Pen Pals

When I was in fifth grade, my class was assigned Pen Pals, who lived in England and were students from a town with the same name as ours.  Once I got over the shock of the fact that there WAS another town with the same name, I got right to it.  We exchanged a few letters, and that was that.  I don’t recall what happened to my Pen Pal. I don’t remember her name or much of anything about her – except this: we were strangers connected.  In 1960 or so, this was a big deal.  In those days, the only way we could communicate with people was through letters or telegrams in an emergency.  Long distance phone calls were within the country and expensive.

Letter writing was the deal.

It still is in “Pen Pals.”  Michael Griffo has created an intimate and delicate world between Bernadette Patricia O’Brien from Newark and Margaret Mary Marsch from Sheffield, England.  Known henceforward as Bernie and Mags.  Their story begins in the fall of 1955 when both are 14-ish years old.  Both are filled with thoughts and few people to share them with.

Civil Rights and the Vietnam War exploded into our living rooms

These are iconic young women with what we might call the typical childhoods if you think of the world as white middle class.  Rock Hudson was a dreamboat, and Natalie Wood was the envy of every teenage girl.  In some ways, this works because the teenage years back in the 1950s and early 1960s were self-centered on the surface until the social movements of Civil Rights and the Vietnam War exploded into our living rooms.  And, oh, year, the Beatles.

Griffo prefers to stay on the safe side and stick to these girls’ romantic relationships.  Not entirely safe, mind you.  Issues of intercourse, abortion, fetal death, aging parents, and a wide variety of diseases are presented with no gift wrapping.  Love, marriage, motherhood and true love are weighed and picked over.  What is not discussed is the volatile world these two lived in.  Their friendship spans 50 years, for goodness sake. 1955-2005.  What about The John Kennedy assassination?  The March on Washington.  Deaths of RFK and MLK.  Feminism?  Princess Diana?  Aids.  Legalization of gay marriage?  The moon landing. Any of these would have been rich topics for discussion.

More is always at stake

And finally – why limit them to mail when the price of airline trips was plummeting?  These two women deserved to put their feet up in front of the same cozy fireplace.   And we would have loved to listen to that conversation.

It is a rich tapestry – that is for certain – one that has us rooting for them from the start.  Wished that we had been allowed to go a bit deeper where more is always at stake.

With a rotating cast starting with Johanna Day and Nancy McKeon – you have your pick!

Pen Pals

Written by Michael Griffo and Directed by SuzAnne Barabas

WITH Johanna Day and Nancy McKeon through December 22.  Rotating cast to follow through February 9.

Design by Jessica Parks, costume design by David C. Woolard, lighting design by Jill Nagle, sound design by Nick Simone.  In association with NJ Repertory Company.

Pen Pals is proud to partner with Susan G. Komen® and will donate 5% of the total ticket sales and 100% of all customer donations collected to Susan G. Komen®, whose mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer.

Tickets HERE

Theatre at St. Clements 423 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036

Readers may also enjoy Our Class, A Star Without A Name, and Island Restaurant on Madison.