Guild Hall’s Shiny New Summer Season
This year, Guild Hall has a packed summer of events with offerings in a variety of formats and genres, including theatrical performance, stand-up comedy, film screenings, live music, and talks on fashion, art, and even food.
In addition to “Red,” a play by John Logan on Mark Rothko, now in production through June 8, the John Drew Theater will have “Clever Little Lies,” beginning July 16 and running through Aug. 2. The comedy stars Marlo Thomas.
A number of staged readings will also take place during the summer. The popular “Celebrity Autobiography” evening, during which notables from the East End read fascinating and ridiculous excerpts from the memoirs of their peers, will return as well.
Some of the season’s other highlights include evenings devoted to comedy from the likes of Sandra Bernhard, Jon Lovitz, John Leguizamo, Larry Miller, and Rob Schneider. In a related event, David Sedaris will come to the John Drew Theater in August with a one-night, one-man show of highlights from his humorous personal essays mixed with social critique.
In a similar vein, Martin Short will bring a one-man variety show to Guild Hall on the Fourth of July weekend with skits, songs, and humor. Fran Lebowitz will discuss her latest insights on the issues of the day in August.
There are a number of musical performances as well, from popular to jazz and classical. The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Doo-Wop Project, Christine Ebersole, Meredith Monk, Ben Folds, Corky Laing, and Linda Eder are some of the scheduled performers.
The art shows on view this season will feature work by Robert Motherwell, Arlene Slavin, Nina Yankowitz, and Billy Rayner, and a selection of artwork from the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies program. Each show will have related gallery talks and panel discussions.
Daniel Boulud, Martha Stewart, and Anthony Bourdain are some of those who will be interviewed onstage about their lives and work. There will also be a series of talks with people from the world of fashion hosted by Christina Cuomo.
Film screenings will include the Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDocs series (a related article appears in the arts section this week) and a screening of “Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note‚” presented with the Choral Society of the Hamptons and featuring a panel discussion with Adam Green and Susan Lacey, the filmmaker, along with Alexander Bernstein, Nina Bernstein, and Cornelia Foss. A film about Diana Vreeland, “The Eye Has to Travel,” will be screened and discussed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, the filmmaker, with Barbara Slifka and China Machado.
There will also be family films at the Mulford Farm presented in cooperation with the East Hampton Historical Society, “Ghostbusters” and “Goonies” among them.
Dance-related presentations include Ballet Hispanico, New York City Ballet On and Offstage, and a discussion with Edward Villella.
Guild Hall’s annual summer party will celebrate the opening of the Motherwell show on Aug. 8 with an exhibition preview followed by cocktails and dinner at a private house. The annual Garden as Art tour of private landscapes will take place on Aug. 22.
Tickets and more information are available at guildhall.org.