Letters of Suresh, Rajiv Joseph’s luminous new play—luminous not only due to Jiyoun Chang’s lovely lighting—can seem like a throwback. Imagine a work about actual letters at a time when email dominates. Imagine a time when collections of letters were a common publishing occurrence but are less so nowadays and then only when devoted to letter writers who preceded the era of little or no computer-communication possibility.
Perhaps today’s theatergoers might not resonate with the not quite forgotten phenomenon, but dramatist Joseph—who surprises his grateful followers whenever he opens his next invention—is valiantly harking back to an era lamented by letter lovers everywhere as well as, possibly, by the United States Postal Service. (Does a statistic exist covering the loss in postage stamp revenue over the last thirty years?)
The letters presented by playwright Joseph are those that Suresh Thakur (Ramiz Monsef), a young man with a talent for origami. sent to Father Hashimoto (Thom Sesma), a spiritualist he met when the later admired an origami bird of Suresh’s making. They’d become—in a term surely obsolescent these days—pen pals.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Among the facts known to Suresh is that Hashimoto and a friend, who lived in Nagasaki during World War II, had left the city for a small journey in a nearby forest when Harry Truman ordered the conflict-ending bombings, Survivors by happenstance, they immediately returned to care for the injured, among them many children.
Joseph begins his quiet action (serene might be a more precise word), when current Nagasaki citizen Melody Park (Ali Ahn), niece to the just deceased Hashimoto, discovers the letters Suresh sent her uncle and thinks those missives should be returned, with, appreciation, to sender.
As Suresh’s address is on the envelopes, she contacts him without receiving any initial response. She tries again several times. At first, she merely states her purpose but, hearing nothing, becomes increasingly autobiographical—indeed a confiding correspondent that audience members get to know and like. They’re also allowed to learn about her unassuming and largely uneventful life in the Nagasaki of the 2020s. The difference is subtly inserted but hard to miss.
The reason for Suresh’s absence is that he’s left his home without even knowing whether he’ll return. He’s that concerned with his future as a Hashimoto follower. All the same, he’s not averse to lettering writing. Nor is Amelia Wren (Kellie Overbey), an estranged Suresh girlfriend with whom he wants to reestablish contact. It happens that Amelia isn’t strongly averse to a rapprochement.
As the Suresh-Amelia letters cross in the mail, thoughtful director May Adrales starts the sometime lovers noticeably separated. She slowly moves them closer until, though still writing to each other, they’re looking directly into each other’s eyes.
Adrales is sensitive to Suresh’s every nuance, to the myriad contemplative moments the characters experience. When at last Hashimoto arrives, Adrales and scenic designer Mimiko Suzuki MacAdams have him enter under a dropped Japanese arch so that he can eloquently sermonize. (The others listen to him on other parts of the stage.)
Hashimoto’s observations unsurprisingly include origami. Among other subjects, poetic in Father Hashimoto’s expressing them, the religious man turns to God. At one breathtaking moment, he conjectures that for all he knows “God is the ocean.” This is projection designer Shawn Duan’s cue to unpack roaring waves on the upstage screen. (Anyone brought up by the ocean, as this reviewer was, is instantly likely to concur with Hashimoto.)
Because Letters of Suresh is such a quiet, intermissionless 90-minute piece, it’s difficult to pinpoint its urgent effectiveness. To start, much can be attributed to how all four actors are in tune with the script. Maybe even more is due to the quality the play has of a silent prayer Joseph is sending up on behalf of the audience. (The sound design and original music are by Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts.) Maybe Letters of Suresh holds sway, at least in part, because it recalls the value letters have always had—until now?—of bringing people together.
As such, it could be that Letters of Suresh will awaken in a supposedly woke population a nostalgia for letter-writing. Even more than nostalgia, the play might contribute in its own manner to a letter-writing rebirth. A nostalgic reviewer can at least hope against hope for that tranquil—tran-quill?—revival.
Letters of Suresh opened October 4, 2021, at Second Stage and runs through October 24. Tickets and information: 2st.com
