Real actors and real
couples relive a life through letters
By Alec Clayton
Published in the Weekly Volcano, June 15, 2017
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| Sharry O’Hare and Micheal O’Hara in Love Letters, photo courtesy Lakewood Playhouse |
Love Letters by A. R.
Gurney presents 50 years in the life of a loving couple, Melissa Gardner
and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, as seen through
letters they wrote to each other beginning in the second grade and continuing
until maturity. Traditionally the play has been presented with different actors
playing the parts on alternating evenings. On Broadway it has been done by Jason
Robard, Stockard Channing, Swoosie Kurtz, Christopher Walken, Carol Burnett,
Alan Alda, and others. At Olympia Little Theatre, Love Letters will be performed as a staged reading with a different
actor couple in each performance.
This production
is being mounted in honor of long-time OLT Director Kathryn Beall. Before her
death, Beall suggested pairs of actors with whom she had worked or knew to
perform this play and every one of them agreed to act in the production. Some
of the actors are real life couples, others are friends who have worked
together. They are:
June 16 - Susan
and Jim Patrick; June 17 – BarbaraAnn Smith and Larry Bonner; June 18 – Ingrid Pharris
Goebel and Tim Goebel; June 22 – Andrea Weston-Smart and Jack House; June 23 –
Sharry O’Hare and Micheal O’Hara; June 24, Jean Kivi Thomas and Jess Thomas;
June 25, Chris and Heather Cantrell; June 29, Cameron Waters and Cori DeVerse;
June 30 – Robert McConkey and Silva Goetz; July 1, Jeff Hirschberg and Anita
Pirkle; July 2 Michael and Heather Christopher.
Two of the
married couples, the Christophers and Goebels, first met when performing at
OLT.
When O’Hare and
O’Hara played Melissa and Andrew five years ago, critic Michael Dresdner called
their performance “a
complete tour de force.” O’Hare, who has done the play nine times, says, “Throughout the years we have been so
fortunate to re-visit Love Letters
and bring these characters to life. For us, the reading of the letters must
be accompanied by the ability to fill in the blanks for the audience to
experience who these two friends are beyond the written word. Our greatest
challenge is to project what is felt but not said in 50 years of letter writing
and making sure that each letter is spoken with spontaneity and freshness
as if reading for the first time.”
Heather
Chistopher says, “This
project is special to Michael and me because we met and eventually married at
OLT. After reading the script and connecting with the material, we are both
really looking forward to our closing matinee performance.”
At
Olympia Little Theatre, directing chores are split between Toni Holm and Jim
Patrick. “I look at my role
as facilitating their performances in honor of Kathryn, and trying make
sure nothing goes off the rails technically,” Holm says. “The set, lighting and
script will be the same each night, but the performances should all be
different. I think the result will be 11 lovely interpretations of the play.
I've had rehearsals of five of my six pairs, and it's been fascinating to see
where each comes from and where they go with this very nuanced play. I can
see why so many actors want to do it and why audiences love seeing different
actors interpreting the role.
Patrick says,
“The playwright was very specific about the do's and don'ts in producing Love Letters, no curtain, no music
before house lights dim, entrances, no baby talk, no mugging, avoid crying and
don’t mess around with the text.”
Gurney said,
"Trust what I wrote, perform it as written, and all will be well."
And Patrick says amen to that.
It is advisable
to see it not just once but as many times as possible.
Love Letters, 7:25 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 1:55
p.m. Sunday, through July 2, Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave., NE,
Olympia, tickets $11-$15, available at Yenney Music, 2703 Capital Mall Dr.,
Olympia, 360.786.9484, http://olympialittletheater.org/
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