Arts & Entertainment
Petitioners Want Bay Street to Move to Southampton
With Bay Street Theatre looking for a new home, a new petition urges the board to consider the Parrish building.
A new online petition urges the Bay Street Theatre Board of Trustees to resolve the theater's need for an affordable home while also fixing Southampton Village's pending vacancy problem.
In 2012 Southampton Village bids farewell to the , as the Parrish moves out of a village-owned building for . The village is looking for a new tenant that will bring foot traffic to the business district, as the Parrish does now. Simultaneously, Sag Harbor's is searching for a new venue, because the lease on its home of 20 years at the is up in May 2013, and renewing has been deemed too costly.
For years, the prospect of Bay Street replacing the Parrish on Southampton Village's Jobs Lane has been tossed around, and now , the Southampton Village resident who started the petition, wants to see it go from an idea to reality.
Find out what's happening in Southamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Blaugh, who , said he wants the Bay Street board to know that it is not just the Southampton Village government that wants the theater, but residents as well. He is calling the movement "Great Theater on The East End."
The petition is addressed to Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley, Bay Street Theatre Chairman Frank Filipo, co-founder and Artistic Director Sybil Christopher, Artistic Director Murphy Davis and Executive Director Tracy Mitchell.
Find out what's happening in Southamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Blaugh's goal is to collect 1,000 signatures before turning over the petition. He recognizes that some Sag Harbor residents, who don't want to see the theater go, will not be on board with the idea.
reported that Bay Street and Sag Harbor School District officials will meet Tuesday to discuss the possibility ot Bay Street sharing theater space with .
"Like the residents of Sag Harbor Village, we hope that Bay Street finds a solution to the financial challenges that lie just ahead," Blaugh wrote in an email promoting the petition. "And again, like Sag Harbor residents, we’d hate to see them leave Sag Harbor if that is their dream and destiny. But we also want to let their Board of Directors know that we’re here with open arms and that we welcome them to our beautiful village and facility on Jobs Lane if they believe it is as well suited to their future as we do."
Visit change.org to view the petition. And leave a comment below to let us know if you'll sign, and why or why not.