'Summer, 1976' stars Laura Linney, Jessica Hecht develop bond in story about deep friendship

"Summer, 1976," is a play about a brief but deep friendship between two women brought together by their young children.

May 17, 2023, 9:52 AM

Updated 513 days ago

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"Summer, 1976," a play about a brief but deep friendship between two women brought together by their young children, stars Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht.
Hecht's performance recently garnered her the second Tony Award nomination of her career. The play has also brought her a new friend in co-star Linney, Hecht said.
"I feel like I have developed this beautiful friendship with Laura. When we started rehearsal, our director said something like 'Oh that's the trick about the theatre. You make these fast friendships, and you think this person is really close to me.'" said Hecht. "And that's the pain for somebody who's not mature is that when this is over everybody goes back home. And I feel like Laura and I very sort of methodically got close through this work and really, I genuinely feel have connected in a lot of ways that have inspired me."
"Summer, 1976" is a memory play with the characters looking back 25 years later on their friendship.
The Manhattan Theatre Club production runs through June 18 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.