The Letters Project
By Steve Garfinkel
There are funny letters and tragic letters, with touching advice and unique perspectives. Some allow you to be a «fly on the wall» like figures from history or speak from the heart to a friend or lover. The totality of this staged reading makes for a fascinating experience you’ll remember for years.
Dear Theater Enthusiasts of San Miguel,
We have to write to tell you about our next exciting and moving staged theater reading at JC3/CHESMA (Jewish Cultural and Community Center of San Miguel de Allende) on Thursday, December 29!
After JC3’s recent dynamic presentation of Mark Twain’s «Diaries of Adam and Eve» and the double sell-outs of Anat Gov’s «O My God!,» we wanted to let you know about this show now because seating is limited, and we know you’ll want to get your tickets early. What is this theater piece, you ask?
Well, it’s a theater workshop or work-in-progress called «The Letters Project.» Read live by some of San Miguel’s finest actors, it consists of a mix of noteworthy letters selected from the two-volume set, «Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience,» collected by Sean Usher. Some are written to or by famous figures from the worlds of literary, artistic, theatrical, or scientific endeavor, as well as by folks you’ve never heard of, but they may have changed the course of world events.
The Letters Project contains an 11-year-old girl’s letter to Abraham Lincoln while he was running for office telling him she thinks more people would vote for him if he would grow a beard; a letter from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford informing him, «What a dandy car you make» and that he uses a Ford for all his getaways; a letter from Antarctic explorer Robert Scott «To My Widow,» written over days as he realizes that he and his party are going to perish before making it back to their base camp; a letter from Kurt Vonnegut to his father after being released as a WWII P.O.W. and which later formed the basis of his book, Slaughterhouse-Five; and a letter from Dorothy Parker (featuring her inimitable wit), written while in a hospital mental ward suffering from exhaustion.
The letters in the project have been culled and assembled by veteran San Miguel theater stars Lee Duberman and Richard Fink in conjunction with JC3’s Steve Garfinkel. Joining the others onstage are actors Gene Harvey and another guest reader.
The staged reading at JC3 (47 Calle Las Moras at Cinco de Mayo) will take place on Thursday, December 29, at 7 pm. A social hour at 6:30 will feature wine and snacks for purchase. Tickets (at 200 pesos for nonmembers of JC3 and 150 for JC3 members) may be reserved or purchased online at shalomsanmiguel.org or by calling JC3 at 415 185 9191.
