The Imagination Blog

A while back while my wife was cleaning out some closet she found a box of letters I sent her while I was on a Navy cruise in the Mediterranean. It was pre-internet; telephone communication was by trans-Atlantic cable and expensive, so letters and the more modern technology, cassette tape recording, were the only way to keep in touch. My writing was not very profound, but it awakened the feelings of separation I had and the longing to know how life fared for my bride across the ocean. Our separation was only a few months, but I wonder what I might have said in letters over a longer time span.

Tonight, Barbara and I saw Brian Baker and Terry Farrell in Love Letters as they portrayed Andrew and Melissa over 50 years of their lives as told through a series of letters to each other. It occurred to me that, like Andrew, I have always expressed my feelings better in writing than in person. I suppose the modern emoticon is technology’s answer to those who don’t have time to find the right words in the urgent immediacy of emails and text messages

But Love Letters is more than the longitudinal correspondence of childhood friends. Andrew and Melissa complement each other by their differences. She is the emotional fire he can not get elsewhere in his otherwise highly successful life; he is the grounding she has never had to keep her flame contained where it can produce light and warmth instead of destruction. One could read the script and get the idea, but Terry and Brian put flesh on the characters’ bones.

How many of us have wished for the opportunity to “do over” some time of our lives? Several times in the show, I saw that look on the characters’ faces – “if I had only…” That’s the beauty of theater – the intimate emotional sharing between the actors and the audience. And at Hershey Area Playhouse, the intimacy is almost palpable.

Don’t miss this production. And when you get home afterwards, take out that old Parker and write to someone – in a letter.

All the best,

John Messmer

October 12, 2008 - Tech week this week – the time to get all the sounds, lights, props and so on all working and at the right time. We had our first tech run through tonight for The Mousetrap. I must say it’s looking great! Even though I have been intimately involved with this show for weeks now (as Christopher Wren – “a singularly ill-mannered and neurotic young man” according to Mrs. Boyle), I must say you will thoroughly enjoy the show.

The stage has been turned into the parlour of Monkswell Manor with a grand staircase and lots of old period furniture of “lovely proportions.” The audience will be as voyeurs looking in on the comings and goings of Mr. and Mrs. Ralston as they open their new guest house and welcome a menagerie of rather unique characters to stay for the sum of “seven guineas a week.” 

Each character has a past – one they would like to stay hidden. Trying to stay warm during a blizzard, the guests interact among themselves and Detective Sergeant Trotter who shows up on skis to investigate a murder that took place just before the story opens and “as a matter of police protection” for the guests at Monkswell Manor. Sgt. Trotter believes another murder linked to the first one will be attempted at Monkswell Manor much to the skepticism of the guests and the Ralstons.

In spite of Sgt. Trotter, someone dies and we watch the stories unfold as the audience sees first one person then another look as though he or she could have been the murderer. Was it Giles Ralston, husband of Mollie who went off “racing around the countryside” to look for chicken netting – or did he? Perhaps it was Paravicini, the unexpected guest, a foreigner whose car overturns in the snow and who just shows up? Where did he come from, anyway? Maybe it was Christopher Wren, the budding architect, who is the right age and very odd. He adores nursery rhymes and cooking and finds the idea of a murder quite funny. And what of that “terrible female” Miss Casewell, “if she is a female.” What’s her connection? 

In Agatha Christie’s play, a murder is more than a mystery. There is humor and pathos and the always fascinating interplay of characters and personalities which Christopher Wren finds “madly interesting.”

Personally, I have enjoyed working on The Mousetrap so much, I’ve hardly noticed all the extra time away from my “day job” to work on it. Brian Kreider (“The Blue-Eyed Six” and “Milton Hershey, the Play”) is directing for the Playhouse for the first time. It’s been a pleasure and a learning opportunity for me. Have we finally settled on my character, Brian? 

One of the terrific parts of community theater is working with other regular people, many of whom I have either worked with or had the pleasure of watching perform already. We share the love of bringing text to life and sharing the intimacy of theatre, especially our Playhouse theatre with its three-quarter setting, with the audience. Personally, I feel privileged to have worked with seven talented actors and a group of skilled technical people, not to mention my wife, the producer.

Everyone should see The Mousetrap at Hershey Area Playhouse. It’s been running for 56 years at St. Martin’s Theatre in London, the longest running show in the world, ever. It will run only two weekends in Hershey so do not miss it!

 - John Messmer