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Arts & Entertainment

A. R. Gurney's "Love Letters"

The Ossining Public Library invites couples, friends, and theater lovers to enjoy a production of A.R. Gurney’s classic play, Love Letters in the Budarz Theater on Thursday, February 10 at 6:30pm. Directed by Janis Powell and starring Cyrus Newitt and Cathy Schaeffer, this two-character play re-enacts a fifty-year correspondence between the lives and loves of two childhood friends. Written with humor and poignancy, the play takes the audience through the characters’ childhood and the vagaries of adulthood and middle age. For more information about this free performance, please call the Library at (914) 941-2416 or visit http://ossininglibrary.org/.

Love Letters is directed by Janis Powell. Ms. Powel has directed more than 50 main-stage productions in New York City, including Sylvia and Mornings at Seven for The Snarks, Ltd. A senior member of the Core Faculty at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Powell is also founder and artistic director of the New York City theater company Spiral, Inc., and president/creator of Theater/Life Learning, which utilizes acting techniques to enhance the communication skills of non-actors and business leaders.

Cyrus Newitt, who plays Andrew Makepeace Ladd, III in the production, has been an actor, director and designer for over three decades. He has directed and acted in numerous productions with New York-based theater company The Snarks, Ltd. and The Amateur Comedy Club in New York City. He recently directed a production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever.  Cyrus can be seen and heard regularly on TV and radio commercials, and appeared in the James L. Brooks movie, How Do You Know

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Cathy Schaeffer, who plays Melissa Gardner, has performed with a many theater companies including The Snarks, Ltd.,  Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Westbank Cafe and the Wyoming State Pen. Among her credits are productions of, Social Security, Sylvia and Crimes of the Heart. Schaeffer teaches theater at Rutgers and privately in New York City.

Love Letters was first presented at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988, under the direction of John Tillinger, featuring John Rubenstein and Joanna Gleason.  The play was subsequently presented at the Promenade Theatre in New York City in 1989 with John Rubenstein and Kathleen Turner. Later that year, Love Letters debuted on Broadway at the Edison Theatre with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst.  Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1990, the play has since been performed in theaters, colleges, high schools and numerous private and public venues, where A.R. Gurney’s tender and touching epistolary piece has enjoyed popularity among audiences around the world. 

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