President Kent Chabotar is to appear in a Triad Stage benefit performance of A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters on Feb. 14. He will be working alongside WFMY News 2 Anchor, Sandra Hughes. Jay Putnam, artistic associate at Triad Stage, is directing Love Letters. The performance will be held as a gala, which includes a dessert reception. Proceeds benefit Triad Stage theater programs and productions.

Triad Stage fundraising events in the past have included such things as holding galas at the O’ Henry. “This time around we thought it would be nice to have something theatrically oriented,” said Putnam.

Love Letters chronicles the lives of two characters through a series of letters, beginning with the characters in approximately second grade and continuing through a fifty-year love affair. The characters do not interact with one another on stage – their relationship is told entirely through the letters being read to the audience.

Chabotar momentarily jumps into his character, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, saying: “I got a 97.1 average, not bad eh? You know there are some Catholics in this school, but they’re not smart. I hear you cannot be smart and Catholic at the same time.” Chabotar laughs, “For those who know my religion it will be very funny.”

The Triad Stage asked Chabotar to participate in the performance. “We wanted to find two people who are well known and who other people would want to see,” said Putnam in a telephone interview.

Hughes, via an e-mail said, “I am honored they asked me to participate in the performance. Also, I’m honored to be working with someone with the talent and reputation of Kent.”

“It is refreshing to work with them,” said Putnam. “They came into it gun-shy but I think that they are going to be wonderful.”

Describing his character Chabotar says, “I am the little kid in second grade that you hated. He was always like this,” as he folds his hands very properly in front of him. “It is type-casting I think.”

On Kent, Hughes said, “He is taking his role very seriously and really getting into his character and this just gives me inspiration to try to do the same.”

Primarily, Chabotar feels prepared as a performer. “My job is on stage all the time. This is not much different than what I do ordinarily. I am on stage, I am dressed up,” said Chabotar. “I am finding it to be a challenge because speech is not that much emotion. In the play you will go from one scene and you are really ticked, you are angry and the next scene might be a year later. The challenge we have found so far is the jump in emotion.”

Chabotar’s theater history includes, most recently, the role of Mathew Harrison Brady, another arrogant character, in his undergraduate rendition of Inherit the Wind. Chabotar was also in his high school’s performance of Oklahoma.

Joyce Eaton, executive assistant to the President said in an email: “I have truly enjoyed his rehearsing various segments of the play in the office. The letters are thoughtful, poignant, meaningful, and hilarious! Kent’s delivery is superb! He is truly cast in a role that is perfect for him.”

The letters read are not all love letters. Alongside humor, Love Letters includes graphic language and allusions to sex. “The issue of language comes up, ’cause this is a New York play for a New York audience,” said Chabotar.

The play runs about two hours and must be cut for time purposes. This cutting allows the script to cater to a more ‘southern’ audience.

“We are not going to sanitize it totally, but because we have to cut it anyway, we might cut some of the lines that may cause needless offense and get in the way of the play. We will probably keep some of the good sex in there though, it is just talked about,” said Chabotar.

Chabotar and Theater Professor Jack Zerbe are enthusiastic about his theater appearance. “I think it is a great opportunity for the college and the president,” said Zerbe. “For the president to be involved in a fundraiser says a lot about the college and it says a lot about Kent.”

“I am excited about our performances on Feb. 14 and just hope with all my heart that the audience will enjoy it too,” Hughes said.