Kirk Players to perform ‘Love Letters’

Longtime Mundelein residents and Kirk Players veterans Jon Leslie Lynn and Paddy Lynn will perform “Love Letters,” a romantic theatrical, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 and 13 at the Outdoor Theatre of Loyola at Cuneo Mansion and Gardens.

“Love Letters,” A.G. Gurney’s Pulitzer Prize nominated play, is centered on two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. Their romantic and often tumultuous story is told through a series of letters they write one another over the course of 50 years.

“We have enjoyed performing this piece together through the years. It allows us to renew our vows through a recollection of our own beginnings over 35 years ago,” Paddy Lynn said.

The couple met quite accidentally as theater students in a set construction class at Illinois Wesleyan University when a scenery batten unraveled and almost fell on Paddy. Jon, inspired with Paddy’s charming beauty, acted swiftly to block the batten from harming her.

“It wasn’t quite love at first sight, but we saw each other a lot, and, I must say, I was smitten when Jon hitchhiked down to my home on the South Side over the winter break to see me,” she said.

The couple married in 1978, traveled to Los Angeles to launch their professional pursuit of theater, and later returned to the Chicago area to continue their acting careers and start a family.

Paddy, owner/performer of Paddytale StoryActing, is presently artistic director for Kirk Players, entering its 48th season of community service through theater. Jon Leslie, recently retired director of theater at Barrington High School, is also very active with Kirk Players, and presently serves as membership director of the Mundelein-based troupe.

Jon also recently directed the group’s first musical, “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?”

More information and tickets are available by visiting www.kirkplayers.org or calling (847) 521-6192.