MCCC Arts

West Windsor, N.J. – There’s a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year and it happens on stage at Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC’s) Kelsey Theatre.  Join M&M Stage Productions as they present “Love Letters,” A.R. Gurney’s 1988 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, for one weekend only. Dates and show times are Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 10 at 2 p.m.

Kelsey Theatre is located on MCCC’s West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The community is invited to an opening night reception with the cast and crew on Feb. 8.

This touching story follows the “near misses” of a relationship throughout a lifetime of love letters. From summer camps and boarding schools, through college, war, careers and romance, the journey between the free-spirited artist, Melissa Gardner, and dutiful lawyer Andrew Makepeace Ladd is recounted through the letters they write to each other about their dreams, ambitions, victories and defeats through five decades of lives lived separately.

The two-member cast stars Vickie Fuller of Yardley, Pa., as Melissa Gardner and Tom Bessellieu of Lawrenceville as Andrew Makepeace Ladd III.

The production team includes Director Mike DiIorio, Producers Mike Almstedt and Mike DiIorio, Assistant Director Makenna Katz, Lighting Designer Chris Ghaffoor, and Sound Designer Mike Almstedt.

Among the notable actors who have performed “Love Letters” over the years are Kathleen Turner and John Rubinstein, who opened the show Off-Broadway; Larry Hagman and his Dallas co-star Linda Gray (early 1990s), who reprised his role in 2006 with his “I Dream of Jeannie” co-star Barbara Eden; and Elizabeth Taylor and James Earl Jones, who gave an AIDS Foundation benefit performance in 2007.  The play was adapted into an ABC television movie in 1999, starring Steven Weber and Laura Linney.

Tickets are $18 for adults; $16 for seniors; and $14 for students/children. They may be purchased online or by calling the Kelsey Box Office at 609-570-3333. Kelsey Theatre is wheelchair accessible, with free parking next to the theater.

For a complete listing of adult and children's events, visit the Kelsey website or call the box office for a brochure.

Kelsey Schedule
Kelsey Theatre Website
Audition Information
Theatre Workshops for Children and Teens

 

Tom Bessellieu plays straight-laced lawyer Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, while free-spirited Melissa Gardner is played by Vickie Fuller.