PORT TOWNSEND — Married actors Heather Dudley Nollette and Scott Nollette will present “Hate Mail,” a wicked spoof of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” in one benefit show at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship this Saturday night.
The performance, which has the Nollettes reading their sometimes sweet, more often barbed correspondence aloud, will start at 7 p.m.; complimentary coffee, tea and treats will be served.
Tickets are $25 at the door of the hall, 2333 San Juan Ave., with proceeds to benefit the Paradise Theatre School, Chimacum’s nonprofit theater company.
The Paradise, run by Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom and Erik Van Beuzekom, is raising money to reopen the theater, which had to shut down for renovations in 2011. Work has begun, but plans were interrupted when Erik experienced a recurrence of the leukemia that had gone into remission 10 years ago.
Erik and Pattie plan to attend Saturday night, however, said Paradise spokeswoman Deborah Hammond.
“Hate Mail” comes from the pen of acclaimed playwright Jack Heifner, who also wrote the Off-Broadway hit “Vanities.” Heifner brought “Hate Mail” to Port Townsend for workshopping at the Key City Public Theatre Playwrights’ Festival, where the Nollettes gave it a reading. It proved a hit too, and now Heifner has given the Paradise Theatre School permission to stage it as a fundraiser.
In this epistolary play, the Nollettes play Daniel and Penny, lifelong friends who trade news, jokes and jabs via their cards, letters and finally emails. It’s a tribute, albeit a salty one, to Gurney’s “Love Letters,” the classic story of two friends who correspond over 50 years.
The Nollettes are ardent supporters of the Paradise, having starred in the company’s productions of classic and new plays.
Heather appeared in “Hung By the Chimney,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Othello” and “The Milosevics,” while Scott was seen in “Shining City,” “The Exonerated,” “A Very Lesbian Nutcracker” and “Blood Orange Bakersfield;” he also joined his wife in “Othello.”
