Cynthia Nixon Will Direct Last Summer at Bluefish Cove Reading for Classic Stage

Cynthia Nixon Will Direct Last Summer at Bluefish Cove Reading for Classic Stage

The one-night-only performance of Jane Chambers' play is set for March.

February 25, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

Classic Stage will mount a one-night-only benefit reading of Jane Chambers' Last Summer at Bluefish Cove March 23, with Cynthia Nixon at the helm. The performance will be held at the company's Lynn F. Angelson Theater.

The work, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1980, follows eight queer women sharing a life-changing summer at a beach home. CSC's reading will feature Molly Bernard (Cult of Love), Rachel Crowl (Prince Faggot), Moses Ingram (The Queen's Gambit), Louisa Jacobson (The Gilded Age), Hari Nef (Barbie), Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black), Sarin Monae West (Richard II), and Amalia Yoo (John Proctor is the Villain).

"Last Summer at Bluefish Cove was a landmark achievement, putting positive portrayals of queer women on stage in a time when that was hardly the norm," says CSC Artistic Director Jill Rafson in a statement. "Jane Chambers was able, with this piece, to give her own community the same gift that the gay male community had found through The Boys in the Band many years earlier. Yet this work isn't given nearly the same attention as that counterpart, and this celebratory evening felt like a perfect chance to shine a spotlight on this classic of its genre."

"Before this play, lesbian characters were all but invisible on stage," adds Nixon. "In those rare instances when they did appear they were either tragic, shameful, or threatening (think The Children's Hour or The Killing of Sister George). Last Summer at Bluefish Cove was truly a first of its kind, and it deserves to be seen by modern audiences, who will find these women vibrant, funny, and wonderfully three-dimensional."

Tickets are at ClassicStage.org.