Travels With Charley, a Steinbeck Festival at Bay Street Theater

Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre will host its second annual Steinbeck Festival on May 1-4 to celebrate the Nobel Prize-winning writer--and onetime Sag Harbor resident--John Steinbeck. The festival will be in conjunction with an annual celebration held by the National Steinbeck Center, based in Salinas, California.

The  author of such novels as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men,"  Steinbeck bought a house in Sag Harbor in the mid-1950s and continued to live there into the 1960s. In 1960, he set off from his home in the village with his French poodle, Charley, to drive cross country. He chronicled their journey in the book “Travels with Charley,” which became a best-seller.

Events to honor Steinbeck’s contributions to the Sag Harbor community at this year's festival include three days of films either based on Steinbeck's novels or for which he wrote the screenplay; a waterfront cocktail party where guests will enjoy short boat excursions to view Steinbeck’s former home from the water; and the second annual “Travels with Charley” Dog Walk on Sunday, May 4 at 11 a.m., in partnership with the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation.

Jill Rappaport, a correspondent for NBC News and the TODAY show, will serve as celebrity host at both the cocktail party and the Dog Walk. Proceeds will benefit Bay Street Theatre, and 10% of the Dog Walk proceeds will go to the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation.

Registration/pledge forms are available at the theater's website  or at the Box Office.  Participants are encouraged to pick up the form in advance in order to raise funds from family and friends.

The films being shown as part of the festival are:

Thursday, May 1, 8 p.m. – Tortilla Flat, with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr

Friday, May 2, 8 p.m. – Cannery Row, with Nick Nolte and Debra Winger

Saturday, May 3, 10 a.m. –The Red Pony, with Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum

Saturday, May 3, 11:45 a.m. – The Moon is Down, with Cedrick Hardwicke and Henry Travers

Saturday, May 3, 2 p.m. – Lifeboat, with Tallulah Bankhead and William Bendix

Saturday, May 3, 3:45 p.m. – Of Mice and Men (1992,  with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise

Saturday, May 3, 5:50 p.m. –East of Eden, with James Dean and Julie Harris

Saturday, May 3, 8 p.m. – The Grapes of Wrath, with Henry Fonda and John Carradine

The cost of an all-inclusive Festival VIP pass for the weekend is $150. Participation in the Dog Walk is $35. A film-only pass is available for $30, and individual films are $10 each.