OPEN AUDITIONS FOR VALLEY PLAYERS’ PRODUCTION OF “LOVE LETTERS”
The Valley Players will hold auditions for their February production of A. R. Gurney’s award-winning play Love Letters on January 6 and 7, 7pm-9pm, at the Bangs Community Center (70 Boltwood Walk) in Amherst. Ten-minute audition slots must be booked in advance at valleyplayers.org. No preparation or prior experience is necessary to try out and all auditioners will read sides from the script. As with all Valley Players productions, this is a volunteer opportunity. Even though Love Letters is written with just two characters, this production could cast up to eight actors depending on turn-out at auditions. There are no age or gender requirements to be cast.
Love Letters goes up February 7 & 8 and 13 & 14 at Black Birch Vineyard (108 Straits Road) in North Hatfield, with tickets on a pay-what-you-can scale. During the performance, attendees will be able to enjoy light bites and fine wine from Black Birch. Half of net ticket proceeds from Love Letters will be donated to River Valley Counseling Center, a nonprofit community-based mental health agency that has been serving the Valley for over 70 years.
Simple by design but moving in effect, the play takes the form of two characters sharing the letters they have written each other from kindergarten through their golden years, relating their struggles and triumphs, dreams and fears, and setbacks and second chances. Over the course of the evening, the often complicated, deeply touching, always messy story of their evolving love unfolds against the backdrop of the tumultuous events of the mid- to late-twentieth century.
Beloved by actors and audiences alike, Gurney’s classic play has featured some of the biggest names of stage and screen of the past 40 years, including Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Christopher Reeve, Christopher Walken, Frances Sternhagen, Stockard Channing, Jane Curtin, Robert Vaughan, Mia Farrow, Carol Burnett, Alan Alda, Candice Bergen, Anjelica Huston, Martin Sheen, Matthew Broderick, Brooke Shields, Charlton Heston, Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Liza Minnelli, Desi Arnaz, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Bernadette Peters, Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones, Sam Elliott, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Sally Field, and Tony Shalhoub.
The Valley Players is an entirely volunteer-run nonprofit group with a mission to enrich the quality of life in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts by producing nimble, meaningful, and accessible community theater. All contributions are tax-deductible and go fully to support the organization’s mission and programming. Anyone who wants to donate or become a business sponsor, or find more information about the group, can do so at valleyplayers.org.