The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Presents
A Special Performance Of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters”
February 12, 2005
In Thanks For Forty Years Of Friendship, Support And Dedication

Waterford, CT, January 20, 2005 - The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, America’s premier theater laboratory, would like to thank the citizens of its surrounding communities for providing over 40 years of support and friendship to its countless artists and students with a special performance of AR Gurney’s Love Letters on February 12, 2005 starring esteemed actors Scotty Bloch and Peter Walker.

Executive Director Amy Sullivan commented, “The local community has always extended magnanimous support and dedication to this important artistic and cultural institution. This is an opportunity for us to show our appreciation for all they have done and continue to do for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.”

Since its inception in 1964, audiences have flocked to the O’Neill Center to watch the creation and development of new work for the stage. Their feedback and encouragement has been invaluable to many hundreds of emerging and established theater artists who have found creative inspiration and sustenance at the Center’s Waterford home. The O’Neill Center is thrilled to be able to present A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters over Valentine’s weekend and grateful to Scotty Bloch and Peter Walker for generously donating their time.

Bloch and Walker, both who have distinguished careers on Broadway and in Cinema, will perform as the play’s characters Melissa Gardiner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd, III. Love Letters follows the letter correspondence of these two characters beginning in the second grade and continuing through adolescence, maturity and into middle age.

The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Dina Merrill Theater at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford. Seating is limited. Please reserve seats by calling 860.443.5378 x 0 no later than February 8th. Reservations are required. While there is no admission charge, donations will be gratefully accepted at the door and will benefit the National Theater Institute Scholarship Fund. A short talk back and light refreshments will follow.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1000 new works for the stage and 2500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award of Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. Today, the O’Neill is home to the National Playwrights Conference, Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, National Critics Institute, and the fully accredited National Theater Institute, a 14-week theater intensive. In addition, the O’Neill owns the Monte Cristo Cottage, the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill.

For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O’Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860.443.5378 x 0. # # #

SCOTTY BLOCH - BIO

Scotty has originated many roles in New York theatre including Broadway productions: CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD and THE PRICE. Her extensive Off-Broadway credits include WEDDING PLAYS at HB Studio Theatre written by Susan Sandler, CHANGING OF THE GUARD at Ensemble Studio Theatre, SAVED OR DESTROYED by Harry Kondoleon and directed by Craig Lucas, THE WAVERLY GALLERY by Kenneth Lonergan,WHAT I MEANT WAS written by Craig Lucas, THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS (Laurette Taylor Award); SCOTLAND ROAD, THE BRUTALITY OF FACT and MADAME ZELENA, all at Primary Stages; UNEXPECTED TENDERNESS, OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY, ISN’T IT ROMANTIC, LEMON SKY, and WALKING THE DEAD. Regional favorites: THE HUNGER EDUCATION by Jessica Goldberg at The O’Neill Theatre Center; GRILLER by Eric Bogosian at the Baltimore Center Stage, THREE VIEWINGS by Jeffrey Hatcher at Philadelphia Theatre Co. (Barrymore Award) and THE STAND-IN (Dramalogue Award). TV credits: LAW & ORDER, KATE & ALLIE, many more; Film: Woody Allen’s four most recent; IQ, BONFIRE OF THE VANITES, THE KING OF COMEDY, and THE LUNCH DATE Academy Award - Best Short Film.

PETER WALKER - BIO

Among the 12 plays and musicals he performed on Broadway were DRACULA (Directed by Dennis Rosa); the legendary FOLLIES (Directed by Hal Prince); WHERE’S CHARLEY (Directed by Ted Mann); and, MY OLD FRIENDS - Drama Desk Nomination - (Directed by Phil Rose). His last off-Broadway credit was for the Manhattan Theater Club, standing by for Athol Fugard in the playwright’s two-character play, VALLEY SONG - (Directed by Athol Fugard). National Tours include (as the narrator mysterious man) INTO THE WOODS (Directed by James Lapine) and as Cornelius Hackle in HELLO DOLLY (Directed by Gower Champion) and Niel Simon’s CALIFORNIA SUITE. Other tours and regional theaters include: SLEUTH - WHERE’S CHARLEY - HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS, WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Six years in France: George Voskovec’s, American Theater in Paris and - in French - on stage LE SIGNE DU TOUREAU and on film, SI TOUS LES GARS DU MONDE (David Selznick International Award). Hollywood: (TV) TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, COLUMBO, and Boris Karloff’s THRILLER; (Film) THE MUSIC MAN- FOUR HORSEMAN OF APOCALYPSE - THE EXECUTION OF PRIVATE SLOVIK. (For the Broadway musical, HARRIGAN N’ HART, Walker wrote the lyrics to Max Showalter’s music and Michael Stewart’s book produced by the Shubert Organization in conjunction with the Goodspeed Opera House).

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1000 new works for the stage and 2500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award of Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. The plays and musicals developed and performed at The O’Neill include such notable works as John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, Brian Crawley and

Jeanine Tesori’s Violet, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Fuddy Meers and Kimberly Akimbo, John Henry Redwood’s The Old Settler, Deborah Bailey Brevoort’s The Women of Lockerbie, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences and The Piano Lesson, Avenue Q by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty and Nine by Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti and Maury Yeston.