Wagner, Powers Correspond to ‘Letters’ Lovers : The former TV couple find an easy rapport as the star-crossed friends in A.R. Gurney’s funny, tender and bittersweet dialogue at the Cerritos Center.

The WASP may just be an endangered species. But not in its natural habitat, and certainly not in the plays of A.R. Gurney, the species’ most able chronicler.

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In Gurney’s “Love Letters,” at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, the playwright zeros in on two fairly typical WASP types: Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner.

They meet in second grade and begin what develops into a lifelong correspondence that catalogues their ricocheting romance, their individual marriages, their careers and the gradual disintegration that proves their inability to capture the WASP Dream, much less the American Dream.

The play, performed with two actors seated behind an ornate table, reading their letters from the script, has been performed through long runs in both New York and Los Angeles, with name actors taking on the roles for no more than a week at a time.

Is there a celebrity who hasn’t appeared in “Love Letters?”

Part of the charm and fascination of the piece is watching “Love Letters” transpire between actors of varying ages and styles, bringing their own insights and shadings to the roles.

For this short run, Robert Wagner is Andy Ladd, and Stefanie Powers is Andy’s doomed Melissa, and their heart-to-heart badinage is expert, often very funny and at times heartbreaking.

Director John Tillinger has guided every production of the play since its inception, and his sensitive touch is always there. Part of that touch is allowing his actors a pretty free rein, both in the detailing of their reactions to the other’s letters, and stylistic readings that keep the script as fresh as new with each new pairing of performers.

Wagner, minus an extensive stage background, is completely at home in dealing with his audience, ably capturing his laughs, particularly in the early section dealing with Andy and Melissa’s childhood and youth.

He opts for a most effective catch in his throat as Andy’s voice changes and lets it follow Andy into his late teens whenever he gets nervous. As Andy ages, first as a naval officer and later as a Republican senator, Wagner allows a firm solidity to enter his character, along with an ingratiating smugness that Andy certainly would have. A nice touch.

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Powers is able to etch her Melissa with more detail. She’s no stranger to the stage and brings many subtly shifting colors to her performance, from Melissa’s girlish bravado, which shifts later to adult abandon, to the dark shadows that eventually engulf Melissa.

Wagner and Powers play together as comfortably as might be expected considering their long television association, and Gurney’s laughter and tears seem natural in the pairing.

*”Love Letters,” Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Thursday-Sunday, 8 p.m.; Thursday & Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $40-$47.50. (800) 300-4345. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes. Robert Wagner Andrew Makepeace Ladd III

Stefanie Powers Melissa Gardner

A Roger L. Stevens, Thomas Viertel, Steven Baruch and Richard Frankel production. Associate producer: Marc Routh. Play by A.R. Gurney. Directed by John Tillinger. Lighting design: Dennis Parichy. Production stage manager: William H. Lang.