A Specimen of Small-Town WASPdom

With the exception of “Love Letters” and its revolving door of big-name actors, A.R. Gurney has never relied too heavily on casting stars. In some three dozen finely etched plays written over a quarter century, the inhabitants of his chosen world — the teetering demi-aristocracy of Northeastern WASPs — have long resigned themselves to the fact that their brighter, glitzier days lie irretrievably in the past. Star wattage would only blot out the diminishing surroundings even further.