Sharon Lawrence and Maureen McCormick on the Complicated Emotions and Catharsis of Friendship in Pen Pals

Less than two months after Sharon Lawrence and Maureen McCormick first played Mags and Bernie in Pen Pals off-Broadway, the duo are back in action, reprising their roles at the DR2 Theatre through January 18. "When we came back in for our touch-up rehearsal, we were hugging each other and we said, 'We miss these gals. We love playing these gals,'" Lawrence told Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek.

"We left, and I kind of moved on with life and craziness and the holidays. It wasn't until we stepped on the stage yesterday and I just went, 'I really miss these women and their stories,'" McCormick agrees. "It felt so good to be back."

Lawrence starred as Sylvia Costas in the ABC drama series NYPD Blue and has appeared on Broadway in Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof and Chicago. McCormick is best known for her role as Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, and she also played Rizzo in Grease on Broadway, which was her most recent stage appearance prior to Pen Pals. "I feel like I've actually fallen in love with the process of acting again," McCormick says of returning to the theater as Bernie. "It's just been a gift."

The story begins in 1955, when Bernie, a 14-year-old from New Jersey and Mags, a 14-year-old from Sheffield, England, are assigned as pen pals through a teacher. Though they never meet, they become best friends over 50 years of correspondence, sharing their lives through letters. "What's interesting about this play is these women are never face-to-face," Lawrence points out. "I think every actor that's done this recognizes we are very fortunate to create and bring forth a time capsule for women and friendship."

Lawrence and McCormick worked with dialect coach Joel Goldes (Come From Away) on their respective accents in the show. "I've never thought that I could do a Jersey accent," McCormick admits. Once she got the hang of it, she says, "It was the icing on the cake of becoming Bernie for me. I loved working with him and I love doing accents."

This is Lawrence's third time in the show, having previously performed it with Catherine Curtin in 2024 at the Theatre at St. Clement's. Based on the true story of playwright Michael Griffo's mother, the current production of Pen Pals features a rotating cast of paired actresses who switch out every two weeks. While the play is structured as a series of letters read back and forth between the two, Lawrence says that it's "deceptive in a way" to think of the show itself as simple based solely on the format.

"The emotional journey is complicated," she says, "and it has to do with the fact that these women are brave with each other. They reveal things to each other that they would not to anyone else in their lives. But also, they are becoming women in eras of evolution for our gender." As Bernie and Mags' letters continue, the question remains: "How do you discuss the things that scare you? Whether it's young girls talking about a first kiss, or women who are getting a tough medical diagnosis," she adds.

McCormick echoes: "They're dealing with all kinds of decisions and really heavy things." But it's not all doom and gloom, as the show is infused with humor. "The laughs are very cathartic," Lawrence stresses. "People leave that show—even some of my friends who were cynics—it cracks them open. And we need that kind and caring vibration right now."

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