No theater, no lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorization of lines and no commitment from its two actors beyond the night of the performance. These were the parameters within which A.R. Gurney intended his play to exist.
Gurney’s Love Letters explores the unfamiliar notion of a male-female friendship that spanned more than 50 years. Brooke Shields, who has performed in the play four times in her life, did so once more in Wake Forest’s Scales Theater.
At $285 a ticket, Wake Forest faculty and students gathered to fundraise for Wake Forest University’s theater program.
The first performance was on April 16, with Rowan Henchy, senior Shields’ daughter, in the role of Melissa, and senior Patrick Fenlon co-starring as Andie.
The entire play is performed between the two friends seated side-by-side at a table. With two stacks of letters in front of them, the rules are simple: listen and react, but do not look at one another.
“The writing is very specific,” Shields said. “The punctuation is designed for a reason. You don’t embellish anything. You don’t act it — you just elevate what you’re reading. It’s a lesson in really letting go of being perfect.”
After her recent performance of Love Letters at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC, Shields had the idea to bring the show to Wake Forest’s campus.
“I thought it would be good for them to see how something like this has endured the test of time. And how you can do it at different ages, and it remains the same,” Shields said.
The comparison was clear, with Rowan and Patrick’s performance back-to-back with her own.
“I was nervous because it was my daughter, and I didn’t want to be bossy,” Shields said. “Actors need to be trusted — they need to feel like they deserve to be there because it’s such an insecure vocation. To have someone just sit there and watch, it’s very naked.”
Henchy adds that the experience was “weird because [Shields] has been telling me what to do, which has been my whole life, but this was different because I was watching her in her element.”
Shields took to the stage the following evening, on April 17, accompanied by Theater Professor Michael Huie. With three acts, the play spans an hour and a half.
The play opens with Andie and Melissa’s initial meeting in 2nd grade, and closes with their parting words more than 50 years later.
“The tendency is to really want to perform it,” Shields said. “You’re out there in front of a large crowd, and you have to hold off on being an actor.”
The letters, read back and forth, demonstrate the candor and intimacy that Andie and Melissa have with one another. The play is, as Shields describes it, “about companionship — loves lost, and love found.” It shows that love, despite common perception, does not always end up on top.
In his final lines, Andie writes: “I don’t think there are many men in this world who have had the benefit of such a friendship with a woman. But it was more than a friendship, too. I know that I loved her. I loved her even from the day I met her, when she walked into second grade, looking like the lost princess of Oz.”
The play was a memorable experience for mother and daughter, both of whom performed with heart-wrenching execution.
Henchy reflects on the experience, noting that “getting into character for Melissa was interesting because I am a 21-year-old who has not experienced the things she has, but I was able to relate to the loss and the pain of not being able to reach and connect with someone. Knowing I was doing something that was exciting and something that my mom wanted to also do was really great.”
Freshman Grier Henchy, who sat in the audience both evenings, describes watching her mother and sister embody Melissa.
“It’s amazing to see them on and off camera and how they can transform into these emotional characters; but I still see parts of themselves within their characters, showing how they connect to the play and to acting, and demonstrating their love of theatre.” Henchy said.
