'Love Letters' to Raise Money for the Arts
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2011) − The University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts will present its first collegewide event as it stages A.R. Gurney's poignant work "Love Letters" featuring local celebrities Alicia Helm and Everett McCorvey, of UK Opera Theatre. The production, a college fundraiser for faculty research, will grace the Guignol Theatre stage 7:30 p.m., April 29 and 30.
A Pulitzer Prize nominee, "Love Letters" centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, whose friendship and ill-fated romance takes them from elementary school through adolescence, maturity and into middle age. Gardner and Ladd sit side-by-side and read the notes, letters and cards amassed during their nearly 50 years as a couple. The story of the pair's relationship gradually unfolds from what is written - and what is left unsaid. Their words are both hysterical and moving and the audience comes to know them intimately. Several celebrated couples and celebrities have performed "Love Letters" since its off-Broadway debut in 1989.
"Love Letters" will be the first production directed by Dean Michael Tick at UK. Tick became dean of the UK College of Fine Arts in the summer of 2010. The show will be presented in conjunction with art studio graduate student Dylan Dean's MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Show at Tuska Center for Contemporary Art. Musical interludes will also be presented by UK School of Music throughout the evening's festivities.
Tickets for "Love Letters" are $75 for general admission and a dessert reception. Premier admission will be available for $150 for the April 30 showing, and will include a pre-show buffet, music, an art exhibition viewing, premium seating and a dessert reception. A processing fee will be added to online ticket sales only. Tickets can be purchased through the Singletary Center Ticket Office at (859) 257-4929, online at www.singletarytickets.com, or in person at the ticket office.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-1754, ext. 229; whitney.hale@uky.edu