Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Epistolary plays that dramatize the lost art of letter-writing: Ken Ludwig’s DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE and Michael Griffo’s PEN PALS

• By drediman
• February 10, 2025
• No Comments

Over the last week or so, I had a chance to catch up with a pair of epistolary plays that dramatize the dying art of letter-writing. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE
Penguin Rep Theatre and Shadowland Stages at 59E59 Theaters
Through February 16

First up over at 59E59 Theaters is Penguin Rep Theatre and Shadowland Stages’ charming and heartwarming Off-Broadway production of Dear Jack, Dear Louise (RECOMMENDED) by Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You). For his latest, the playwright turns his attention to the budding relationship between his parents — his father was a shy army doctor, his mom an animated aspiring stage actress — who corresponded via letters for most of their courtship. With the arrival of World War II, the couple’s geographic separation was prolonged further, testing the limits of their commitment to each other. The play is enacted almost completely through these tender and good-humored letters, very much like A. R. Gurney’s popular play Love Letters. Indeed, there’s a straightforward, sturdily old fashioned quality to Ludwig’s writing, and the end result is a crowd-pleasing, if hardly groundbreaking romantic comedy. The two-hander is navigated with considerable skill by Michael Liebhauser and Alexandra Fortin, two immensely appealing and likable actors who you can’t help but cheer for. Also contributing to production’s success is Stephen Nachamie’s snappy, well-paced direction, which gives audiences minimal opportunity to lose focus on this very pleasant tale of hard-won love.

PEN PALS
Theatre at St. Clement’s
Closed

Similarly endearing was Michael Griffo’s new play Pen Pals (RECOMMENDED), which recently concluded a lengthy Off-Broadway stint at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, where it had been running since the fall with a frequently rotating cast of established actresses (e.g., the likes of Ellen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Peil have appeared in the production). Like Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Griffo’s play is another a two-hander told nearly entirely through the exchange of letters. In the case of Pen Pals, however, the communication is between two friends — Bernie and Mags — who begin corresponding as young girls as part of a school-initiated pen pal assignment. Little did they know that this random connection would lead to a lifelong friendship, which is chronicled in the thousands of epistolary exchanges between them over the course of their lives (the play practically spans the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond). Over the span of 80 minutes, the audience is regaled with the inevitable highs and lows of their respective lives, including love and marriage, career developments, getting older, sickness, and affairs. The closing cast starred Nancy McKeon and Johanna Day, two very fine and capable stage actresses who did a wonderful job of animating Bernie and Mags’ contrasting personalities. Pen Pals was directed with a light touch by Suzanne Barabas with efficiency in mind, an approach that suited the play ideal.