HCPAC press releasee
Love is in the air at the Henderson County Performing Arts Center (HCPAC) with the presentation of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.”
The play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, centers around the correspondence of Melissa Gardner and Andrew M. Ladd, III over the course of 50 years. She’s a rich kid with nurses, absent parents and more money than Andy but he’s ambitious, trying to fulfill the lofty expectations of his father.
Laced with laugh-out-loud humor and real-life poignant situations, the two characters evolve from their early grade school awkward exchanges to becoming true confidants, allowing each other to see all their foibles. Hopes and dreams, failures and successes are the cornerstone of the missives along with ill-timed attempts at romance. While Melissa and Andy are connected intensely by their letters, their lives go in opposite directions.
Love Letters is performed as Readers’ Theatre, the actors sit behind desks and read the cards, notes and letters Melissa and Andy have written to each other. The action is implied but the emotional roller-coaster is very real. Famous Hollywood actors such as Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones, Robert Wagner, Stephanie Powers, William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Reeve and Sigourney Weaver have given their interpretations to the characters. It is one of the most popular and often performed pieces in American theater.
The play opens February 6th and runs through February 16th. Four local couples will lend their talents twice during the run of the show. J and Shirley Niswonger will perform Thursday, February 6th
and Friday, February 14th. John Smith and Kathrine Newton perform Friday, February 7th and Sunday, February 16th. Dr. Mark Roberts and Lesa Dietz perform Saturday, February 8th and Thursday, February 13th. Rounding out the actors are Garret Smith and Sharie Withers on Sunday, February 9th and Saturday, February 15th. All shows have 7:30 p.m. curtains except the two Sunday performances which are at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.
In conjunction with Love Letters and as a special St. Valentine’s event, HCPAC is reviving its popular “Death by Chocolate” February 14th and 15th following the presentations of “Love Letters.”
The event will take place at the Arabella of Athens Club House, directly across the street from the theatre. The event will begin at approximately 9 p.m., following the show. Tickets to ‘Death by Chocolate’ are $20 per person.
“Love Letters” is sponsored by Arabella of Athens. Reservations are highly recommended as space is limited. Call 903-675-3908 for more information or to make a reservation. Reservations may also be made online at www.hcpac.org.