{"id":35385,"date":"2015-01-28T15:22:03","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T22:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?p=35385"},"modified":"2015-11-10T16:30:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T23:30:06","slug":"valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine \u2018Love Letters\u2019 arrive a week ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Howard
Howard Shangraw and Suzanne Avalon will be reading \u201cLove Letters\u201d next week for the Isis Theatre Company. Photo courtesy of Suzanne Avalon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A.R. Gurney\u2019s \u201cLove Letters\u201d will be the epistolary valentine for Idyllwild from Isis Theatre Company. The first production of 2015, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Rainbow Inn.<\/p>\n

The first Isis Readers Theatre production of the season is a funny and emotional portrait about the powerful connections of love. It is a lifetime of correspondence between two connected and ill-fated people.<\/p>\n

Andrew Makepeace Ladd III wrote his first letter to Melissa Gardner to tell her she looked like a lost princess. They were both 7 years old.\u00a0For the next 50 years, through personal triumphs and despair, through wars, marriages, children and careers, they poured out the secrets of their hearts to each other.<\/p>\n

They defied a fate that schemed to keep them apart, and lived \u2014 through letters \u2014 for the one most meaningful thing, their undying love for each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove Letters\u201d was first performed in New York in 1989 and many, many couples have read them. Suzanne Avalon, Isis president and founder, first performed Melissa\u2019s reading in 2005 with Allen Purchis. In this production, Howard Shangraw, very familiar to Isis and Hill audiences, joins her as Andrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only reason this became a play at all is that my agent and friend Gilbert Parker suggested it might work on stage. I had written it as an epistolary story and proudly sent it off to The New Yorker magazine, which proudly sent it right back, saying, \u2018We don\u2019t publish plays.\u2019\u201d Gurney has said.<\/p>\n

He also emphasized how simple it is to produce \u2014 two actors, minimal stage props. Charles Ishwerwood of the New York Times, wrote, \u201cThe play\u2019s means may be economical, but it etches a deep portrait of life\u2019s painful vicissitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this is what first attracted Avalon to the script for Isis. \u201cNo fancy sets, or lights, just the actors and the script,\u201d she wrote. After learning of its revival this fall in New York, she obtained the rights for Isis and immediately asked Shangraw to join her in the production.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoward and I have been close friends for over a decade and we see a lot of ourselves in these characters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When asked if it is possible to write a great love email, Stacy Keach, who has read Ladd\u2019-s letters, replied, \u201cTexting is better than email. You have those little figures with hearts and flowers \u2014 emoticons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas, Mia Farrow answered, \u201cI do think you can \u2014 as long as you don\u2019t use emojis.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she prefers \u201ca love email \u2026 a step up from a love text,\u201d Avalon is sentimentally nostalgic for the traditional letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of the tangible \u2014 the paper and the pen \u2014 is the part that lives on forever. Somewhere in cyberspace might be some romantic words that could have been computer generated by an app,\u201d is how Avalon replied to the question.<\/p>\n

Some of her tangibles have been saved in a private place and she added, \u201cThere is not a flash drive in the world that can replace that hat box of handwritten treasures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shangraw is the former chair of the Theatre Department at Idyllwild Arts Academy and is now director of Theatre and Musical Theatre for ARTS-Ed Plus. Both have appeared in many other productions as well as television and film in Southern California.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the performances are $15 and can be purchased online at www.isistheatrecompany.com or at the door of the Rainbow Inn, 54420 S. Circle Dr. A reception at 7 p.m. precedes the raising of the curtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove Letters\u201d is the weekend before Valentine\u2019s Day, because Shangraw and Avalon chose \u201cto offer a gift before the roses and champagne. No need to compete with Cupid on his special day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, call 951-692-9553 or visit the website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A.R. Gurney\u2019s \u201cLove Letters\u201d will be the epistolary valentine for Idyllwild from Isis Theatre Company. The first production of 2015, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Rainbow Inn. The first Isis Readers Theatre production of the season is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nValentine \u2018Love Letters\u2019 arrive a week ahead • Idyllwild Town Crier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/\",\"name\":\"Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"description\":\"Almost All the News \\u2014\\u00a0Part of the Time\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/isis.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/\",\"name\":\"Valentine \\u2018Love Letters\\u2019 arrive a week ahead • Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-28T22:22:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-10T23:30:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aeae3367986290257fc0e23a23079bb5\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2015\/01\/28\/valentine-love-letters-arrive-week-ahead\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aeae3367986290257fc0e23a23079bb5\",\"name\":\"JP Crumrine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/289a47b0cbb194a66eb24aa93f19f915?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"JP Crumrine\"},\"description\":\"JP Crumrine is news editor of the Idyllwild Town Crier newspaper.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35394,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35385\/revisions\/35394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}