Cow Bay Theater Company Launches in January in Port Washington

This January marks the debut of the Cow Bay Theater Company in Port Washington. The theater company will present its initial production, A.R. Gurney’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Love Letters,”  on Jan. 24-25 at the Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Main Street.

“There are also two other important firsts attached to this production,” said Alyssa Negri, Cow Bay Theatre Company’s president, in a press release. “It will be our first production at the Rimsky Theatre and, most important of all, this presentation is being underwritten by a grant from The Peter and Jeri Dejana Family Foundation.”

“As a not-for-profit community theater group, we want to share our good fortune with our community," she added. "Thanks to the Dejana Foundation and support from Angela Susan Anton, we are able to lower the admission price for this presentation of “Love Letters” $10.00 for everyone."

Negri says there will be only 150 tickets available for each of the two performances. That's because “Love Letters,” a two-character play, requires an intimate setting, according to the theater company.

The show is "evocative, touching, and frequently funny story about two people who have grown up together, went their separate ways, but continued to share confidences in the letters they have exchanged over a lifetime," the press release states. In aiming to achieve that level of intimacy, the theater compay is using only the Rimsky Theater’s preferred seating section, bringing the audience closer to the performers. Negri added that there will be no seating available for anyone in the rear and balcony of the theater.

Elizabeth Kott will direct this production. Her training includes the National Theatre Institute of  the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. A member of the Performing Arts Program faculty at Valley Stream Central High School, her primary focus is on the theatre arts, acting and directing.

Producer Howard Blankman is also the founder and immediate past president of the group.

“We hope to make our first production something special, especially our opening-night," he said, in a statement. "If everything falls in place, it should be fun and entertaining. We’re working on an encore performance in a venue that will provide an additional opportunity for enjoyment. We expect to announce the details as the next two weeks unfold.”

Blankman said admission tickets will go on sale before Christmas.

For further information, send an email to greasepaint@optimum.net.

Learn about auditions for "Love Letters."