“Write to Me” – Robert Lee Brown, Fringe Reviewer

Slow Burn Productions presents “Write to Me,” by actor and writer Stephanie Roberts, with musical accompaniment by cellist and composer Alex Williams. What a pleasure, especially if you find yourself thinking that open communication is at risk in this moment of postmodernity, even as new literacies spring up all around us.  This show “pushes the envelope,” with storytelling, nostalgia, a surprising twist, and optional audience participation.

Throughout the performance, Roberts reads a selection from some 200 received letters from three close college friends. Many are intimate and personal letters. Most were written between 1990 and 2002, when the friends were in their 20s.

Like a poem that leaps forward in long, winding sentences that seem to come together by sheer will of the poet, the amalgamation of the letters is a daring performance (or event) in itself. Williams’ improvised accompaniment is lovely and punctuates the readings. Roberts has devised a beautifully moving testimony to the power of epistles—to shape us, to inspire us, and to connect our pasts and presents.

Stephanie Roberts is a trained actor and storyteller so, it is no surprise that she quickly dashes through the common expectations for literary curated shows with mesmerizing physical theatre. Alex Williams, currently studying composition at the UMKC Conservatory of Music, animates the storytelling as he wheels his way in and out of utterance with restraint.

This is one of the most joyful collaborations I have seen in a while. My only wish is the pair rehearse the curtain call.