HAROLD & STELLA: LOVE LETTERS

HAROLD & STELLA: LOVE LETTERS
STARRING BILL RATNER & ARIANNA RATNER
Directed by Sydney Walsh

In 1942 Stella Adler (queen of modern acting) and Harold Clurman (dean of American theater) were living on opposite coasts of the country as the U.S. entered the Second World War. They began a steady stream of correspondence to buttress their long distance romance, letters that reveal times as tempestuous as their relationship. Through their words, we enter the lives of two artists unflinchingly committed to their work while struggling through creative, financial and romantic uncertainty.
For Harold, Stella embodied the very essence of the theater; he devoted himself unconditionally to both the woman and his art. Stella admired Clurman’s fervor and intellect. They weathered a stormy, three-decade-long love affair, which “Love Letters” encapsulates while painting a comical and human portrait of two theatrical giants.

This Hollywood Fringe Festival run of “Love Letters” coincides with the 80th Anniversary of Stella Adler’s teaching career and the release of Stella! Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa. Ochoa is producing the performances at the Bliss Art House Cafe.

Special/Discount tickets $35 for show plus a signed copy of Stella! Mother of Modern Acting, Stella Adler’s first biography.

Sheana Ochoa writes about theater and is widely published at such outlets as cnn.com and Salon, in addition to her own arts blog, SLAM. She inaugurated the One-Act Play Festival at the Stella Adler Academy in Hollywood and, in 2012, cofounded a new company, Freedom Theatre West, the first theatre company in southern California to focus on the Middle East and North Africa. She lives in Los Angeles.

Actor Bill Ratner joins the two-hander cast as Harold Clurman. Best known for his voice over work, Ratner is no stranger to Fringe, having been a two-time winner of “Best of the Hollywood Fringe Festival Extension” – Solo Category for “Bobbywood: Whatever Happened to Bobby the Bellboy?” He tours nationally for storytelling conferences, and festivals, and is an eight-time Moth StorySLAM Winner.

Arianna Ratner takes on the role of Stella Adler. She received a BFA in Theatre and a minor in producing from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Her voice can be heard in the upcoming Elder Scrolls game, The Sims, and on the Jumpin Jellyfish Ride at Disney’s California Adventures. Arianna plays Mae Tallick and Ari Roma in the Novi Stars webseries, and her voice is also featured in the talking Mae Tallick doll.

The performance schedule is as follows:
Friday June 6 at 8PM
Friday June 13 at 8PM
Tuesday June 17 at 7PM
Saturday June 21 at 7PM
Tuesday June 24 at 7PM
Saturday June 28 at 7PM

Tickets $10, on sale May 1st through the Hollywood Fringe Festival site: http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1654?tab=dates

Bliss Art House Café is located at 1249 Vine St., Los Angeles, CA, 90038.

Love Letters website: www.sheanaochoa.com
Stella Adler blog: https://stellaadleralifeinart.wordpress.com/
Harold & Stella: Love Letters Facebook