A Staged Reading
on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
by A.R. Gurney
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
Starring Brooke Shields and John Slattery
September 27 — October 4, 2023
*Three additional performances added: 9/27 at 2pm & 10/4 at 2pm & 7pm!
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
Brooke Shields Actress, Model, Author and Entrepreneur, Brooke Shields started her career at only eleven months of age, when she was selected as the Ivory Snow Baby. Shields began her extensive film career at age 9, and rapidly gained fame after starring in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, and the coming-of-age tales Blue Lagoon and Endless Love. As a model, Brooke has graced the covers of hundreds of magazines, most notably Time Magazine as the “Face of the Eighties.” Shields has maintained successful and critically acclaimed television and theatre careers. She is the best-selling author of several books, including the critically acclaimed Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. Brooke was recently the subject of the Emmy-nominated documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. Her latest entrepreneurial project Commence (formerly BIN) inspires women over 40 to live their best lives with beauty and wellness products developed for the challenges that arise during this period. She also hosts her hit iHeart podcast Now What? With Brooke Shields, featuring insightful conversations with a variety of different guests. Shields recently announced an upcoming book, currently untitled, that promises to explore the humility and power of aging. She can next be seen opposite Benjamin Bratt in the upcoming Netflix film Mother of the Bride. In addition to her professional career, Brooke continues to be a strong advocate for women’s issues and keeping the arts alive in schools. She is a happily married mother of two strong and intelligent daughters.
John Slattery is most well-known for his Emmy Award nominated performance as Roger Sterling on the critically acclaimed cable series Mad Men, as well as numerous television roles on series such as Documentary Now, Arrested Development, Sex and The City, Veep, Mrs. America, The Good Fight, and K Street. He also earned a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Guest Actor, for his role in the streaming series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. His previous feature film credits include Tom McCarthy’s feature film Spotlight, Ant Man, The Adjustment Bureau, Iron Man 2, Bluebird, Flags of Our Fathers, Charlie Wilson’s War, Mona Lisa Smile, The Station Agent, and Traffic. On Broadway, Slattery appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole (Drama League Award), Betrayal, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and The Front Page, opposite Nathan Lane. Most recently, Slattery directed the film Maggie Moore(s), which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Pictures from previous production (May 30 — June 9, 2023)
