Laguna Playhouse Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham has announced a very special bonus event just in time for Valentines Day, Wendie Malick ("Hot in Cleveland," "Just Shoot Me") and Dan Lauria ("The Wonder Years." "Pitch") starring in LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney.
"I have been wanting to bring Dan and Wendie to our stage ever since I started working here and now we have them together in the perfect show!" says Wareham.
LOVE LETTERS will perform for four performances only, Thursday, February 2 through Sunday, February 5, 2017 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.
When they were both seven years old, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III wrote his first letter to Melissa Gardner to tell her she looked like a lost princess. For the next fifty years, through personal triumphs and despair, through wars and marriages and children and careers, they poured out the secrets of their hearts to each other. They defied a fate that schemed to keep them apart, and lived - through letters - for the one most meaningful thing...their undying love for each other.
Love Letters is the story of a love affair carried on primarily through letters, written in and about a world where letter-writing was very much an essential mode of communication, especially between men and women. This play will be presented in the traditional manner - very simply, with the two actors seated, reading from the script, as if from letters.
The cast of LOVE LETTERS will feature Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria.
Wendie Malick (Melissa Gardner) Theatre: Off-B'way: North Shore Fish, Burleigh Grimes; Los Angeles: Questa, Round Trip, Santaland Diaries, Vagina Monologues, The Underpants (Geffen). Regional: The Guys (Studio Arena), Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Helen Gahagan Douglas (Wooly Mammoth), Blithe Spirit, Closure (New Jersey Rep), What Is the Cause of Thunder(Williamstown) Film: Adventureland, Fifty-Nothing, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Waiting, Racing Stripes, The American President, On Edge, Trojan Wars, Raising Genius, Mr. Mike's Mondo Video, A Little Sex, The Goods, Bugsy, Funny About Love, The Emperor's New Groove, Alvin And The Chipmunks (The Squeakqual). Television: Pitch, American Housewife, NCIS: New Orleans, Law and Order SVU, Lady Dynamite, Grace And Frankie, Rush Hour (CBS), Hot In Cleveland (People's Choice Award, SAG nom best ensemble), Just Shoot Me (1 Golden Globe, 2 Emmy Nominations), Dream On (4 Cable Ace awards), Frasier, Big Day, Good Company, CSI, NYPD Blue, LA Law, X Files, Sienfeld. Animated: Bojack Horseman, Jimmy Neutron, Spongebob Squarepants, TV Movies: Northshore Fish, Take My Advice, Apollo 11, Dynasty, Finding Father Christmas, The Miniseries, Hello Sister, Goodbye Life, Will You Merry Me?, After All These Years.
Malick is on the board of The Environmental Media Association, and is a spokesperson for The Humane Society of the United States and Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary and advocacy group. Through their charitable gift fund, "A Drop in the Bucket", she and husband, Richard Erickson, support a medical center in the Congo. They live in the Santa Monica Mountains with 5 horses, a donkey, 2 dogs and a 15 year old.
Dan Lauria (Andrew Makepeace Ladd III) has appeared as a guest star in over seventy television episodic programs and more than twenty Movie of the Week productions plus a score of motion picture credits. Dan is a very familiar face to the off-off, off and regional theatre scene having performed, written or directed over 50 professional stage productions. In 2010/11 Dan was seen on Broadway as the legendary coach Vince Lombardi in the long running production of Lombardi, with the beautiful and talented Judith Light playing Marie Lombardi. The production was directed by Thomas Kail of Hamilton fame. Dan returned to Broadway in the 2013 & the 2014 productions of the Tony nominated; A Christmas Story: The Musical directed by John Rando. However, Dan is most recognized as the Dad on the highly acclaimed Emmy winning, ABC television show, The Wonder Years. Dan and dear friend, the lovely and talented Ms. Wendie Malick have performed the play The Guys (about our first responders) for numerous theatre and firemen departments, around the country. Dan is currently on the new Fox TV show, Pitch, about the first woman pitcher in major league baseball.
For ten years Dan served as the artistic director of, The Playwright's Kitchen Ensemble (PKE) of Los Angeles. With partners, Joe Cacaciand Richard Zavaglia, PKE produced over 450 public readings of new plays with the finest actors in the business in order to promote the development of the new American playwright and to seek literary representation for new writers.
LOVE LETTERS will perform on Thursday, February 2 & Friday, February 3 at 7:30pm and Saturday, February 4 & Sunday, February 5 at 2:00pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.
Tickets range from $45 - $60 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. Prices subject to change. The box office is open Mondays - Saturdays: 12p.m. to 5 p.m. (open until showtime on performance days); Sundays: 11a.m. - 4p.m. Laguna Playhouse is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.
Founded in 1920, the historic Laguna Playhouse is one of the oldest continuously-operating not-for-profit theatres on the West Coast and is proud to be an active participant in the celebrated Laguna Beach arts community. From classic plays and musical comedies to the current off-Broadway smash, cutting edge and traditional music exhibitions, dance festivals and stand-up comedy performances, Laguna Playhouse brings the magical experience of the performing arts direct to over 80,000 patrons each season. A member of the League of Resident Theatres, Laguna Playhouse is also home to the annual Laguna Dance Festival, Laguna Beach Music Festival and Laguna Beach Concert Band.
Laguna Playhouse educational programming, includes year-round classes, productions by and for children and teens (Youth Theatre) and is one of the few companies in the region that offer a curriculum-based professional theatre-touring program, TheatreReach, which aligns with the California State Standards for literature, history and performing arts curriculum.
Serving more than 80,000 patrons each season, Laguna Playhousehas been recognized in 2016 and 2015 as one of Orange County Register's "Best of OC" in the category of Live Theatre. The Playhouse has featured many talented performers on stage, including Leslie Caron, Val Kilmer, Ed Asner, Hershey Felder, Donna McKechnie, Rita Rudner, violinist Joshua Bell, Lee Rocker, ballerina Misty Copeland, Harrison Ford, and Bette Davis.
