'Fahrenheit 451' Burns with Timely Prescience at Bay Street Theater

Bay Street Theater’s Literature Live series returns this Thursday, November 13 with a production of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Despite being written just as the Cold War began in 1953, the science fiction novel about a world where books have been made illegal remains relevant today as ideas and learning are under attack, and censorship and book banning is actually once again on the rise. According to PEN America, incidents of banned books in America jumped up 38% from 2021 to 2022, and then 65% from 2022 to 2023.

But — as the play’s director, Bay Street Theater’s cofounder and former executive director Stephen Hamilton, tells it — there is still hope.

Described succinctly, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of a future where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn them, but one of those firemen begins to question everything he’s been taught. As Guy Montag’s world ignites, audiences follow him into a visually charged landscape of rebellion, awakening, and imagination — where the power of story becomes a force that can’t be silenced.

“The whole notion of censorship and book burning is something that is a really important topic at any time, but especially now, when literature and the arts, and independent thinking is challenged,” Hamilton says, explaining why he threw his hat in the ring to stage this interpretation of the classic novel. “This is a particularly prescient time for this play to be produced. So I was very much attracted to that. I was also attracted to the challenge, because 451 creates a dystopian future,” he continues, noting that a world like this isn’t easy to achieve onstage for young audiences on a limited budget.

Hamilton says he was lucky to work with such talented artists on the production, especially his designers, who he says came up with solutions to theatrical problems, and challenges about creating and world building.

“That really attracted me too, because one of the great things about theater is that the limitations, not just financial limitations — I’m talking about the limitations of things that you can do in a space in real time — are often gifts to the artist, because in the solutions to those problems, you’re oftentimes invoking the imagination and the commitment and the participation of your audience,” Hamilton says. “If you can get that, then you have a real community experience. … That’s what theater can do when it’s good, and that’s what I hope we have done, and are in the process of doing, at Bay Street.”

The director lauds scenic designer Mike Billings for the play’s impeccable set made from practical builds, TV screens and layered projections. “I worked with him last year on Street Car (Named Desire), too. I just love working with this guy. He’s so talented and very capable. He’s very savvy, so we had a terrific time right from the get go,” Hamilton says. “From the first week when I was given the gig, we started, I said, ‘You know, wouldn’t it be great if this fire company had a logo? And 10 minutes later, he sent me something. … It was the first thing in design, and from that moment on, it was just so much fun creating this world.”

Of course, in addition to Billings’ arresting sets and sound design by David M. Brandenberg, Hamilton points to his cast for making magic onstage.

“Every one of them, to a man or woman, is very committed to the craft. … It’s amazing to watch them work, and their discipline,” he says, noting that the actors only had two weeks to pull together a 90-minute show. “But also, the material is something that each one of them believes in so strongly, so they feel the importance of doing this,” Hamilton continues. “It’s such a meta theatrical thing, because what they’re doing, what they’re actually doing in the play is memorizing a piece of literature and passing it on in a community sort of expression,” he adds, explaining that this is where the hope lies in the story, because, “In the end is this group of book people who are not allowed to keep books, obviously, but what they do is they memorize the books. They memorize them — novels, whole novels, whole volumes of poetry — to keep them alive until the day comes when they can be printed again. That’s what theater, that’s what actors do.”

Bay Street Theater’s Literature Live program is shown free to students who come in large groups from schools across eastern Suffolk County. “They love it. And some of these kids, you know, a third of these kids have never seen a play before. It’s such an incredibly important program, not just the message of this play, but the fact that they’re going to see live theater,” Hamilton says, pointing out that some 50,000 kids have come to see plays via Literature Live at Bay Street.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 runs November 13-30 at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor (1 Bay Street). For tickets and additional information, visit baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725-9500.