You’ve never seen a 90th birthday party like this before.

When Guild Hall, the East Hampton arts center, opens this summer, it’s going to celebrate its milestone birthday with a season packed with heavy hitting programming including theater, visual art, film, dance, and more.

On May 23, the season at Guild Hall will open with a virtual poetry performance piece called “Reawakenings,” which will be directed by Paul Hecht and will feature an all-star cast—including Salman Rushdie, Cherry Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mercedes Ruehl, and more—each performing a poem that’s paired with a piece from the institution’s permanent collection of visual art.

guild hall 2021 summer season
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A performance by the American Ballet Theater at Guild Hall, the East Hampton arts venue, in 2008.

In June, Guild Hall’s summer visual art exhibitions will kick off. The first, “Shipwrecks,” a collection of more than 40 new paintings and works on paper by Alexis Rockman, opens June 12 and runs through July 26; the second, Robert Longo’s “A House Divided,” a two-part exhibition focused on America’s past and present, runs from August 7 through October 17. (On October 30, a show of selections from Guild Hall’s permanent collection—featuring pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Krasner, Andy Warhol, and Cindy Sherman, among others—will open.)

Live theater will also be in the mix. Guild Hall is planning a two-night celebration of the works of Wendy Wasserstein on June 4 and 5, a staged reading of Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June on June 11, a July 8-11 presentation of Edward Albee’s Zoo Story starring Michael Urie and Ryan Spahn, a July 23 tribute to Tom Wolfe featuring performers clad in the late writer's famous white suit, yet-to-be-announced shows directed by Susan Stroman, and a Labor Day Weekend premiere of a new play by Joy Behar.

guild hall summer season 2021
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Guild Hall founder Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse at the first annual Clothesline Art Sale in 1946.

Other highlights of the season will include the Hamptons Dance project, featuring Jose Sebastian and dancers from American Ballet Theater, opening in August; the 75th annual Clothesline Art Sale, featuring original works by East End artists, on July 24; the outdoor film screenings series, including Life of Pi on June 12, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on July 10, and Johnny Mnemonic on August 14; and the Academy of the Arts Dinner, held November 8 in Manhattan, will include a special 90th anniversary-inspired revue honoring past and current members.

“Guild Hall has always been a sandbox for artists and happens to be in a neighborhood teeming with award-winning playwrights, actors, visual artists, writers, designers, and aspiring talent,” says Andrea Grover, Guild Hall Executive Director. “Letting artists lead us continues to be our mantra, and in 2021 we are celebrating the creative personalities —living and past—who have made Guild Hall larger-than-life in a tiny community."