The Community Players of Concord Present 'Love Letters'

The Community Players of Concord proudly presents A. R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” as a fourth mainstage production of their 87th season, featuring Kevin Gardner and Kathy Somssich and directed by Wayland Bunnell, according to a press statement.

The show will be performed at the Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince Street, Concord, N.H. Tickets cost $16 for adults and $14 for juniors and seniors if purchased online before May 20th, $18 and $16 thereafter. Reserved seating tickets may be purchased online at http:/communityplayersofconcord.org, or at the Auditorium box office, which will be open on May 20, through May 23, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

For more ticket information, visit the above website or contact David Murdo at 603-344-4747 or nhdm@comcast.net.

Love Letters is a fascinating “sort of play,” as the author A.R. Gurney modestly terms it. The play centers on two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, who have exchanged notes, letters and cards for over nearly 50 years, starting when they were in second grade in 1937. In their correspondence, they discuss their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, victories and defeats. Their correspondence traces their ever-changing relationship, and the changing worlds that surround them over this period of 50 years. The writing is extraordinary and the story compelling. In fact, the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a fascinating piece of theater, which has been performed by innumerable celebrity pairs since the late 1980”s. Director Wayland Bunnell presented this piece some 22 years ago, and “is delighted to have the opportunity to dust it off and direct it again, and once again bring to life these dear old friends.”

The Players are pleased to have recruited their own pair of NH theatre “celebrities” to perform this highly acclaimed and widely beloved piece.

In this Players’ offering, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III is played by Kevin Gardner. In addition to numerous appearances with the Players and elsewhere in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Kevin was an award-winning arts and culture reporter and theatre critic for NH Public Radio for 25 years. He has performed and directed at dozens of theaters around NH and New England, including Plymouth State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, where he has been a regular Guest director since 1998. For the past 16 years, Kevin has also been the Master Teacher of the major course, Shakespeare for Performance, in the St. Paul’s School Advanced Studies Program. Kevin has also been well known in NH for over 40 years as a stone wall builder, and is the author of The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls. He lectures frequently on this subject, both independently and as a member of the NH Humanities Council’s traveling speakers bureau.

Melissa Gardner is played by Kathleen Somssich, who has appeared in numerous productions all over New Hampshire, including The Palace Theatre, The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, the New Hampshire Theatre Project and Kent Stephens’ Stage Force. She is a founding member of Bob Shea’s New Art Theatre based out of the Dana Institute in Manchester, and has appeared in numerous productions there. In 2003, she won a 2003 NH Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol and is widely known in the NH theatre community as a superb actress. Kathy also co-hosts a weekly talk show on WSCA, 106.1 FM in Portsmouth, called Seacoast Currents.

Caption: Kevin Gardner and Kathy Somssich, in A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.”