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By BOB NOCEK; Times Leader Staff Writer
Friday, October 17, 1997     Page: 2C

WILKES-BARRE- Performing together in one play, Francine Haskell-Farrell and
Edward Franklin started thinking about doing another.
   
For two affluent New York actors, the upper-class world of A.R. Gurney’s
“Love Letters” seemed a perfect fit.
    “We seemed to match the Gurney play absolutely because we had been to the
schools and had the kind of life he talks about, and we just sort of
illustrated the play,” Haskell-Farrell said. “It was amazing. Well, we became
friends and decided we wanted to work together and do something. We had a
couple of choices, and we thought `Love Letters’ would suit us very well.”
   
With the help of Broadway director Terry Schreiber, the two have created a
performance of Gurney’s play that has earned outstanding reviews.
   
On Sunday, they’ll perform “Love Letters” at the Dorothy Dickson Darte
Center at Wilkes University, where Adam Hill, a longtime friend of
Haskell-Farrell’s, teaches acting.
   
Haskell-Farrell and Franklin previously performed the play in Hill’s
theater in Los Angeles. The two have also performed in Manhattan, Long Island,
and Vail, Colo.
   
“We have reviews from producers and directors who came to see us who say
it’s the best they’ve seen, and I think that’s because we’re so right for it,”
said Haskell-Farrell. “We know their lives.”
   
Haskell-Farrell, who was born in Paris, has performed on stage both in
Europe and New York, including an assortment of Off-Broadway and regional
runs.
   
On television, she appeared on NBC’s “Law and Order” and the ABC soap
“Ryan’s Hope.”
   
Franklin first acted professionally in the 1950s, but instead pursued a
career in law and business. He returned to acting in 1988, and has since
appeared in a number of regional Shakespearian productions, as well as
Off-Off-Broadway and Los Angeles.
   
The two met performing in a production of “The Pleasure of His Company”-
the play where they started thinking about doing “Love Letters”- at the Comedy
Club in New York.
   
“We work very well together,” she said. “We became very good friends, and
we’re very at ease with each other. Which is important because this is a very
intimate play.”
   
Gurney’s play follows the lives of Andrew Makepeace Ladd and Melissa
Gardner from their opulent childhoods through their troubled adult lives.
   
In a world of wealth, their letters to each other prove that even with
money, happiness can be elusive.
   
“I suppose you could call it a tragicomedy, but I just think it’s about
life,” Haskell-Farrell said. “How many people have the perfect life? How many
people end up with the perfect person? How many are lucky enough to do that?”
   
What makes Gurney’s play unusual is its format.
   
The two actors perform seated at a table, reading aloud the letters that
Andy and Melissa exchange. They never speak to each other, although they do
react to each other’s letters.
   
“It’s a difficult play,” she said, “because you’re sitting there and never
look at each other. You can’t get up and move and do the things that you
usually do in theater.”
   
If you go
   
WHAT: “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney.
   
WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday.
   
WHERE: Dorothy Dickson Darte Center at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre.
   
TICKETS: $10 general admission, $5 for Wilkes faculty and students.
   
INFORMATION: 408-4540.