The Lake Braddock Theatre will present two productions this spring. A. R. Gurney's ode to ancient American tradition of letter writing "Love Letters," and Shirley Lauro's dramatization of six women's experiences in Vietnam entitled "A Piece of My Heart."
"Love Letters" will become the inaugural production of the Lake Braddock Theatre Laboratory, an experimental stage for expanding research into the human condition. Every year, LBTL will present small, off-beat shows that feature small casts and present issues relevant to human interaction. For the first few years, the shows will be produced in The Recital Hall, until the opening of Lake Braddock's Black Box Theatre slated for 2005. "Love Letters" will be produced April 3 - 5, and will feature a different cast each performance. The Thursday April 3, 7:30 performance will feature sophomores Robert Jones and Mandy Kimlick. The Friday, April 4, 8 p.m. performance stars juniors Hannah Davis and Matt Ference. Saturday matinee (2:30 p.m.) April 5 will showcase freshmen Mark Jennings and Holly Riggi. And Saturday evening (8 p.m.), seniors Adam Lowe and Kat Purgal close the production. Tickets for the Laboratory production are only $5 and on sale at the door.
IN APRIL 2002, The Lake Braddock Theatre was invited to perform at 2003 The American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF). AHSTF runs in conjunction with the Fringe Festival — the world's largest performing arts festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland each August. This spring's mainstage performance of "A Piece of My Heart" was the show Lake Braddock Theatre intended to perform in Edinburgh, but fundraising problems and concern for overseas security caused the endeavor to be canceled for 2003. Despite the abandoned cause, Lake Braddock Theatre will still perform the production that has been in rehearsal since December. Up to this point, most of the rehearsing has been in the form of research.
"A PIECE OF MY HEART" is the true story about six women in Vietnam from 1968 - 1969. Three nurses (Stepher Eng, Lyn Osborn, and Lauren Rife), one musician (Sandra Porter), one Red Cross volunteer (Kat Purgal), and one career officer (Meg Seay) tell their stories from the day they signed-up, through their tours of duty, and ultimately to their lives stateside. The play is a delicate balance of intense tales of horror and tragedy as well as inspiring recollections of the strength of the human spirit. The play is also a collection of names, events and issues from a time period some 5 - 20 years before the students at Lake Braddock were born. So, for the past few months, the students have engaged in different aspects of research of the time period, from watching episodes of "China Beach", to various documentaries of the war, as well as hearing from primary sources who had experiences in Vietnam. One such source was Cathie Solomonson, a Vietnam-era army nurse who served around the same time as the women in the play.
Solomonson has spoken to several high school students in the area about her experiences and was a supporter for the effort to establish a monument to the women who served in Vietnam on the Mall. Solomonson has also been instrumental in introducing students to members of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
The Lake Braddock Theatre production of Shirley Lauro's "A Piece of My Heart" is stage managed by senior Jen Wolf and will be presented on the following dates and times: Thursday, May 1 and 8, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, May 2 and 9, at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 3, at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. All seats are $7 presale/$8 at the door. Tickets can be reserved beginning Monday, April 21 by calling the following phone numbers: 703-426-1070 for information only and 703-455-1762 to reserve tickets on answering machine or send an email to www.lbttickets.com. For information check, the website at www.lbtheatre.com.