PrideArts Will Perform LOVE LETTERS With Same-Sex Couples
Performances run April 11-12, and 18-19.
PrideArts announced it will stage a special two-weekend-only run of the A.R. Gurney's funny and endearing LOVE LETTERS, performed as an LGBTQ love story and celebration of lifelong friendships.
PrideArts Artistic Director Jay Españo will direct four different two-actor casts – two male-identifying and two female-identifying – that will play the pair of lifelong friends who become romantically attached.
The opening performance on Saturday, April 11 will feature the longtime Chicago director Steve Scott and his husband, the Chicago actor/director Ted Hoerl. The performance on Sunday, April 12 will be played by the actor and composer Kingsley Day and the actor/director/singer/producer Jerry Miller.The Saturday, April 18 cast will be PrideArts Managing Director and director Amber Mandley, together with author and poet Deborah Hamilton. Performing on April 19th will be Arts Judaica Artistic Director Elayne LeTraunik and the film/television actress and acting coach Joette Waters.
While LOVE LETTERS has previously been performed by two male actors, the company believes this will be the first time it has been played by two female actors. The performances will be a benefit for PrideArts and tickets are $25.00, available now.
LOVE LETTERS is a two-hander about two lifelong friends and the letters they exchange. The two friends were both born into wealth and position. They begin their correspondence in childhood with birthday party thank-you notes. Their letters continue through their boarding school and college years while they are romantically attached and later through their individual marriages and careers.
LOVE LETTERS premiered off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre on March 27, 1989. with Kathleen Turner and John Rubinstein. It featured a new cast each week. On October 3, 1989, the play premiered on Broadway at the Edison Theatre, opening with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards and again featuring a rotating cast. Performers included Christopher Reeve, Holland Taylor, Christopher Walken, Victor Garber, Lynn Redgrave, Jane Curtin and more. There is a long tradition of rotating and “stunt” casting of LOVE LETTERS, which PrideArts will continue while making the story even more resonant for LGBTQ audiences.
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