10 January, 2019
Hopkinton Center for the Arts (HCA) presents Love Letters, a play by A.R. Gurney, starring Hopkinton residents Amy and Mark Cafazzo and directed by Kelly Grill. The piece is comprised of letters exchanged over a lifetime between two people who grew up together, went their separate ways, but continued to share confidences. This special one-day only event will take place the Saturday before Valentine’s Day on February 9 at 7 p.m. Included with each $20 ticket is a chocolate dessert bar featuring a selection of sweet treats. Cash bar will feature beer, wine, and a special chocolate martini. The HCA is located at 98 Hayden Rowe St., Hopkinton. For tickets visit www.HopArtsCenter.org.
About Love Letters: Through the time-honored tradition of letter writing, audiences meet Andy and Melissa and follow their love affair from second grade through college; as they grow apart and marry others, still maintaining a relationship across the miles. Spanning the years 1937 - 1984, this story will resonate with those who remember the Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War Years and the crazy '60's and '70's. Gurney’s performance piece is considered a rite of passage for most acting couples and was nominated in 1990 for a Pulitzer Prize in Drama. It opened on Broadway in October of 1989 with an opening night cast of Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards. In the play’s long history, many notables have performed the roles of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner. The New York Times’ Mel Gussow calls the play “an evocative epistolary account” and Coral Andrews of Playwrights and Stage Actors goes on to say, “The most poignant element of Gurney’s piece is the story between the lines, the words Andy and Melissa cannot bring themselves to write.”
Love Letters is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Amy and Mark Cafazzo have lived in Hopkinton, MA, since 2010 with their twin sons. Amy Cafazzo has previously been seen at the HCA in Enter Stage Left Theater's production of Rumors (2016). This is Mark Cafazzo’s first performance at the HCA, where he has been a member of the board of directors since 2016. The Cafazzo’s have each performed in dozens of productions at Boston-area theaters including Quannapowitt Players in Reading, Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain, Boston Center for the Arts, and Arlington Friends of the Drama. The couple met during a performance of A Christmas Carol at the Gloucester Stage in 2001.
The Hopkinton Center for the Arts offers arts to all people. Classes, productions, and exhibitions serve an inclusive community of students, performers, and exhibiting artists diverse in age, ability, experience, ethnicity, and geography. In the visual arts, theater, music, and dance, HCA annually offers over 200 classes to more than 1,000 students, from preschool to seniors, drawn from the diverse population of over 40 neighboring cities and towns. In 2015 the HCA opened its new arts center, with newly renovated classrooms, a new 200-seat performance space, and new gallery spaces.
