Kelly McCreary of “Grey’s Anatomy” talks Sag Harbor play

Julia Motyka, left, and Kelly McCreary star in "Intimate Apparel" at Bay Street Theater, Sag Harbor, through July 30, 2017. Credit: Lenny Stucker
Grey’s Anatomy star Kelly McCreary is taking on a new role in Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
“We’re on our shooting hiatus for a few months and I wanted to find my way back to my first love of theater, so here I am at Bay Street!” said McCreary, who turns 36 today.
McCreary is playing seamstress Esther Mills in what she calls “one of my favorite plays ever,” “Intimate Apparel,” by Tony- and Pullitzer-nominated Lynn Nottage.
The play is set in 1905 New York City. Nottage’s “Intimate” began its Bay Street run on July 4 and ends July 30.
McCreary says she has spent 12 hours a day in tech rehearsal and is even taking a sewing class to prepare for the role. She admits she enjoys sewing, but stitching up patients in the fictional Grey-Sloan Hospital’s OR is a different story. The actor admits she’s “squeamish” and says, “there’s something about wearing the mask, I feel so claustrophobic, there have been a couple of times where it’s gotten a little dicey in the OR! . . . I’m doing it, then on ‘cut’ I’m over here taking deep breaths!”
McCreary doesn’t get much of a summer break.
“The day after I leave here I’ll be driving from the airport to set, which I can’t wait to do, it’s an incredible and enormous privilege to have my life so rich with wonderful work.”
“I like to stay busy I like to stay creative and you know life is short you’ve got to get all the great characters in while you can.”