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Show 4: At Hale Center Theater, 'Dear Ruth'; lots of fun j ByTOMHARALDSEN I "Dear Ruth," Hale Center Theater, 2801 Sooth Main St., Salt Lake City, running through February Fe-bruary 20. Telephone 484-9257. One might think by the title that ?'Dear Ruth" is another in the list of fine plays written by Hale Center. Theater founders Nathan and Ruth Hale, but this play has actually been performed since 1944, when jt opened in New York City. Its setting set-ting is the final year of World War II, and the 45 years since its creation crea-tion have not diminished its. entertainment enter-tainment value a bit' "Dear Ruth" is the story of a young fighter pilot, Lt. William Seawright, who arrives in Long Island after duty in Europe to meet the girl he has been corresponding with through the mail for several months, a girl he's fallen in love with. Unfortunately, the girl, Ruth Wilkins, has no knowledge of Seawright Sea-wright or. their letters, as her ' younger sister Miriam has been secretly se-cretly writing the letters, complete with poetry. Seawright arrives at the Wilkins' home just as Ruth has announced her engagement,: to longtime boyfriend boy-friend Albert. Her parents, Judge Harry and Edith Wilkins, are equally equa-lly confused, as they prefer the young lieutenant, but empathize with bumbling Albert, who Jias the best of intentions for their daughter. As this play develops, Ruth and William begin a wild two-day courtship, with Ruth eventualy agreeing that the best way to handle the situation is to play along with it,, allowing William to propose, accepting ac-cepting the proposal, then planning to break off the engagement once her returns to duty in Europe; Meanwhile, William's gorgeous sister Martha arrives for the wedding, wed-ding, along with her brother's Test friend and her old flame Chuck. The audience finds itself uncertain who it's rooting for in the battle for Ruth's hand. 0, As is usually thexase with Hale Center productions, this one is double-cast. Richard Wilkins and his real-life wife Melany are wonderful won-derful as the parents, whose name is incidentally also Wilkins. Richard Ri-chard is particularly good in his role as the sympathetic but confused partriarch of the home. His daughter Miriam, performed by Leea Swenson on the night re viewed, does an excellent job as the suited, politically-active character..:... Lovely Joanne Taylor is marvelous as Ruthi and well-known Salt take actor Jared Shaver is an excellent Seawright. " : The bumbling Albert was portrayed by Carl Barton, who does a fine job with the designated-loser role, while beautiful Jennifer Wolfe plays Martha and Will Swenson " portrays Chuck. Other members of the cast include in-clude Kris Roller as Dora the maid, and N. Kurk Holshue as Harold -Klobbermeyer, a Navy officer who shows up at the last moment of the play looking for Ruth, obviously another victim of Miriam's coore-spondence. coore-spondence. - . Double-cast members include Bob Walkingshaw as Harry, Sally . Hale Swenson as Edith, both Rebe- v kah Folsom and Brooke Wilkins as ' Miriam, Sarah Sandburg as Ruth, Jonathan Hale as William, Virgie Ostler as Dora, John Lesko as Albert, Al-bert, Erin K. Smith as Martha, and Bob Bedore as Chuck. . "Dear Ruth" is not Tony Award-winning stuff, just a lot of fun, as all Hale Center productions prove to be. It runs through February Fe-bruary 20, and is a fun way to start the new year. i |