Mitchell Anderson, Jenny Levison share ‘Love Letters’ to food, art, each other

“Love Letters,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist play, is a drama spanning 50 years in which two characters — privileged but bohemian Melissa Gardner (Levison) and buttoned-up Andrew Makepeace Ladd III (Anderson) — sit on a stage reading letters and cards detailing their friendship from the time they met as second graders.

“Love Letters” opened in 1989 off-Broadway with Kathleen Turner and John Rubinstein and later that year was performed on Broadway with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards. Other productions pairing celebrities began appearing in New York and around the world.

When he was a young actor in Los Angeles in the early ‘90s, Anderson saw the play and remembers being moved by its simplicity. Gurney’s world really resonated with him, and the characters the playwright brought to life are much like the people Anderson went to school with at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Anderson and Levison have acted together in Atlanta over the years.

She has produced several fundraising and Valentine’s Day cabarets, as well as a reading of “Falsettos.” The two also appeared together in Geoffrey Nauffts’ play “Next Fall” at Actor’s Express in 2012, playing best friends.

Both agree “Love Letters” is the right fit for the two to collaborate again.

“Jenny and I are always looking for other things to do, to not only scratch the onstage theatrical itch but to have a project that is outside the world of the restaurant, which is all-consuming,” Anderson says. “We have wanted to do this play for a while, and it just worked out — this play, in particular, because it doesn’t require a whole lot of rehearsal. It is meant to be done as a stage reading. For so many reasons, it seems like this play is the perfect thing, and it has not been here in a very long time.”

Credit: (Photo by Richie Arpino)

Credit: (Photo by Richie Arpino)

It’s not really a nostalgic piece, he adds, but the kind of theater that will bring people back to a simpler time when audiences weren’t distracted by screens and other modern devices.

Levison, too, was intrigued by the project. “It’s such a beautiful piece about missed opportunities and connections,” she says. “I loved the idea of us doing this, (with) us being in the same business. (Mitchell and I) are basically the same age, and there is a lot we have talked about doing together.”

The production is directed by Courtenay Collins Eckardt, who directed Anderson and Levison in their own solo musicals. Although it’s a work meant to be staged without an abundance of rehearsal, Anderson feels the more familiar the two actors are with the words, the better they’ll be in creating spontaneity onstage.

Proceeds from the show will be split among DIG (Development in Gardening), which teaches sustainable gardening techniques, Synchronicity Theatre and the Zadie Project, a nonprofit founded by Levison that helps to feed hungry children, families and seniors in Atlanta.

The two performers met in 2003 when Anderson went to work for Levison’s first store in Buckhead as an apprentice. Anderson’s husband, Richie Arpino, introduced the two, telling Levison that Anderson was thinking of changing careers from film and TV and wanted to know if he could start in her kitchen. They clicked almost immediately.

“We totally related on so many different levels,” Anderson says. “We both have a love of food. She taught me a lot about how to take what I already knew about prep and do it on a large scale. It was a very improvisational approach to food. But more than that, we related to each other on an artistic level, so that visually and theatrically we’re on the same page.”

At the time they met, Levison was in the midst of adopting a child by herself. “Mitchell came in and learned the business and completely took over for three months while I went and adopted my son,” she says. “That was the beginning of our amazing friendship. He worked for me almost a year before he left. People often do ask me how I feel about Mitchell having a similar concept, and I sent him off with blessings. There is plenty of room here for both businesses.”

MetroFresh will be 20 years old on Oct. 10. On the day Anderson opened the store, Levison put a sign on her door telling patrons Souper Jenny was closed that day and that patrons should join her in going to MetroFresh instead.

Their bond has allowed them to collaborate and give each other support and fresh ideas.

“My mentor has become my colleague,” Anderson says, “and you can’t get better than that.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Courtenay Collins Eckardt.

THEATER PREVIEW

“Love Letters”

Friday-Sunday at Synchronicity Theatre. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. $50-$100. 1545 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. synchrotheatre.com

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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