A Review of "Men's Lives," at the Bay Street Theater Jerry Lamonica KEEPING FAITH From left, Victor Slezak, Brian Hutchison, Deborah Hedwall, Rob DiSario, Scott Thomas Hinson and Peter McRobbie in "Men's Lives" at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. The opening of "Men's Lives" at the Bay Street Theater sets an elegiac tone. A narrator talks about a shack that once stood on the dunes that he is visiting: "I feel safe in this spot, sheltered." A boat hull sometimes washes ashore here, he says, "like a visiting ghost." The matriarch of the hardworking fishing family that lived in the shack recalls the days when "there was as much forest behind us as there was ocean in front of us." "Men's Lives," by Joe Pintauro, based on the 1986 book of the same name by Peter Matthiessen, tells the story of the Bonackers, or baymen, whose way of life has been nearly eradicated by the transformation of the East End from a close-knit fishing and farming community to a playground for tourists and wealthy landowners. Twenty years ago, the play was the inaugural production for Bay Street, which is on a wharf in Sag Harbor, historically a site of whaling and other fishing not far from the dunes depicted on its stage. Directed with care by Harris Yulin and beautifully acted by an eight-member ensemble, the revival has emotional ties both to the theater's surroundings and to its own history as a serious dramatic showcase. All those involved - including the sound designer, David Bullard, who envelops the audience in the cries of gulls, terns and other sea birds - are clearly trying hard to create a moving and engrossing experience. Unfortunately, they don't always overcome the play's talky structure and polemical stance. The characters tell us much of the history, taking breaks to act out scenes that, popping up as illustrations, don't always have the intended impact. One in particular, of a tragic drowning, rings hollow: the audience is left on the outside, not pulled into the gut-wrenching terror. Though the play is only 90 minutes long, it gets repetitious, especially about topics like pollution and political injustice - and, oddly, nostalgia for doughnuts fried in whale fat. Still, much of it is revelatory and, by the end, far warmer and more immediate than a bloodless history lesson. We learn that the ancestors of these baymen, as they are now known, learned to fish with nets from the Montauket Indians. They had settled around a creek named Accabonac, which is why they called themselves Bonackers. The net fishing, or haul-seining, is what gets the Bonackers into trouble by the time that Mr. Matthiessen, who appears in fictional form as a character named Peter, comes to live among them. Sport fishermen prefer to catch the striped bass prized by local restaurants individually, with a rod and reel. Using environmental arguments, they manage to convince the New York State Legislature that haul-seining is depleting the fish population. Bonackers respond that fish replenish themselves on a cyclical basis, and that their efforts - only about 100 baymen are left at the time - would never empty the Atlantic Ocean, though the legislation could destroy their livelihoods. The title of the book and play derives from Sir Walter Scott's line, "It's not fish ye're buying, it's men's lives." And women's lives, as Alice, the lone female character, makes clear. Strongly played by Deborah Hedwall, Alice compellingly describes her backbreaking work making a home for her family in the shack she inherited. As Lee, the older of her two sons, Brian Hutchison conveys the brooding anger of a man who loves his rough, independent life on the sea and knows he won't have much left if it's taken away - perhaps only mowing lawns for the rich folk who have bought up the former forests and farms. Rob DiSario is lively as the feisty younger brother, William, who at least graduated from high school but also wants no other life. Mark Coffin has the thankless task of portraying two cartoonish stereotypes - an arrogant sport fisherman named Chuck and a tone-deaf senator who advises the net-mending Bonackers to take up tailoring. Peter McRobbie lends quiet dignity to the father, while Scott Thomas Hinson gives an amusing turn as a goofy friend named Popeye, and Myles Stokowski is touching as a young bayman in training. The weakest link in this finely meshed cast is Victor Slezak, whose portrayal of Peter is too uniformly dour. All the design elements are well done. Andrew Boyce's sand-strewn set is evocative of the dunes that, these days, are home to only a few baymen, still struggling against state laws, and more mansion owners, vacationers and day-trippers than there were 20 years ago. "Men's Lives," by Joe Pintauro, is at the Bay Street Theater, Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, through July 29. Information: baystreet.org or (631) 725-9500.