Letters Live made a highly anticipated return to The Town Hall in Midtown, Manhattan on 16th May 2024 to once again enchant New Yorkers with its remarkable blend of emotion, storytelling, and a touch of mystery.
Each Letters Live performance is unique, offering audiences a one-of-a-kind experience filled with unexpected moments and evocative tales. The performers’ identities will remain a closely-guarded secret until the moment they take to the stage. Check out our line up for this very special evening below.
This show was in association with Montblanc and supported Choose Love and its vital work with refugees and displaced people around the world.
ACT ONE
Peter Dinklage
The bee flies anyway
Spalding Gray to New York City
Sarah Cooper
God’s Law
An adoring fan (J. Kent Ashcraft) to Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Christian Slater
Federal Agent at Large
Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon
Ira Glass
Did we learn anything from Watergate?
Ben Bradlee to students
Patti Smith
The most beautiful work of all
Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe
Dagmara Domińczyk
WE ARE BARELY HANGING ON
Julie Scagell to her son’s recorder
Louise Brealey
I’m amputating you
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Common
The dearest daughter a man could have
Cary Grant to his daughter
Maria Popova
Dear One
Rachel Carson to Dorothy Freeman
Lili Taylor
Know that you are loved
Dorothy Freeman to Rachel Carson
ACT TWO
Sarah Cooper
Give women their names
Tabitha King to the media
Maria Popova
And now I must dress to receive the planets, dear
Willa Cather to Edith Lewis
Peter Dinklage
Regarding your dam complaint
Stephen Tvedten to David Price
Louise Brealey &
Lili Taylor
Let’s be mortal
Heather Havrilesky to a reader
Dagmara Domińczyk
Stop writing letters to the top poets in America
Anne Sexton to an aspiring poet
Christian Slater
The battle isn’t over, it’s just begun
Aaron Sorkin to his daughter and her mother
Dagmara Dominczyk,
Lili Taylor.
Louise Brealey &
Sarah Cooper
Dear Michael
Various women to Michael Block
Common
My Dungeon Shook
James Baldwin to his nephew
MUSIC
Real Life
Joan as Police Woman
Wing
Patti Smith
Hvnli
keiyaA
An adoring fan to Dr. Laura Schlessinger, © J Kent Ashcraft; James Baldwin to his nephew, excerpts from “My Dungeon Shook” and “Down at the Cross” from The Fire Next Time. Copyright © 1962, 1963 by James Baldwin, renewed 1991, 1992 by Gloria Baldwin Karefa-Smart. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of the James Baldwin Estate.; Ben Bradlee to Students, © Sally Quinn; Rachel Carson to Dorothy Freeman, Rachel Carson to Dorothy Freeman © 1995 Roger Allen Christie. Used by permission of Yake Literary Management LLC; Dorothy Freeman to Rachel Carson, © the Estate of Dorothy Freeman; Cary Grant to Jennifer, © the Estate of Cary Grant; Spalding Gray to New York City, © the estate of Spalding Gray; Heather Havrilesky to a reader, from Heather Havrilesky, How to Be a Person in the World: Ask Polly’s Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, (2016), © Heather Havrilesky; Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera, © 2024 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Tabitha King to the media, © Tabitha King; Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon, © the Estate of Elvis Presley, by permission of Authentic Brands; Harvey Rowe to Scott Williams, © Harvey Rowe; Julie Scagell to her son’s recorder, © Julie Scagill; Anne Sexton to An Aspiring Poet, by permission of SLL/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Copyright © by Linda Gray Sexton; Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe, © Patti Smith; Aaron Sorkin to His daughters, © Aaron Sorkin 2016; Stephen Tvedten to David Price, © Stephen Tvedten
