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‘Letterati,’ an epistolary evening at the library

CHARITY ROBEY PHOTO Terry Brockbank and his wife Kathy will give a dramatic reading of letters  — some more than 2,000 years old — at the library on Friday September 2.

Dramatic readings drawn from letters written over the past 2,000 years are the focus of a presentation at the Shelter Island Library entitled “Letterati” which delves into the art and craft of correspondence.

Letters and letter-writing are too often a forgotten art form so these heart-warming, poignant and humorous readings, exploring the wit and wisdom, love and laughter in letters from the famous and infamous will truly be an evening’s delight.

Curated and performed by Kathy and Terry Brockbank, the dramatic readings will be presented on September 2, as part of the library’s Friday Night Dialogue series.

Be they farcical, historical, fictional, whimsical, biblical or factual, all this correspondence is important and meaningful in its own right in illuminating people, places and times.

Brought to life by the Brockbanks, these letters reveal the intimate musings of saints, royals, Shakespearean characters, politicians and world-famous authors. Many of you will remember the Brockbanks from the staged reading of Nora and Delia Ephron’s award-winning off-Broadway production, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” that they presented at the library a few years ago.

Kathy, who played Gingy in that production, made her professional stage debut at the tender age of five months. Her theater career continued for the next three decades. She then took the following three decades to raise a son (“soccer mom”), forge a career as a corporate sales consultant for luxury goods, and make a second home on Shelter Island.

At the library, Terry directed “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” and “Ancestral Voices.” He previously directed “Labor Day” at the North Fork Community Theatre (NFCT), and “Gaslight” on Shelter Island. His most recent acting role was Candy in “Of Mice and Men” at Bay Street Theatre. Other roles have included Lord Brockhurst in “The Boy Friend” and Colonel Pickering in “My Fair Lady” (NFCT), Uncle Henri in “My Three Angels,” Froggy LeSueur in “The Foreigner” (Hampton Theatre Company), and the title role in “Bottoms Up —The Private Lives of Noel Coward.”

Please join these accomplished performers at 7 p.m., Friday, September 2, at the library to share in these lively readings.

Admission is free with donations gladly accepted.

Next up: “A Focus on Our Local Waters: A two part series.”  Friday, September 16