Photo Flash: Bill Connington and AnnMarie Benedict Preview LOVE LETTERS; Plays 11/14 at Colonial Dames Museum House

Award-winning actors Bill Connington (ZOMBIE) and AnnMarie Benedict (ROBESON) will appear in A.R. Gurney's beloved classic, LOVE LETTERS, on Thursday, November 14th at the Colonial Dames Museum House at 215 East 71st Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues). Cocktails are at 6 pm; the performance is at 7 pm. The play is directed by Dan Cordle (POSSESSION) and will benefit historic Van Cortlandt House Museum in Van Cortlandt Park. The evening is produced by Razors Edge Productions. Tickets are $75 each, or two for $125. For information and reservations call 212-744-3572.

The evening uses the tag line, "Because sometimes only a letter will do." LOVE LETTERS is a charming and touching look at a specific segment of American life. According to the author, the play is "about a fifty-year love affair carried on primarily through letters, written in and about a world where letter-writing was very much an essential mode of communication, especially between men and women." It is considered Gurney's most characteristic and enduring play. Gurney is a respected and prolific playwright who often writes about what has been called "WASP culture" and its eventual decline in power. The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1990.

Bill Connington is the author and star of the Off-Broadway, extended-run, critically acclaimed show ZOMBIE, which played the New York International Fringe Festival, Theater Row, and the Gerald Lynch Theater in New York. Connington adapted ZOMBIE from the novella by best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates, and it was directed by Thomas Caruso. Connington was named "Best Lead Actor" and "Outstanding Male Actor' in addition to ZOMBIE being awarded "Outstanding Solo Show." ZOMBIE is currently in pre-production as an independent feature film, to be shot in the autumn of 2014. Connington is also in pre-production on another indy feature, and will be a visiting professor at Yale Drama School in the spring semester of 2014.

AnnMarie Benedict has performed with Connington in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, THE DINING ROOM, A CHEEVER EVENING, and several plays by Joyce Carol Oates. She has also appeared in ROBESON, HENRY V, CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, and the award-winning solo play MIND THE GAP in New York. She has toured extensively in classic plays throughout America, and starred in the award-winning film BREAK, as a young mother who suffers a nervous breakdown.

Director Dan Cordle recently directed his first feature film, POSSESSION, which is currently on the film festival circuit, where it has won an award. Cordle directed Connington in a production of ART, and the short film comedy COCKTAIL WITH THE BROWNS, which co-starred Juliette Bennett. The director helmed Connington and Benedict in THE DINING ROOM, and A CHEEVER EVENING. Cordle is currently in pre-production on several feature films, and teaches in New York University's graduate theater program.

A.R. ("Pete") Gurney's widely produced plays include THE DINING ROOM, THE COCKTAIL HOUR, INDIAN BLOOD, BUFFALO GAL, and the recent work, THE GRAND MANNER, which was performed at Lincoln Center. Gurney has won many awards during his career, and is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame and of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Razors Edge Productions - THE DINING ROOM, A CHEEVER EVENING, LOVE LETTERS, and ART. ZOMBIE at the New York International Fringe Festival, and two extended Off-Broadway runs. The short film ZOMBIE: 18 film festivals, 5 awards.

The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York is dedicated to educating the public about life in Colonial America, and helping to preserve historically significant properties. Van Cortlandt House is the oldest building in the Bronx (built in 1748), is a National Historic Landmark, and was the headquarters of General George Washington in the Battle of White Plains. http://www.nscdny.org/headquarters-gdumbarton/van-cortland/

AnnMarie Benedict and Bill Connington

AnnMarie Benedict and Bill Connington

AnnMarie Benedict and Bill Connington