VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

Actors have more in common with doctors and nurses than one might think.

A nurse’s or doctor’s “reaction to a patient depends on everything you observe,” said Richard P. Wenzel, M.D., professor in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. “What you hear, what eye contact there is or lack thereof. What the patient says but also what the patient doesn’t say. The facial expressions. You have to be an observer.

You have to be a great observer to be an actor.

“That’s what acting is. Acting isn’t fake. Acting is responding to someone who is not just saying words but has the whole body language, the eye contact, the intonation … So you have to be a great observer to be an actor.”

Wenzel should know. This fall, the infectious disease expert is appearing in his second Theatre VCU production, A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” alongside Nancy Langston, Ph.D., former dean of the School of Nursing. Directed by Theatre Chair David Leong, “Love Letters” tells the story of Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, childhood friends who begin a correspondence that lasts 50 years.

The emotionally intimate play covers the lifetime of its two characters without ever changing scene. Melissa and “Andy” sit at opposite ends of a table reading letters they have written to each other, starting in grade school and continuing through the subsequent decades. There’s no actual interaction between the two. It sounds like a personal and difficult play for even the most seasoned actors, which, paradoxically, is exactly why Leong cast Wenzel and Langston rather than experienced theater students.

“The (characters) are I’m guessing in their 60s maybe when they’re doing the play,” Wenzel said. “So it would be harder for a 20-year-old to do that role. I think just having life experiences that we share in a sense and recognizing the exchange that the two characters have — it’s very real.”

For Langston, who has not acted since high school, the role was a little daunting. But through previous collaborations, Leong knew she could take direction well and possessed the right kind of presence and sincerity for the role.

“I’m pretty good at delivering speeches, presentations and stuff,” Langston said. “I’ve never had to do anything other than speak from the heart.”

And that’s all that Leong wants from his actors.

“Acting is all about being real and finding all of those places that you can tie together with your character,” he said. “It’s how I get them to play those moments emotionally and make it sound like it’s coming from them.”

While Leong had never presented this play before, he wanted to find something for Theatre VCU’s older audience to balance out September’s other Theatre VCU performances — a stand-up comedy act and a comedy sketch show — that skew toward younger spectators. Even so, Leong expects “Love Letters” to appeal to people of all ages.

“What’s nice about A.R. Gurney’s words is it’s about life,” he said. “Every person in here — whether you’re black, white, yellow, purple, or 16 or 96 — you will identify with many many moments, if not all of them in there. Every audience member will (feel) something different ... which is the magic of the play.

“When you go to see a movie, read a book, you want to go on a journey, you want a story and you want to go on a journey. You want all the ups and downs. This play takes you on the journey and this play takes you on the journey of your life. Every person in the audience, they will be taken on a journey of their life and that’s what’s wonderful about it.”

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