FITZGERALD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Devotedly, With Dearest Love
A Dramatic Reading Drawn from The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
by Lorrie Kyle
Directed by Leslie Kobylinski
Was performed by The Rose Theatre Company
October 3, 2023, 7 p.m. at the Writer’s Center, Bethesda
From left to right: (Audio Engineer) Richard Washer, (Directo) Leslie Kobylinski, (Actress) Allyson Currin, (Playwright), Lorrie Kyle, (Author) Jackson Bryer, (Actor) Christopher Lane.
Drawn from the love letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Devotedly, With Dearest Love brings to life the signature couple of the Jazz Age, told in their own words. The Fitzgeralds’ lifelong correspondence, collected by Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks in Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda and adapted here by Lorrie Kyle, illuminates their world of devotion, damage, and dependence––and the dreams that enthralled and eluded them both. Devotedly, With Dearest Love is itself a love letter to the Fitzgeralds.
Following the reading there will be a conversation featuring Jackson R. Bryer, co-editor of Dear Scott/Dearest Zelda; playwright Lorrie Kyle; and artists Allyson Currin and Christopher Lane.
Copies of Dear Scott/Dearest Zelda will be available for purchase at the event.
Motor magazine (publisher), Spring 1924, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Rose Theatre Co. is a professional non-profit arts organization featuring up-and-coming artists alongside celebrated award-winning professionals, offering innovative theatrical programming free-of-charge, to foster the glorious alchemy that occurs when audiences and artists come together to discover, delight and share in a common experience. The Rose is passionately rooted in the idea that new plays have an important place in the future of American theatre and has debuted over 50 new works through their acclaimed new play development series called First Draft. This concert-style performance of Devotedly, With Dearest Love features award-winning DC playwright, actor and director, Allyson Currin as Zelda Fitzgerald alongside acclaimed vocal artist and Helen Hayes Award-winner Christopher Lane as F. Scott Fitzgerald.