Past event

Letters Live Returns to NYC

Date:
14 May 2026

Letters Live, the one-of-a-kind celebration of the power of written correspondence, returned to The Town Hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York City for another unique and unforgettable show.

 

This show supported the vital work of Choose Love, a movement of people who are putting love into action. Choose Love get emergency aid and life-changing support directly to displaced communities, fast.

Running Order

Thursday May 14th 2026
ACT ONE

 

Ferdinand Kingsley

Dearest Beast

Noel Coward to Ian Fleming

 

Cynthia Nixon

God’s Law

An adoring fan (J. Kent Ashcraft) to Dr. Laura Schlessinger

 

Rita Wilson

Give women their names

Tabitha King to the media

 

Laurence Fishburne

In fact you will want to kill him

John Steinbeck to John Murphy

 

Catherine Keener

I do not believe in war

Joan Baez to IRS

 

Tom Ellis

I could curse for hours and hours

DH Lawrence to Edward Garnett

 

Lucy Halliday

I demand answers!

Thatcher Jensen to Lady selling seashells

 

Mark Strong

Yours in science

Harvey Rowe to Scott Williams

 

Cynthia Nixon and Laurence Fishburne

What is a minute?

Michelle’s mom to Mister Rogers

 

Hugo Hamlet

How beautiful!

Salvador Dalí to Federico Garcia Lorca

 

Sara Sidner

Don’t try to make yourself into somebody perfect

Clarice Lispector  to her sister

 

Mike Zegen

What you inherited WAS the real thing

A disgruntled customer to Coca-Cola Company

 

Dolly Wells

Let us love each other

Katherine Mansfield to Dorothy Brett

 

Cat Cohen

Fortunately I had my new radio

Edna Johnson to Mr. Walker

 

Billy Porter

It is like a physical wound

George Santayana to Iris Origo

 

ACT TWO

 

Cat Cohen

Dear Sir

Sarah-Louise Jordan to an admirer

Tom Ellis

My brains are hanging out like a dog’s tongue

Dylan Thomas to Margaret Taylor

 

Rita Wilson

A word before I turn out the light

Rachel Carson to Dorothy Freeman

 

Ferdinand Kingsley

Dear Cretins

Robert Stokes to NTL

 

Lucy Halliday

Also

Lady Elizabeth Compton to Lord William Compton

 

Mark Strong

Things to worry about

F. Scott Fitzgerald to Scottie

 

Billy Porter

Shadows run after me

Kahlil Gibran to Mary Haskell

 

Catherine Keener

I am so half an orange without you

Anne Sexton to her husband

 

Mike Zegen

P.S. This is my favorite memo ever

Matt Stone to MPAA

 

Dolly Wells

As civil as their breath would allow

Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen

 

Hugo Hamlet

I consider reading the greatest bargain in the world

Gene Roddenberry to a young Star Trek fan

 

Sara Sidner

Please forgive me for not protecting you

Allisa Charles-Findley to Botham Jean

 

Laurence Fishburne

What we have got to have in this world is a change of heart

WEB Du Bois to the Tribune

 

MUSIC

 

Tom Odell

Black Friday

Another Love

 

Leif Vollebekk

Rest

Long Blue Light