Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O’Reilly, Producing Director) announced today that they will present an encore run of Love Letters by A.R. Gurney, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly (Endgame), following sold-out performances this past spring. The encore run will take place this fall, featuring five performances with returning star, Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick, joined by Talia Balsam; eight performances with Emmy & Tony Award nominee J. Smith-Cameron and Emmy & Tony Award nominee Victor Garber; and seven performances with Golden Globe Award nominee Brooke Shields and Emmy Award nominee John Slattery.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters is a two-hander drama comprised of letters exchanged between two friends over a lifetime. Andrew and Melissa, both born into wealth and position, begin their correspondence in childhood with birthday party thank-you notes. Their letters continue through their boarding school and college years while they are romantically attached and later through their individual marriages and careers. As the actors read the letters aloud, an evocative, touching, frequently funny, but always telling pair of character studies is revealed, where what is implied is as revealing and affecting as what is written down.

Directed by John Tillinger, Love Letters opened with Kathleen Turner and John Rubenstein on March 27, 1989, at the Off-Broadway Promenade Theatre, which ran for 64 performances. The play was performed only on Sunday and Monday evenings and changed its cast weekly. On October 31 of that same year, a production opened at the Edison Theatre on Broadway, where it ran for 96 performances. It opened with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards. Other performers paired in the Broadway production included Lynn Redgrave and John Clark, Stockard Channing and John Rubinstein, and Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern.

The performance schedule for Love Letters is as follows:

• With Matthew Broderick and Talia Balsam – Tuesday September 5 at 7pm, Wednesday September 6 at 2pm & 7pm, Thursday September 7 at 7pm, and Friday September 8 at 7pm.
• With J. Smith-Cameron and Victor Garber – Tuesday September 19 at 7pm, Wednesday September 20 at 2pm & 7pm, Thursday September 21 at 7pm, Friday September 22 at 7pm, Saturday September 23 at 2pm & 7pm and Sunday September 24 at 3pm.
• With Brooke Shields and John Slattery – Wednesday September 27 at 7pm, Thursday September 28 at 7pm, Friday September 29 at 7pm, Saturday September 30 at 2pm & 7pm, and Sunday October 1 at 3pm & 7pm.

Tickets to Love Letters begin at $60 and are available now for members at IrishRep.org. Tickets will go on sale to the public Tuesday August 15 at 1pm ET.

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE 

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O’Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now in its 35^th season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for “Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama,” an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for “Outstanding Body of Work,” Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at Irish Rep’s theatre located in the heart of New York’s Off-Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep’s engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama.