Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Etiquette Tourniquets

Not long ago, Roxbury playwright and Norwich University theater professor Jeanne Beckwith received a florid Edwardian-era manual describing the proper conduct of romantic affairs. The book inspired her to update the old pen-and-ink approach to interpersonal communication, and the result is a play that shares its title with the antique how-to tome. Beckwith’s Love Letters Made Easy offers a comedic romp through the promises, perils and pitfalls of passion —including, of course, whole new fields of faux pas possibilities opened by email, social networking sites and text messages. Eight actors portray more than 24 eccentric characters coping with a wide range of emotions inspired by love, and a dozen sketches encompass bizarre, obsessive, sweet, ludicrous and lusty circumstances. “Poke” potential dates on Facebook, and you just might have a story of your own to relate.