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Playwrights' Theatre

of East Hampton

founded by Mitzi and Perry Pazer

A series for theater lovers and artists that focuses on the written and spoken word and where the audience can mingle with playwrights, actors, and directors in a casual setting.

Upcoming Performances

Past Performances

Scenes of Mirth & Marriage

Sat 11/30/24 @ 7:00 pm

Starring Mercedes Ruehl and Harris Yulin and Directed by Sag Harbor's own James Larocca, SCENES OF MIRTH AND MARRIAGE reunites these illustrious friends in a program of theatrical readings ranging from the silly to the sublime ...

Five Times in One Night

Wed 12/04/23 – Sat 12/07/24 @ 7:30 PM

In this comedic quintet, five couples explore the delights and disappointments of their sex lives. Whether they are the first two people on Earth or the last two, modern partners, with exes on the eve of a life-altering event ...

Scrooge...the Relapse

Sat 12/14/24 @ 7:30 pm

But did it stick? In an homage to Charles Dickens and his classic holiday ghost story, co-creators John McCaffrey and Jack Gwaltney conjure up a comic drama imagining Scrooge backsliding into miserdom. Jacob Marley, in a panic …

Shirley Chisholm - Unbossed and Unbowed

Fri 03/14/25 @10:00 AM & 7:30 PM

Unbossed & Unbowed is an immersive and interactive solo show about the 1st African-American woman to run for ...

Past Performances

All the World's a Stage: Theater Workshop for East End Students

FRI 11/08/24 @ 9:00AM

The Neo-Political Cowgirls (NPC) bring a Shakespearean smorgasbord to local school youth supported by ...

All Mankind Has Lost Its Reason

Sat 11/02/24 @ 7:30PM

All Mankind Has Lost Its Reason is a drama written by Mark Singer which tells the story of Weimar Germany from the end of World War I through the rise of Hitler, following the lives of three friends as they experience the key political ...

Zeph and Violet: A Race Romance

Sun 10/27/24 @ 7:30PM

During a blizzard, Zephaniah Rabinowitz has broken into Violet Robinson’s bedroom where he one time found shelter (and love) as a teenager during the Crown Heights Riots. Over fifteen years later, Zeph ...

The Lisping of A Muse

Sun 06/09/24 @ 4pm

Presented in honor of John Howard Payne’s 233rd birthday by an ensemble of local actors under the direction of Town Crier and Historian Hugh King ...

The Pillowman

Select dates and times April 25 – May 5, 2024

The Pillowman is set in a fictional totalitarian state and tells the story of a writer of gruesome tales who becomes a suspect in a series of bizarre murders.

(O)n the 5:31

Thurs 04/04/24, Fri 04/05/24, Sat 04/06/26 @ 7:30PM

(O)n the 5:31 travels back and forth across the ten-year span of two intertwined relationships. As he struggles to complete his wife's dying wishes, a grieving Benny tries to piece the fragments of their life together...

The Dreamer

Wed 10/25/23, Thurs 10/26/23, Fri 10/27/23 @ 7PM

This reimagining of Shakespeare’s beloved play centers on a girl on the immediate cusp of womanhood. Through the lens of this modern girl’s psyche, we explore power, identity, love...

A Milonga for Gabriel Isaacs

Sat 10/21/23 @ 7:30PM

Gabriel is newly divorced and still in pain from the breakup. He wants to find new love, but is fearful of getting hurt again. Could tango be the answer?

Before Vinson

Sat 09/16/23 @ 7:30PM

It's early spring in 1949, and Bernard learns his case will depend not upon his legal acumen, but on backyard tennis games, men's fashion, breakfast pastries - and a certain traveling salesman.

Stupid F*cking Bird

Thurs 08/03/23 & Fri 08/04/23 @ 8PM

In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Aaron Posner stages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all.

The Playwrights' Theatre was founded in East Hampton in 1992 by producer and Springs resident Mitzi Pazer from The Roundabout Theatre Company along with her husband, attorney  Perry Pazer. They started the series at LTV where it operated every summer for 10 years before shifting to the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall for another ten seasons. Incredible stars took part: Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, Judd Hirsch, Estelle Parsons, Dianne Wiest, Peter Boyle, Jack Klugman, Mercedes Ruehl, Tovah Feldshuh and Charles Durning among countless others. Playwrights' Theatre gave a chance for East Hampton audiences to meet and mingle with these luminaries in a relaxed setting where process and dialogue were encouraged with great talkbacks and informal garden receptions. The emphasis was on the written and spoken word, with playwrights being selected by Mitzi and afforded a remarkable, focused and hospitable workshop in which to hear and shape their developing plays. When Michael Clark invited the producer Josh Gladstone to join the team at LTV in early 2023, Gladstone reached out to the Pazers with an invitation, and sure enough the Pazers responded, excited to see their legacy of 30 years reignited and reimagined for a new generation of East Hampton theater lovers and artists. LTV is proud to welcome The Playwrights' Theatre back home to Studio 3 in Wainscott, where the work of the Pazers will continue, offering creative opportunities to theater-makers to develop their voices and imaginations throughout the year.

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