Pen Pals – Enduring Friendship

Following a spate of plays based on letters, Pen Pals is a slight, sweet piece about the fifty year epistolary friendship of Bernie/Bernadette (Pauletta Washington) from Newark and Mags/Margaret (Kate Burton) from Sheffield, England. Initiated by a school assignment when the girls are 14 – “Don’t you love high school?!” –  an indelible bond grows from teenage crushes – first kiss and touch, first competitive peer nemesis, to career, husbands, children, illness, and loss.

Pauletta Washington

There are a few misunderstandings, a few brief silences, but nothing can sever their attachment. Vignettes are dated so we’re aware of context. Mags draws and sends pictures (we don’t see). They exchange photos (we don’t see). The English girl recommends classics like Jane Eyre with which which the American has initial difficulty. They swoon over Rock Hudson. Bernie takes to the stage. Her mom feels cost of an acting school is not worth it. Mags says to “Tell them to bugger off.”  Colloquials are apt.

Kate Burton

Mags has to work in her parents’ pub. Men get handsy. Bernie encourages her friend to give them black eyes. Talk of boys and men is frequent. References to cultural touch points like The Beatles remind us of the era. When Bernie is worried about a pregnancy, Mags writes, “God wouldn’t hurt you now,” to which Bernie responds, “Clearly, you’re not Catholic.” At the very end, Bernie travels and they meet.

The play is like a warm bath.
Kate Burton is believable, in the moment, while Pauletta Washington seems facile.
Direction is rote.

Photos by Russ Rowland
Opening: Pauletta Washington, Kate Burton

Pen Pals by Michael Criffo
Directed by Susan Barabas

Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2025: Kate Burton  and Pauletta Washington
Feb 5 – Feb 9, 2025: Johanna Day and Nancy McKeon

Pen Pals is proud to partner with Susan G. Komen®, donating 5 percent of ticket sales and 100 percent of customer donations to support breast cancer research and awareness initiatives.

St. Clement’s Theatre
423 West 46th Street

About Alix Cohen (1922 Articles)
Alix Cohen is the recipient of ten New York Press Club Awards for work published on this venue. Her writing history began with poetry, segued into lyrics and took a commercial detour while holding executive positions in product development, merchandising, and design. A cultural sponge, she now turns her diverse personal and professional background to authoring pieces about culture/the arts with particular interest in artists/performers and entrepreneurs. Theater, music, art/design are lifelong areas of study and passion. She is a voting member of Drama Desk and Drama League. Alix’s professional experience in women’s fashion fuels writing in that area. Besides Woman Around Town, the journalist writes for Cabaret Scenes, Broadway World, TheaterLife, and Theater Pizzazz. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine, Times Square Chronicles, and ifashionnetwork. She lives in Manhattan. Of course.