Revealing a Love Through Letters

Opening Valentine’s Day at Third Avenue Playhouse, Love Letters showcases an unconventional romantic relationship (which relationship isn’t?) between Melissa Gardner, played by Amy Ensign, and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, played by Doug Mancheski. The couple exchange letters for fifty years – letters filled with their hopes and dreams, disappointments and successes.

This simple play – two actors sitting side by side reading letters – presents an evocative, touching, and funny relationship between two characters that many can relate to, including the stars of the play.

• Describe your character in five words.

Amy Ensign (AE): I pulled out the dictionary and thesaurus for this one: smart, privileged, fragile, sensual and audacious.

Doug Mancheski (DM): My character is a repressed WASP, caught between his class’s mores and his humanity.

• Do you relate to your character?

AE: Yes. Melissa is a human being trying to find her way in the world.

DM: I relate to this character in that we all have someone in our lives, be it a good friend or a significant other, that has known us since we were kids, and that person knows us better than 99 percent of the world.

• The main characters keep a correspondence for fifty years – yet they can’t seem to make a face-to-face relationship work; why do you think this is?

AE: …complicated. I go to the mailbox, open it, pull out a letter. Sometimes I build a fire, make a cup of tea and sit down to absorb my friend’s dreams. Sometimes I can’t wait! I rip it open before I even close the box.

Letters can allow us to communicate in what we believe is authentic, pure, real, and unalloyed (pulled out my thesaurus again). We are the person we want to be. For others, a more “vivid” style comes out (I’m quoting Andy [Mancheski’s character] here). We write like we speak. Andy is the first; Melissa is the second. Either way, nothing beats the jolt of energy my heart gets when I find a letter in the box.

Andy and Melissa are devoted to exploring their relationship. Yet they are surrounded by pressures: family, friends, teachers, constituents…whose expectations and judgments drive them towards following their heads, not their hearts.

DM: Yes, they do have a long relationship via letters, but they do meet face to face quite a bit during those years. They grew up together. Obviously they are romantically attracted to each other, but for reasons due to society pressures or personality, they can’t get past a certain level in the relationship.

• In this age of technology many people no longer write letters – do you think the younger generation will relate to this tale?

AE: Melissa and Andy share the hopes and challenges of every generation; they are searching for love and happiness. Today, folks share these dreams via email or Skype. But the sensibility is the same. And who knows, after seeing Love letters, there might be a run on Parker pens.

DM: The letters are a way (especially in that time era) of expressing yourself honestly that perhaps you would not face-to-face (see today’s email and texts). Also letters are a way of presenting yourself in the best possible light, according to my character. And these letters are very literate. They have impeccable use of the language. They remind me of the letters my mother received from World War II soldiers, unabashed with emotion but always mindful of sentence construction and style. It’s a totally lost art in today’s world of gadgetry and instant gratification.

The younger people will perhaps be blown away by the skill and time given to these letters. But the relationship of on again/off again love will intrigue them, that’s a universal story for every generation.

• Did participating in this production affect the way you view love?

AE: My work on Love Letters shored up my views on love. And my views on love informs my work in Love Letters.

DM: Acting in this play reaffirms what we all know to be true: maintaining a long relationship be it with a friend, spouse, or other, is hard work, and is never black or white.

• Finish this sentence: Love is _______.

AE: John Lennon said, “Love is all you need,”…but he also said, “I am the walrus.”

DM: …always worth it.

Love Letters will be on stage from Feb. 14 – 24 at Third Avenue Playhouse, located at 239 3rd Avenue in Sturgeon Bay. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and active military, and $5 for students. For tickets call 920.743.1760, stop by the box office, or visit http://www.ThirdAvenuePlayhouse.com.