha ha” funny, more poignant and intelligent than comedic, and exquisitely read by Jenny Bacon and Daniel Abeles, each with extensive TV and stage credits, and Karl Kenzler as the memory-impaired husband, who was another actor missing on Broadway this weekend, this time from “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Ms. York, who is based in Seattle, delivered piercing one-liners in response to audience questions, which provided some theater in itself.

“Did you mean for all the jokes to be funny?” asked one well-meaning woman.

“I meant for all the jokes to be funny,” Ms. York answered without cracking a smile.  

Roger Rosenblatt’s “Thomas Murphy,” a stage adaptation of last year’s novel, was presented in the coveted Saturday evening timeslot. The play is the story of an Irishman, an aging poet, an honest, whiskey-soaked family man, profound and stubborn, and losing his memory.

Mr. Rosenblatt is a longtime essayist for Time magazine, an author of several works of fiction and memoir, and now the distinguished professor of English and writing at Stony Brook University. No wonder the performance sold out days in advance. 

There was no shortage of drama on Sunday afternoon in the festival’s closing act, “The Cocktail Party Effect” by Scooter Pietsch, who was the weekend’s toe-in-the-water newbie as far as playwriting goes but has an impressive resume as an Emmy-nominated music composer and TV producer. In the last two years, Mr. Pietsch decided to try his hand at writing plays and has enjoyed early success, including a reading produced by Jason Alexander.

“The Cocktail Party Effect” takes place in Los Angeles one New Year’s Eve as three married couples celebrate 10 years of friendship, forged when their children were together in third grade. Now, the fledglings have flown off to colleges, leaving the empty-nesters to grapple with the realization that their lifes’ greatest accomplishment is done. Naturally, we draw from real life to create stories, but theater is where, some 2,500 years ago, we cast the roles of parents and children; relationships with God, lovers, mistresses, siblings. It’s why human drama works so well onstage — because that’s where the business of being human originated.

For Bay Street patrons such as Scott Cameron and his wife, Elaine Dia, who attended all four shows this weekend as well as previous New Works Festivals, the chance to witness emerging works in progress is reassuring for the future of theater. “It’s great to see younger people getting involved in theater,” said Mr. Cameron, “and coming here all weekend to show their full support of the arts.”

During the final talk-back session, a woman in the audience prefaced her question to Mr. Pietsch with, “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with your work.”

“Trust me,” interrupted Mr. Pietsch, “no one is.”

That was theater. You really ought to have been there.