Meet Lynn Mestel, Co-Chair of the Bay Street Theater

Lynn Mestel, who is co-chair of the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, remembers when she discovered the theater.

“I was one of the original attendees in 1991,” Mestel remembers. “My husband kept his sailboat at Nancy’s Dock. Nancy, who managed the dock, is still well-known there today. We’d take the Jitney out and walk past Bay Street to get to our boat. When we finally went to a performance, I couldn’t believe the quality of this regional theater, the quality of the productions, and the professionalism of the actors. I fell in love with Bay Street.”

This is high praise from a woman who grew up attending Julliard and enjoying Broadway productions.

“My dad encouraged me to study law, but I knew I was never going to practice law,” says Mestel, who worked for major advertising firms and eventually as account manager on Tide for Procter & Gamble. However, by 32 years old she found herself divorced with 2 children. So, she decided to start her own business.

After auditing a class in small business at Columbia she opened a permanent legal search firm and then, after about 7 years, she started a temporary legal staffing company, growing both into the second-largest in the United States, with offices across the country. She credits the growth of her company in large measure to strong marketing and branding, an expertise she learned from working with Procter & Gamble.

“These were halcyon days for the legal profession,” Mestel says of the way firms grew every year for 20 years. “It started about the time of the creation of the European Union and common currency. Law firms were expanding exponentially, both in the US and internationally. They all needed to add staff, permanently.  Then the digital age began with email and I got into temporary legal staffing to serve the litigation market. It used to be if there was a lawsuit, I’d give you a box of papers and you’d give me a box of papers. Now, virtually all communication is done electronically and nothing ever really disappears and it’s all discoverable.”

The world of digital information was the one she conquered, a world where teams of lawyers are needed for just a limited period of time. She provided those legal professionals and also learned, through her time in advertising and beyond, how to effectively market her services.

Fast forward to a year ago. A fellow resident of Quogue and playwright friend (and former lawyer who knew Steve Todrys), told her that Todrys, then the chairman of the board of Bay Street, was looking for people to join the board. Steve and Lynn met and then she interviewed with Tracy Mitchell, Bay Street Executive Director. Lynn was soon invited onto the board. Eight months later, she became co-chair with Todrys until he steps down at the end of 2025, at which point Lynn will become chairwoman.

Todrys, who has been the chairman of the board for the past 10 years, liked that Mestel had new ideas and the energy to see them through. After having to close for two years because of the Covid pandemic, Bay Street was bouncing back, but he also knew that many people had changed the way they viewed live theater.

“We were struggling to get people back in the theater after they’d gotten used to sitting on the couch and watching Netflix,” Todrys remembers. “We had to change our way of thinking about and reaching our target audience. There is something about a live performance and the way the actors interact with the audience. Every performance is unique because of how the audience perceives it.”

He knew that if they could reach their audience, they’d return and he also believed that Mestel had a handle on how to get them back into the theater.

“Currently, we skew to an older, reliable age group,” Todrys says. “What we need are different participants at different age levels.”

They have put more focus on introducing live theater to school-age audiences through programs such as “Literature Live,” classes, musicals and talkback programs.

“I never wanted to be chairman forever,” Todrys says of stepping down. “We need new ideas, new energy, new thoughts. Lynn loves, loves, loves the theater. I am sure there is a bright future for Bay Street. We’ll be in good hands.”

Since January 2025, Mestel, along with Tracy Mitchell, has already repositioned Bay Street, created a new brand look and feel, standardized all marketing communications, launched a website designed for all mobile phones and created a playbill for the summer season.  The theater is also in the process of putting all digital communication onto the most sophisticated available software to maximize awareness of all that Bay Street offers year round, utilizing all forms of social media. She knows the new, younger, more geographically diverse audiences they want to attract rely on their mobile devices and expect the information to be crystal clear and quick and easy to read, with ticket purchasing at their fingertips.

“We’re like an ideal Harvard Business School case study,” Mestel says. “We have a superior product with outdated advertising and marketing. Now, we have a fresh look, crisper messaging and a new website. Everything you need is right there when you bring up the website. You can reach us on any device. Our marketing is imaginative and sophisticated and, most importantly, communicates the essence of our brand.”

Mestel is adamant about the importance of a clear, consistent narrative about Bay Street: “It’s a truly different, very intimate theater experience— really nothing like it anywhere— where every audience member connects up close to our performers and feels the heat of each performance. And it’s a welcoming place, where you can have great fun and leave entertained and inspired.”

Bay Street was founded by theatrical royalty — Sybil Burton (former wife of Richard Burton, actress, director and mother of actress Kate Burton), Emma Walton Hamilton (author, editor, producer and daughter of Julie Andrews) along with her husband Steve Hamilton (director, producer, actor). During its 34-year history Bay Street has featured hundreds of productions with starring performances from such acclaimed actors as Sarah Paulson, Alan Alda, Diane Weiste, Richard Dreyfus, Mercedes Ruhl, John Slattery and two of their current board members, Richard Kind and Joy Behar. Playwrights include luminaries like Lanford Wilson, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Chris Durang, Jules Feiffer and, this season, Pulitzer and Tony winner Robert Schenkkan.

Mestel says her job is to ensure that Bay Street stays vibrant and viable for future generations. “Eastern Long Island historically has attracted so many of the world’s greatest artists and performers and Bay Street was founded by, and has showcased and continues to showcase, so many gifted actors and playwrights. All of its productions have been passionately dedicated to the finest works, old and new, and our Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz, is exemplary of this rich heritage.

“We’re a living legacy and the only real live professional theater in the Hamptons,” Mestel concludes. “We’re not in competition with Guild Hall or the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. We complement each other. What people don’t understand is, if Bay Street goes away, it will be hard, almost impossible to bring a venue like ours back. And that would sadly diminish the wonderful cultural experiences we all enjoy here on the East End.”

Their first production of the summer season is Bob & Jean A Love Story, which runs through June 15; followed by “Deceived,” June 26-July 20; and “Bonnie & Clyde the Musical,” July 29-Aug. 24.

For more information, visit baystreet.org.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.