Metropolitan Playhouse Presents Virtual Benefit LOVE LETTERS FROM THE COLD WAR:

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse presents a streamed reading of a new documented drama comprised of correspondence between leading Cold Warriors, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev: LOVE LETTERS FROM THE COLD WAR, by Joseph Ryan.

Streaming 12/25/2022 at 12:00 AM (Eastern) through 1/1/2023 at 12:00 AM (Eastern). Running Time: 1 hour. Suggested Donation. Available at: www.MetropolitanPlayhouse.org/coldwarloveletters.

The program will be available throughout the holiday week, available through the theater's website: www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/tickets.

From Kennedy's hopeful election to his stunning and untimely death, he and Khrushchev maintained official but personal correspondence that reveals two leaders becoming, if hardly friends, then respectful adversaries with ultimately one goal: to stop the world tumbling into Armageddon. From the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs through the Cuban Missile Crisis, a first nuclear summit, and the building of the Berlin Wall, all with the Space Race a proxy background battle, the two men form a precarious partnership, sundered with Kennedy's assassination.

Discovered among US official papers by author and historian Joseph Ryan, these letters tell a fast-paced, eye-opening tale of statesmanship and brinksmanship with the highest stakes. Ryan's play brings the hearts of the era and these prominent figures to vivid life, including intimate reflections, public postures, occasional whimsy, and the surprising coda between Khrushchev and Jacqueline Kennedy in the wake of tragedy.

Proceeds from donations to the reading will support Metropolitan Playhouse and the extraordinary efforts of Direct Relief in Ukraine.

Metropolitan's reading is directed by Francis X. Kuhn. The ensemble includes: Elisabeth Ahrens, Sam Kitchin, and Jed Peterson. Musical arrangements by JONATHAN ALLENTOFF. Video design by Alex Roe.

Founded in 1948, DIRECT RELIEF is a humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 U.S. states and more than 90 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies - without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. Direct Relief has deployed more than 1,030 tons of medical aid and $20 million in financial assistance to Ukraine since the war broke out.

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