Wednesday, February 12, 2014 • Whidbey News-Times
LOVE CONTINUED FROM A1 Not their own, but the letters of the play’s two main characters who carry on a long distance relationship through letters that started in the second grade and continued through marriage, divorce and into a still separated middle age. Although Bruce Hartley spent ample time working behind the scenes of dramatic productions in high school and college in his hometown of Walla Walla, this will be the first time he’s stepped out from behind the curtain. He’s branching out at age 86. “This is the first time he’s opened his mouth and wanted to be on stage,” Gloria said. “It was his idea.” Bruce’s biggest concern is the lighting and whether he’ll be able to read the script. But he’ll have the comfort of a familiar companion at his side. The Hartleys are one of 14 married couples who will be featured in “Love Letters,” a play written by A.R. Gurney that premiered on Broadway in 1989. In recent years, actor Robert Wagner and his wife, Jill St. John, have traveled around the country performing the play. At the Whidbey Playhouse, each of the two acts will be read by different couples. For Valentine’s Day only, there will be performances in two different locations Friday night: the Whidbey Playhouse and Coupeville Recreation Hall. The off-season play is a fundraiser for Whidbey Playhouse improvements. “It’s just really a charming play,” said Stan Thomas, who is the director but also acts with his wife, Geri, on the show’s final production Feb. 23. “It’s a non-traditional love story told in a non-traditional way. It is moving. It is funny. It is bittersweet. It’s really well-written.” The words are so moving that some of the actors and actresses had trouble holding back their emotions during rehearsals. “The actors make it work,” Thomas said. “They have to connect emotionally to the letters themselves. They have to read them as if they were the ones who had written them. It’s not simply reading letters.” The script was compelling enough to get Bruce and Gloria Hartley on stage for the first time. They’ve experienced some of life’s challenges posed in the play, becoming united
after both had gone through divorces early in life. They brought together four young boys under the same roof, then had their own daughter a year later. Bruce spent a career traveling to different parts of the world, holding the title of international director of quality assurance, among other titles, for Libby’s and later Nestle. The family moved with Bruce’s job, going from Illinois to Wisconsin, back to Illinois, then to New York. “I had a father who traveled. I knew what it was like. I knew what was required of it,” Gloria said. “My background was a teacher. I figured I could handle a class of five.” “She made me what I am,” Bruce said. “If I had stayed a bachelor, I don’t know what would have happened to me. She gave me stability. She took care of the kids when I traveled all over the world. The fact that I was free to do that made my career.” The road started off a little bumpy, however, Gloria said. “The first year we married, we put two families together, moved twice, lost three parents and had a child,” Gloria said. “Talk about stress levels. We looked at each other after that year was over and said, ‘If we can make it through this, we can make it through anything.’ So far, we have.” Gloria joked that the real adjustment came after Bruce retired when she had her husband around “24/7.” That transition came two decades ago after the couple settled in Oak Harbor. “Being 10 years older than my wife, if we leave this world in the order we go in, I go first, so I wanted for her to be comfortable if she survived me,” Bruce said. “When I retired, I couldn’t figure out where I wanted us to go.” The decision was placed on Gloria. She remembered a place they had visited shortly after they first met in the same state where Bruce was raised. “She chose Whidbey Island,” he said. “He couldn’t understand how I wanted to be so far away from home,” Gloria said. Now, as they peek out their living room window and stare at Puget Sound and daily shows of eagles soaring near Polnell Point, they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
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LOVE LETTERS
“Love Letters” opens Thursday night at the Whidbey Playhouse in Oak Harbor. The play was written by A.R. Gurney and premiered on Broadway in 1989. It is a non-traditional play directed by Stan Thomas and performed by different couples each night and each act of the two-act play. The play tells the story of two people who met in the second grade and their correspondence over 50 years as they carry on a long-distance relationship through letters. Their communications mark the trials of adulthood, marriage and divorce up to a still separated middle age. Guidance is suggested for this off-season play, which is a fundraiser for Whidbey Playhouse improvements. Tickets are $14. Performances are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. through Feb. 23. The Whidbey Playhouse is at 730 S.E. Midway Boulevard in Oak Harbor. For more information or tickets, call 360-679-2237, or go to the website at www.whidbeyplayhouse.com There also will be a special Valentine’s Day only performance at 6 p.m. Friday at the Coupeville Recreation Hall. That show includes dinner provided by Front Street Grill. Tickets are $95 a couple for
that show and dinner. For information on the Coupeville event, call 360-682-2551. The lineup of actors for “Love Letters” at the Whidbey Playhouse: Thursday, Feb. 13: Act 1, Cynthia Kleppang and Doug Langrock; Act 2, Sheila Ryan and Dave Myers. Friday, Feb. 14: Penny and John Fowkes; Cori and Jim Siggens. Saturday, Feb. 15: Joyce Napoletano and Jim Otruba; Carol and Bob Wall. Sunday, Feb. 16: Nicole Bouvion and Dave Willis; Pat and Fil Baca. Thursday, Feb. 20: Rusty and Bob Hendrix; Helen and Ken Bates. Friday, Feb. 21: Monica and Dustin Amundson; Janis and Hector Powell. Saturday, Feb. 22: Tamra Sipes and Kent Peckinpaugh; Gloria and Bruce Hartley. Sunday, Feb. 23: Heather Good and Darren McCoy; Geri and Stan Thomas.
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