In "Hate Mail," Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky's two-character epistolary comedy, playing Tuesdays through Fridays though April 2, at the 45th Street Theatre, under the auspices of the Cardinal Group, the relationship between Preston (D.H. Johnson) and Dahlia (Dana Brooke) starts with a most tenuous connection-she is assistant manager of the Big Apple Shop, a New York City souvenir store, i.e. tourist trap, in which he bought a snow globe, which broke in transit back to home and girlfriend, in Minneapolis, and leaked over, stained, and ruined his best jacket. He writes seeking redress; she responds, tartly, "There are no refunds at the Big Apple Shop." From these chilly, unpromising beginnings, their connection deepens, waxes and wanes, ebbs and flows, through letters, in person, and eventually through emails, which take them all over the map of America and beyond, over a period of several years.

"Hate Mail" concerns the many and extreme changes that a neurotic New York photographer, of a counter-cultural bent, and a no less insecure Midwesterner, whom Dahlia charges comes from "privilege," with a sense of "entitlement," manage to wreak upon each other's lives, values, convictions, politics, creativity, economic and professional situations, family relations, and even eating habits. Directed by Richard Pepenella, Brooke and Johnson bring these characters, their quirks and their development, graphically, believably, and engagingly alive before our eyes. They put each other through serious changes and may succeed in changing you, too.

It behooves this publication to mention that there is a fragment of LGBT content: Dahlia mentions that she once had a relationship with a policewoman.
Stephanie Tucci designed the environments in which Preston and Dahlia, at their desks, dysfunction; Bernie Dove illuminates them as their tale unfolds; and a familiar figure to many of us, singer Brandon Cutrell, publicizes them. The 45th Street Theatre is located at 354 West 45th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Performances begin at 8 p.m. For tickets, at $20, visit www.smarttix.com, and for further information, go to www.CardinalGroupNYC.com.