Gulfshore’s ‘Dear Jack, Dear Louise’: Review Written as Letter About Epistolary Play

By Nancy Stetson

Dear Fellow Theater-goer,

I just saw Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, and felt compelled to sit down and write you a letter.

I’m a big letter-writer myself. Yes, I appreciate the immediacy of e-mail and DM’ing, but there’s just nothing that compares to sending and receiving letters in the mail.

Though it may seem obvious to say, Dear Jack, Dear Louise is itself a love letter to both love and letters.

It was inspired by the playwright’s parents, who met and courted via letters during World War II.

(You’re likely familiar with Ken Ludwig’s work. A two-time Tony Award-winner, he’s known for his comedies Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo and Leading Ladies and his stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.)

This play is a two-hander, starring Oriana Lada as Louise and Pete Winfrey as Jack.

Louise is a showgirl who wants to make it on Broadway. Jack is a doctor in the Army. Louise lives in Brooklyn, while Jack is currently stationed in Oregon.

Their fathers, who know each other, suggest they begin corresponding. It was the patriotic thing to do during WWII, to “write to the boys” to keep up morale.

The letters are, at first, formal. Jack’s are as stiff and rigid as a soldier standing at attention. Louise’s are more playful and brash.

You might worry that a play consisting of two people writing letters to each other would be boring.

You’d be wrong.

This is a lively, dramatic show, due in part to Lada and Winfrey’s excellent acting and Risa Brainin’s direction. Brainin’s the woman who directed Gulfshore Playhouse’s one-man show, Every Brilliant Thing last season. Like that play, this one’s also performed in the round in the Struthers Studio. The small space helps accentuate the intimacy of this heartwarming play.

The set (Sara Ryung Clement) is minimalist and includes a utilitarian military desk and footlocker for Jack and an armchair, Tiffany lamp and pile of books for Louise.

The staging is unconventional and creative. Though the two actors share the same physical space, they are never in the same locale, nor do they make eye contact.

They keep making plans to meet in person, but are continually thwarted. He’s across the country, in Oregon, then posted overseas. Their only connection is via letters.

It’s hard to tell exactly when the relationship transforms from a correspondence into a friendship and ultimately into a romance, but it’s fun to see the valedictions change from the formal “sincerely” to “all best” to “all affection” to “love.”

You keep rooting for these two to get together, but scheduling – and the war – keep getting in the way.

Lada’s Louise is lively and kinetic, as befits a dancer, though her accent seems a little forced at times. Winfrey’s Jack is kind and bewildered by his circumstances.

Using only lights and sound, lighting designer Michael Klaers and sound designer Vincent Olivieri transform this almost-bare stage into a believable battle ground, at one point. And costume designer Devon Painter dresses them in costumes of the time, with Louise’s being the more creative and dramatic.

In some ways, it’s a time similar to ours: full of uncertainty, chaos and turmoil. In other ways, it’s different; Jack waits almost a year before asking Louise for a photo. In today’s world, they would’ve looked each other up online and sent texts asking, “How r u?”

Through letters, the two get to know each other’s personality, character and dreams. They grow to know each other intimately, before even meeting in person. Their romance is built upon the solid foundation of friendship.

Though they’re living through dire situations, there’s also plenty of humor in Dear Jack, Dear Louise.

But this is no Hallmark movie. It’s a feel-good play, but not sappy and sentimental.

It moved me so much, I was in tears at the end. I was a little embarrassed, but the man seated next to me admitted he’d “gotten a little misty,” which I think is guy-talk for “it made me want to cry, but men don’t cry.”

We spoke a little after the show, and, hoping I wasn’t overstepping, I suggested he might want to sit down and write his wife a letter.

He seemed initially puzzled by the suggestion. “I live with her,” he told me.

“Doesn’t matter,” I told him. “I bet she’d treasure it if you wrote her one.”

(I know how I value letters from loved ones, especially those who have since passed.)

I suspect it’s universal that women like receiving a well-written letter as much as they like receiving flowers. And I believe men appreciate letters as well.

Ludwig, in writing this play, has written a love letter to his parents and to that era. This cast and crew have lovingly brought it to life for us.

I urge you to go see it. This epistolary play is a balm. In these tumultuous times, we need this: a theatrical love letter full of optimism and hope.

Fondly, Nancy

Dear Jack, Dear Louise is playing at the Gulfshore Playhouse’s Struthers Studio (100 Goodlette-Frank Road South, Naples) through April 26. It runs for 1 hour 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $124, $104, $39. For more information, go to www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org or call (239) 261-7529.