Marcia Thomas/Special to the Jimplecute
The Opera House Theatre Players, Jefferson’s community theatre now in their 36th season, is bringing back one of its most popular productions on Valentine’s Day weekend.
The play is “Love Letters” by A. R. Gurney, a collection of special letters written by a boy and a girl beginning in the 1937 through the 1960s period after each has had a life apart with other partners. The play is been termed “wittily captured (in the) manners of upper-middle class WASP America”. It is the life-correspondence of the staid, dutiful lawyer Andrew and the lively unstable artist Melissa as they relate a bittersweet relationship that gradually unfolds in the letters.
Cast in the role of Melissa is Susan Fratangelo who last appeared with the Players in the comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” that was presented in the Russell Building (now the Testa Law Bldg) on Austin Street. The role of Andrew is being taken by Jefferson newcomer David Cromwell, a semi-retired lawyer who has called Shreveport home for nearly 40 years. Mr. Cromwell has not appeared on stage since a young man in school but is eager to do this role as a new patron of the theatre group and now an actor.
The dates for the production are Saturday, February 15 and possibly a matinee on Sunday, February 16. Because it is a special “love” weekend, the audience will be treated to champagne and chocolates during a meet and greet with the actors following the opening night performance. Tickets will go on sale by February 1.