Terry Kinney Joins Letter of Marque Theater for GIFTS Today

Emerging company Letter of Marque Theater Co. will be joined by Terry Kinney (co-founder of the Steppenwolf Theater Company) in LOM's premiere of their new holiday play, Gifts. Kinney, best known for his Tony winning revival of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, has agreed to collaborate directorially with the young LOM crew, lending his vision to the production which is set for a limited run at the Fifth Estate Bar in Park Slope.

Based on the well-loved Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi," Letter of Marque's Gifts continues where O. Henry's heartwarming tale of sacrifice leaves off. Gifts follows the lives of a young couple from Christmas to Christmas as they learn and re-learn what it means to give, receive, give up, give over, to love and to be loved. It is a tender glance at the line between giving for the sake of someone else's happiness and giving for one's own.

"Gifts takes O. Henry's characters 10 years forward, every Christmas eve. And we get to see the characters grow and change," says writer/director Nolan Kennedy. "It's about two real people leading real lives. And some great Christmas music, some classic, some we wrote!"

Letter of Marque is a new non-profit theater company in Gowanus whose mission partially includes presenting high-quality, professional works in un-conventional spaces at little or no cost to its audiences.

"Theater is a way for people to commune, to be reminded they aren't alone in this life," says Kennedy. "It has to be accessible. What could more accessible than a free show in the back of our favorite zebra-themed bar?"

Gifts will run tonight and tomorrow, December 15th & 16th at 7:30PM (free) at The Fifth Estate, 506 5th Ave (between 12th and 13th), Brooklyn, NY.