LETTERS TO JOAN
Written, performed & produced by me
In 1956 Brooklyn, an aspiring playwright falls in love, her letters brimming with desire and ambition. Decades later, her granddaughter, a writer herself, discovers them—uncovering the arc of a love story complicated by depression and a dream left unfinished.
Letters to Joan journeys between a Brooklyn summer alive with possibility and a present-day American diner steeped in nostalgia, where a young woman confronts her own questions of love and ambition. She sits across from the man who once held her grandmother’s heart, wrestling with the choices that shaped two lives.
Inspired by hundreds of real love letters written between the playwright’s grandparents, Letters to Joan explores the dreams we chase, the ones we abandon, and the unshakable longing for the life that might have been.
TRAILER
After a sold-out Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2025, directed by Martavius Parrish, Letters to Joan went on to a London run at the Voila! Theatre Festival in November 2025, directed by Jessica Whiley.
Streit's play does the remarkable, which is to inspire its audiences not only to love louder and live more boldly, but to embrace one's fears and darkness and revel in the ability to miss something or someone.
EDINBURGH GUIDE
Evocative, vivacious portrait of her grandparents through words
LOST IN THEATRELAND
Undeniably beautiful and moving- Heartwrenching.
Letters to Joan made me homesick. It compelled me to walk the long way home listening to music and feeling existential, then ring my grandparents to chat for hours when I got back.”
FRINGE REVIEW - "EXCELLENT SHOW"
It is Sam’s skill as a playwright to show us a young person who not only allows her grandpa to share his stories but gets more out of him than he is at first willing to divulge.
Before Letters to Joan reached the stage, it lived in gardens, cafés, and living rooms through a series of intimate, letter-centered fundraising gatherings.
I hosted candlelit letter-writing evenings in my garden and flat, informal “letters live” nights where guests read letters aloud, a guided audio tour and writing experience at the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York, and seasonal outdoor workshops in Hampstead inspired by my grandmother pressing a leaf into a 1956 letter.
These events helped support the practical journey of the show — covering travel and production costs — while also building something more meaningful: a community of people who have quite literally written themselves into the world of the play.
2026
Returning to the Edinburgh Fringe 2026 at Pleasance Courtyard, produced by Richard Jordan Productions in association with Pleasance, Letters to Joan enters its next chapter.
The play returns in an elevated new iteration, starring Samantha Streit alongside Kevin Cahill as Grandpa, giving the piece space to deepen its emotional architecture and connect more profoundly with new audiences.
Following its development as a work in progress, it is now ready to reach further with greater clarity, depth, and heart.