Dear Jack, Dear Louise
December 20, 2022 - January 14, 2023
Written By: Ken Ludwig
Shows: Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8pm
Sparks fly and love blossoms across the darkened landscape of World War II, when Jack, a U.S. Army doctor, begins a letter correspondence with Louise, an aspiring actress living a world away from his war-torn reality. The play won the Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur award for Best New Play of 2020. It will feature Jessica Miano Kruel and Cody Borah.
KEN LUDWIG’S “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” OPENS THE RED BARN’S 43RD SEASON
In the 21st Century’s fast-paced digital culture, the personal letter, handwritten on fine stationery from one person to another, has all but disappeared -- become a lost art few seldom indulge in anymore. Emails, texts, Tweets, Instagrams, connection apps – these are the main means of communication between people in a world increasingly dominated by the code of a metaverse we no longer actually touch.
Perhaps this was on the mind of playwright Ken Ludwig when he sat down last year to pen his Helen Hayes Award Winning play, “Dear Jack, Dear Louise.” Because the heart of the play is about just that – personal, handwritten letters that passed between a World War II Army doctor and a Broadway starlet working at the Stage Door Canteen in New York during the war. And they’re not just any letters – these were epistles that formed the joyous, heartwarming story of Ludwig’s parents’ long-distance courtship and eventual marriage.
“Dear Jack, Dear Louise” is set to make its South Florida debut December 20th as the opening production of the Red Barn’s 43rd Season in Key West, with a run that goes through January 14th of 2023. It will star Key West favorites Jessica Miano Kruel as Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress and dancer in New York, and Cody Borah as Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor then stationed in Oregon. The Barn’s Artistic Director, Joy Hawkins, will direct.
“It’s a good, old-fashioned story,” Hawkins said. “And I think it’s special to have such an unabashed love story in these times. It takes you back. And it’s pertinent right now as we’re dealing with war in the world. It’s sweet, it’s funny, but it’s also real – these were real people, living real lives, and we’re privileged to watch how they managed to fall in love under such circumstances.”
Ludwig and Rabiner, living on opposite sides of the country in 1942, strike up a correspondence at the urging of their parents, who were old friends. They find a rapport right away – he encouraging her with auditions, she commiserating over his hardass commanding officer. It’s not all fun and games, though, as the ugly situation in the world encroaches on their connection.
The show isn’t schmaltzy either, in great part due to the way it’s staged, with the two characters on stage together but separately – he in his world on one side of the stage, and she in hers on the other. The beauty of the play is in the way the characters build chemistry in front of the audience’s eyes without ever looking at one another. And they’re not reading the letters – they’re living the words we understand they wrote.
“It’s captivating to watch,” Hawkins said. “We’re not sure they’ll ever get together, but it’s a beautiful ending. I hope the audience will feel connected to their own experiences, and maybe those of their own parents.”
The Washington Post said the play is “…a poignant, funny tribute to the enduring power of human connection.” The Lit Arts Maven said, “One of the finest theatre experiences I have had in 25 years of reviewing.”
“Dear Jack, Dear Louise” runs December 20 – January 14, excepting Christmas Eve and Christmas, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com/tickets or by calling 305-296-9911, 3-5 pm weekdays.
The Red Barn season is sponsored in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.