A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters"
Performed by
The Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild Play Readers

Friday, May 9 , 2008  7:30 p.m.
The Unitarian Universalist Church,
3975 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota
$10 Members   $15 Non-Members
Students Free

     The Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild Play Readers will produce the play, Love Letters, by A.R. Gurney, which traces the lifelong correspondence between a staid, dutiful lawyer, Andrew Makepiece Ladd III, and a lively, unstable artist, Melissa Gardner. The play is comprised of letters between these two people who grew up together, went their separate ways, and continued to share confidences. The story of their bittersweet relationship unfolds from what is written and what is left unsaid. Gurney captures Andy and Melissa with great precision of detail and depth of feeling.

     At the end of the play, Mary Gurley, Jung Society member and former President, will lead a discussion. She notes that in the letters written by these two characters we will see something of ourselves as well as the stages of individuation. In the discussion we will identify archetypes and view the play from a Jungian perspective. A reception will follow.

Paul Stoddard, who plays Andy, has extensive experience in community theatre productions in Connecticut. He has appeared in many Asolo Play Reader productions, and is Co-Chair of the Play Readers. Barbara Knode, who plays Melissa, trained at the American Theatre Wing in New York and appeared in off-Broadway productions and on Japanese TV for 30 years. She has also appeared in many of the Asolo Play Readers' productions.  Director Geoffrey Todd received his training at the Old Vic School in London and has worked on the London stage and in TV for many years.