Theatre--Performance

Love Letters, a play involving two actors reading their love letters to each, was a hit when it premiered in 1989, and it returns to the Lafayette area for two performances shortly before Valentine’s Day. The author A. R. Gurney created a poignant story involving two friends who begin writing notes to each other in school, and from there, they developed a life-long relationship, both complicated and touching. One of the first performances in the Acadiana area was at the Lafayette Community Theatre located on Jefferson Street.

“It was 1996,” Vincent P. Barras recalled, “and I watched two actors on stage reading letters to each other, and I thought, ‘This is mesmerizing. I want to do this one day.’”

It’s sixteen years later, but dreams can come true. Gurney’s play Love Letters will be performed the weekend of February 10th at Theatre 810, also ironically on Jefferson Street. First published in 1989 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this play has had a history of famous actors and actresses read the letters of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner. In 2007, it was performed in a fundraising event featuring James Earl Jones and Elizabeth Taylor.

“I’m presently rehearsing for IPAL’s production of Chicago set to open March 9th in New Iberia,” Vincent continued, “but when Theatre 810 had an unexpected opening in their schedule, I realized it was now or never.”

The play’s intimate style is reminiscent of reader’s theatre, where actors sit and read a script before an audience and then ask for their input. For this play, however, the letters form the heart of the play: two actors reading the love letters that they’ve written to each other over a fifty year time span.

Amanda Newbery, a Lafayette Parish Talented Teacher, will play the part of the free-spirited yet unstable artist Melissa Gardner. A transplant first from England and then from New Orleans, she starred in the Evangeline Players’ production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts and recently finished a two-week revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s Uncommon Women and Others at Cité des Arts.

“It’s a gem of a play,” she mentioned wistfully, “and its premise requires little memorization, which is a good thing considering our time frame! It’s both lovely and bittersweet.” Amanda just finished orchestrating a successful presentation of plays titled Out of the Box this past weekend, all performed by students in the Talented Program of Lafayette Parish.

Vincent P. Barras will play the part of the dutiful Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, who in the course of the play becomes a United States Senator. A regular on the IPAL stage and the St. Martinville DuChamp Opera House, he also performs with Acting Unlimited, Inc. and the Eunice Players.

The play follows the “near misses” between Andrew and Melissa from their first letters in school to their college days to middle age and beyond. It’s an unpretentious look at two characters beginning in 1937 and traveling over half a century through boarding schools, wars, discoveries, and even political campaigns.

“I’m just so grateful to Theatre 810,” he noted of the new stage directly next door to Carpé Diem Gelatto-Expresso Bar. Amanda even added, “It’s a wonderfully intimate gathering, and during the intermissions, people can trot next door to Carpé Diem and get the most exquisite ice cream and hot chocolate.”

Theatre 810, a welcome addition to Lafayette’s incredible theatre tradition, just finished three productions in its new space at 810 Jefferson Street. They opened with Cody Daigle’s William and Judith, a new adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and David Ives’ series of one-act skits in Lives of the Saints. Two weekends after Love Letters, Acting Unlimited, Inc. will present PG-50, a collection of three locally written one-act plays about life after age 50.

“There are just so many opportunities for theatrical experiences in this area,” Amanda marveled. “Isn’t it fantastic?”

Love Letters will run for only two performances, one on Friday, February 10th at 7:30 pm, and another on Sunday, February 12th at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $10, and can be reserved by calling 337-873-1548. The box office at Theatre 810 opens one hour prior to all performances, and tickets are also available at that time