Pen Pals Play Starring Megan Follows and Michelle Clunie

Last weekend, I was lucky to catch Megan Follows in a performance of Pen Pals at the DR2 Theatre in New York. The off-Broadway play is billed as, "the extraordinary story of two friends that unfolds over decades."

Having loved Megan Follows's performance in Anne of Green Gables (1985) and its sequels, I was excited to watch her act on stage and see her in person. Pen Pals is a two-woman play, and Megan Follows's co-star was Michelle Clunie (Queer as Folk).

The plot of Pen Pals is as follows: "Bernie and Mags live in two different countries, they’ve never met, and yet they’re best friends. Because they’ve been pen pals for over fifty years. Since they were teenagers, they’ve shared every aspect of their lives with each other. The trivial bits, the most intimate details, all the happiness, all the heartache. They’ve told each other things they wouldn’t dare tell another soul. Even though Bernie lives in New Jersey and Mags is from England, the women are closer to each other than anyone else in the world. Come witness the journey of their lifetime. In their own words."

Megan Follows played Mags, and Michelle Clunie played Bernie. The script was written by Michael Griffo and inspired by the true friendship of Griffo's mother and her pen pal. Pen Pals is unique in that it is a story told through letters written over many years. The actresses read the letters from binders throughout the show, and their scripts were not memorized. I found it interesting to watch both the writer and the recipient of the letters at the same time. The story was humorous and emotional, and both actresses gave great performances. As a person who appreciates writing and receiving letters, I enjoyed the uniqueness of the script, and its focus on letter writing and lasting friendship.

By the end of the play, much of the audience was in tears. I thought the script felt somewhat manipulative with the emotional moments piling on as the end drew near. I felt especially sorry for a soon-to-be bride and her bridesmaids who came to watch the show as part of a bachelorette party because I don't think they expected such a teary roller coaster ride. Their initial joy prior to the show had entirely evaporated as they stood outside the theatre after the performance. I guess that stories about life and friendship are not always simple or straightforward.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I was really glad to watch Megan Follows perform in person, which made the show extra special for me.

What's a bit sad is that Pen Pals is presented with a rapidly rotating cast that switches every two weeks. Unfortunately, Megan Follows's run from September 3rd to 14th is already over.

Here is the list of actresses set to perform in the show during its current run: 

August 15 – August 31 - Nancy McKeon and Gail Winar
September 3 – September 14 - Michelle Clunie and Megan Follows
September 17 – September 28 - Sharna Burgess and Paige Davis
October 1 – October 12 - Kathleen Chalfant and Ellen McLaughlin
October 15 – October 26 - Kate Burton and Pauletta Washington
November 12 – November 23 - Sharon Lawrence and Maureen McCormick
November 26 – December 7 - Mystery Stars to be Announced
December 10 – December 21 - Emily Skinner and Donna Lynne Champlin


Here's a photograph of Megan Follows performing on stage in Pen Pals by Russ Rowland from the BroadwayWorld website. The article includes several more photos from the play.



Here are a few photos I took of the stage prior to the show, the back of the performance postcard, and the posters outside the DR2 venue.











Official Site:
Pen Pals
Pen Pals Digital Program

Image Credit:
Photograph of Megan Follows on stage in Pen Pals by Russ Rowland from BroadwayWorld.
All other photos by World of Anne Shirley.

Links:
Papadatos, Markos. (September 8, 2025). Chatting with Megan Follows: Canadian actress and director. Digital Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/chatting-with-megan-follows-canadian-actress-and-director/article.

Rabinowitz, Chloe. (September 5, 2025). Photos: Michelle Clunie and Megan Fellows in PEN PALS Off-Broadway. BroadwayWorld. Retrieved from: https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Photos-Michelle-Clunie-and-Megan-Fellows-in-PEN-PALS-Off-Broadway-20250905.

Created September 20, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Marilla Cuthbert and Darth Vader

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Marilla Cuthbert and Darth Vader fell in love. They adopted a young orphan named Anne Shirley, and even though she was not a boy, they decided to keep her. Anne grew up to be the most powerful Jedi of all, entirely because she was a girl.

