Confessions: Personal Essays Take Center Stage

Audiences will have the chance on June 5^th to be treated to writers reading their personal essays at “Confessions,” held at the historically renovated Nathaniel Rogers House of the Bridgehampton Museum. Executive Director Connor Flanagan, says, "We at the Bridgehampton Museum are excited to be a host to these amazing writers. Our mission is to be a gathering place for lovers of arts and culture on the East End and this is another exciting way we get to do that!"

Curator of the event, Heather Buchanan, says, “I am thrilled to bring together this incredible group of writers to share their compelling personal stories. On the East End we often focus on visual artists and performers so it is important to support writers as well, especially as their creative craft is being threatened by AI.”

Participating Writers:

Heather Buchanan’s column Kiss & Tell has won numerous awards including 2025 First Place Best Humor Column Print in the country from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and Best Humor Column awards from the National Association of Press Women and the Press Club of Long Island.

Marilee Foster is a farmer in Sagaponack, New York.  Her family has farmed there since the late 1700’s.  Since 1995 she has written a weekly article for the Southampton Press, originally called Sagaponack Scene, but now named Eye Level.  She writes about farming, family farming, the weather, birds, other humans, other animals—sometimes microscopic, the ocean, the land.  She is the author of one book, published in 2002, Dirt under my nails.

Brianna L. Hernández is a Chicana artist, curator, educator, and death doula guided by socially engaged practices. In the studio, she creates multi-media installations focused on end-of-life care, grief, and mourning rituals based on lived experience, cultural research, and collaborations with peers including death education workshops. Brianna serves as Director of Curation of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, New York.

Jonathan Shoemaker is a recovering film and tv producer, Springs dad and the founder of Accabonac Theater Project.  He is certified in English Literature, Anusara Yoga and CPR.  His first foray into theater with his original plays in “This Land Is Our Land,” debuted to sold out audiences this winter.

Tracey Toomey McQuade loves to tell stories.  Whether writing, sequencing a yoga class or acting on stage, her favorite thing to do is to connect with others through words, movement, poetry or music.  She can be found playing the harmonium, chanting, dancing, singing and downward dogging all over the east end. Tracey recently appeared to rave reviews in Accabonac Theater Project’s “This Land is Your Land.”

Eli Zuzovsky has a practice-led Ph.D. in fine art from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He has been shortlisted for an Israeli Academy Award and he was selected for the Venice Biennale College, Berlinale Talents, the Series Mania Writers Campus, and the London Library Emerging Writers Programme. His debut novel, Mazeltov, is out from Macmillan (U.S.) and is the winner of the 2025 Einstein Fellowship for “outstanding young thinkers."