Accabonac Theater Project Debuts with Trio of Original Plays

The East End theater scene has a new player debuting with a trio of exciting, interconnected and hyper-local plays about Springs in East Hampton next weekend.

Newly formed and fully committed to creating original, contemporary productions, Accabonac Theater Project is kicking things off Friday, January 30 with This Land Is Your Land, written by veteran film and television producer, and Springs resident Jonathan Shoemaker. The show comprises three short plays that take place in the heart of Springs — General Store set at the Springs General Store; Bake Sale at Springs School; and Mystery Art at Ashawagh Hall. Each is directed by a separate talent from the area.

Shoemaker, whose producer credits include Super Troopers (2001), Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Daredevil (2018), Woman in the Window (2021) and many more, explains that he was ready for something new when he was inspired to try theater. In fact, the whole thing began taking shape after he had a conversation with Nick Weber, a local artist who is now directing Mystery Art and acting in General Store, directed by Tracy Toomey McQuade. Shoemaker is directing Bake Sale.

“Nick has been instrumental in this from the very beginning,” Shoemaker says, pointing out that Weber and his father, filmmaker Eric Weber, had approached him two summers ago to help produce their Hamptons-set film Blueberry Café because they had worked together on Eric Weber’s film Suits back in 1999. “We were chatting about it, but I had basically already made up my mind to leave the film business. I was starting to write plays, and I was moving out of it. I said, ‘Guys, you know, I’m really honored that you would consider me, but I think I’m not this guy anymore.’”

While the film collaboration wouldn’t happen, Shoemaker told the younger Weber that he had begun writing plays, Weber cheered him on, and their dialogue eventually led to the creation of This Land Is Your Land and the Accabonac Theater Project. “I would show him what I was writing, and he was so encouraging,” Shoemaker says, adding, “The first thing he ever said was, ‘I really like the tone of this,’ which is a great thing to say.”

Shoemaker continued sharing his writing, and Weber read and offered feedback. Soon, the writer says he wanted to develop a theater company. “I started writing about my experiences with the community, and then I wanted to start this theater company,” he says, pointing out that it was about much more than creating a vehicle for his own work. Before long, they gathered collaborators, such as Tracy Toomey McQuaid, who impressed everyone from the very first reading they did at Shoemaker’s kitchen table.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Weber recalls, explaining that Shoemaker envisioned something different than Bay Street or Guild Hall. Instead of putting on established plays or bringing in talent from New York City and seeking out celebrities, he wanted to focus on being original, independent and local. Or, as Weber puts it, “Do a little bushwhacking, write our own stuff, and find talent out here, because it’s about this incredible, creative community we have out here, especially year-round, where it’s not just wealthy people.”

As the material evolved, Shoemaker enlisted more actors and they branched out beyond his kitchen, holding successful readings at Tucker Marder’s Folly Tree Arboretum in East Hampton, as well as local barns and other unique locations. Itinerant by design, the Accabonac Theater Project will produce future shows for a variety of venues, including outdoor spaces when the weather is warm enough.

The upcoming full production of This Land Is Your Land is the culmination of years of work, and it is the beginning of something special, created for the community by the community. Shoemaker hopes it is the first of many shows highlighting voices “dedicated to challenging, relevant, dramatic, and entertaining storytelling” rooted in the local region.

 “The geography of the plays is the geography of the heart of Springs,” Shoemaker says of the new show. “Basically, the plays are about legacy is the easiest way to think of it — a community that’s in conversation with itself about what is it making of itself that is going to endure?” he continues, describing the plays as a fictionalized account of the iconic Springs General Store changing hands, a PTA bake sale gone wrong, and the creation of an art show that puts the work of established artists alongside pieces by children, with none of them labeled. “There are no conversations in the plays about legacy, but that’s what it is.”

Audiences will be limited to 100 people per show, which run at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Hoie Hall in East Hampton (18 James Lane) Friday and Saturday, January 30–31 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, February 1 at 5 p.m. Tickets are available for standing/floor/barstool ($17.85) or seated ($33.85) at accabonactheater.org.