Well, not really, but that's what I imagined earlier today when I saw a photograph of Colleen Dewhurst, who played Marilla Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables, and James Earl Jones, who gave voice to Darth Vader in Star Wars. This photograph was taken when these two talented actors starred in a production of Hamlet in 1972 in New York City's Central Park. Colleen Dewhurst played Gertrude and James Earl Jones played Claudius.


Image credit:
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. (1972). Colleen Dewhurst and James Earl Jones in publicity for the stage production Hamlet. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c91c5430-1183-0130-f059-58d385a7b928.

Created September 10, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Megan Follows on Playing Anne of Green Gables

Megan Follows is known for playing the outspoken, imaginative and talkative Anne Shirley in the 1985 TV miniseries Anne of Green Gables, which was based on L.M. Montgomery's novel. In December 2023, Follows reminisced about how playing Anne Shirley changed her life in a podcast conversation with the CBC's Tom Power. In the introduction to the podcast, Power mentions how the conversation made him rethink Anne of Green Gables and consider how radical the story was then and how relevant it still is today. I loved their conversation. Give it a listen!

Sometimes actors dislike being identified with a particular role, but not Megan Follows. She expressed gratitude about playing Anne Shirley and emphasized how great it was to play a character that was "a girl that got to express rage." When asked about her relationship with the character, Follows responded, "I love Anne...She and I have a great relationship. We're tight. We're bosom buddies. I think she's an extraordinary character, and uhm, I always felt incredibly grateful to have played her and to have been introduced to a strong-willed, female-driven story where you got to be number one from the point of view of a story." Often, Follows reflects, women are the appendage in stories and not the backbone or driving force. In contrast, Anne has a driving force to belong and to be seen for herself, and Follows believes that this is what resonates with people.

Megan Follows delved back into L.M. Montgomery's stories in preparing to record an Emily of New Moon audiobook a few years ago and then to direct a new Audible Anne of Green Gables audiobook featuring Michela Luci, Catherine O’Hara, Victor Garber, and Sandra Oh. Follows remarks that her deep dive back into the stories allowed her to discover "the subversiveness of the text." She had previously understood Montgomery's humor, but now she observed her way of pointing out hypocrisy through Anne. Follows feels that the power of the character scares people.

Follows sees Anne's compulsive talking as coming from a dark place where Anne chooses to go toward the light, not out of naivety, but for her own survival. As an example, she mentions how Anne planned to sleep in a cherry tree at the train station. She believes that Anne came up with this idea for safety, but that Anne focused on the beauty of the blossoms because she was terrified to be abandoned and alone in the world. Follows says that Montgomery used poetry because children don't actually speak this way.

Follows also reflected on her amazing experiences working with Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla Cuthbert) and Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde). She discussed how Richard Farnsworth (Matthew Cuthbert) was only available for six days of filming, so she worked very long hours with him to film his scenes. Later, she did scenes with a grip stand with a hat on it as a stand-in. Follows also talked about the raspberry cordial scene with Schuyler Grant, who played Diana Barry. They were giving Grant glasses of watered down grape juice or Ribena, and she really did get sick after filming the scene multiple times. Follows briefly mentioned that her heart always smiles for Jonathan Crombie and that they laughed a lot.

Power asked Follows about her audition for Anne. Strangely, the day after her audition, her tape disappeared, and she had to redo her audition at the last minute. Follows mentions that there was another actress who was the first choice for Anne Shirley and that she had to fight for the role. Luckily, she had advocates at the CBC and someone at PBS who believed that she was the right fit for the role.

Later, when asked about how the success of the miniseries affected her, she reflected that she is grateful that she did a good job playing Anne, and that she has received a tremendous amount of goodwill because of the character and how much the character and writing mean to people.

Toward the end of the conversation, Follows talked about how she is currently developing a limited series on the life of L.M. Montgomery, her legacy and the power of her writing. I can't wait to hear more.


Image credit:
Photograph of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables © Sullivan Entertainment.

Reference:
Megan Follows: Playing Anne in Anne of Green Gables and bringing the story to a new generation. (2023, December 15). Q with Tom Power. CBC Arts & Entertainment. Retrieved from: https://podcasts.apple.com/ro/podcast/megan-follows-playing-anne-in-anne-of-green-gables/id256943801?i=1000638664483

Created May 24, 2024. Last updated August 26, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com