A Staged Reading
on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
by A.R. Gurney
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
Starring J. Smith-Cameron and Victor Garber
September 19 — 24, 2023
A Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, A.R Gurney’s Love Letters is a two-hander drama comprised of letters exchanged between two friends over a lifetime. Andrew and Melissa, both born into wealth and position, 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. As the actors read the letters aloud, an evocative, touching, frequently funny, but always telling pair of character studies is revealed, where what is implied is as revealing and affecting as what is written down.
Directed by John Tillinger, Love Letters opened with Kathleen Turner and John Rubenstein on March 27, 1989, at the Off-Broadway Promenade Theatre, which ran for 64 performances. The play was performed only on Sunday and Monday evenings and changed its cast weekly. On October 31 of that same year, a production opened at the Edison Theatre on Broadway, where it ran for 96 performances. It opened with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards. Other performers paired in the Broadway production included Lynn Redgrave and John Clark, Stockard Channing, and John Rubinstein, and Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern.
READ THE PERFORMANCE PROGRAM HERE
J. Smith-Cameron returns to Irish Rep after a run of Juno and the Paycock (2013), playing Juno to Ciarán O’Reilly’s “Paycock”. She is delighted to do Love Letters with her long time friend and former costar, Victor Garber, and is ecstatic to be reunited with him onstage at last! Victor and J. played sweethearts in Lend Me a Tenor on Broadway for one whole year of their lives, some time ago. J. also had the honor playing in A.R. Gurney’s The Middle Ages at the Peterborough Players years ago, so even the script feels like a kind of reunion with a beloved playwright. More recently, J. has been doing movies and television shows like Succession, Waco: The Aftermath, The Year Between, Vengeance, and the upcoming Turtles All the Way Down. Please support the artist unions that are striking. You can also support the striking actors and writers who are most suffering financially from the strike by visiting members.sagfoundation.org/donate to donate.
Victor Garber with six Emmy® and four Tony® nominations to his credit, Victor Garber has been seen in some of the most memorable works of film, television and stage. Garber co-starred in the Academy Award®-winning film, Titanic, and co-starred in Ben Affleck’s Academy Award®-winning film, ARGO. He also portrayed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award®–nominated film Milk. Additional film credits include Happiest Season, Dark Waters, Sicario, Self-Less, Rebel in the Rye, The First Wives Club, Sleepless in Seattle, and Legally Blonde. For his work on television, Garber has been nominated for six Emmy® Awards, including three for the ABC drama Alias, two for comedic guest-star roles on Frasier and Will & Grace, and a nomination for his portrayal of Sid Luft in the television movie Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. He can currently be seen playing Harry Svensson on the new series Family Law. He recently recurred on Ghost on Starz and The Orville on Fox, in addition to having been seen recurring on Power on Starz, and The Flash on CW. Garber has also guest starred on shows such as Pop Network’s Schitt’s Creek, Showtime’s Lisa Kudrow comedy, Web Therapy, The Big C, Nurse Jackie, Damages, and Glee. Garber starred in CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, NBC’s drama Deception, ABC’s Eli Stone, and Justice on Fox. Other credits include ABC musicals Annie, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Garber has earned four Tony® nominations for his work in Damn Yankees, Lend Me a Tenor, Deathtrap, and Little Me. He performed in the workshops of Sondheim’s Assassins and Wiseguys as well as in the Tony Award®–winning play Art. His stage credits also include the original Broadway productions of Arcadia, The Devil’s Disciple, Noises Off, and Sweeney Todd. Additionally, Garber garnered rave reviews in Sondheim’s Follies for City Center Encores as well as Present Laughter, directed by the late Nicholas Martin. He was most recently seen in the Broadway hit, Hello Dolly co-starring opposite Bernadette Peters.
Pictures from previous production (May 30 — June 9, 2023)
