On a Love Quest

Are you on a quest for great theater? Then look no further than “Love Quest” by Mary Maguire and Steve McGraw coming to Theatre Winter Haven from October 1 through the 26. “Love Quest” explores the reality of online dating: its prejudices, its foibles, the ubiquitous feeling of “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH” as you send your profile out into the ether. From Theatre Winter Haven’s description, “Kate Crawford, 64, is recently divorced after a 30-year marriage. Left by her husband for a younger woman, she is dealing with issues of abandonment, aging and the new world order of internet dating. Brook Davis, 32, single, is climbing the corporate ladder in the fashion industry with a driven, singleminded focus and has just won ‘The Emerging Designer of the Year.’ Kate and Brook meet after a bad date goes awry and become friends and allies in this strange new dating world. Each has started with different goals and they both find something they didn’t expect.” With a premise that is entirely human, I was already pretty psyched to see the show, but then I got to chat with one of the leads in the play, and boy, it just got better.

Linda Purl is many things and a great conversationalist and lovely human are definitely two of them. You may know her from playing Helene Beesly (Pam’s mom) in “The Office,” or Charlene Matlock in “Matlock,” but now she’s bringing her characteristic style to the Theatre Winter Haven stage, reprising her role as Kate in “Love Quest.” She originated the role in 2018 at the Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut and is excited to bring new depth to the character, as well as her own lived experiences to the role. When asked if she had a favorite scene or line from the show to share, she responded in classic thespian fashion, “There’s too many that I love for me to choose, so I’d rather leave it as a surprise to the audience.”

Knowing that she had originated the role of Kate seven years ago, we got into a discussion of how her view of the character has shifted over the years, mostly driven by her own endearing encounter with online dating. Prior to her jaunt in Kate’s shoes, Linda talked about her reservations about online dating … until a close friend joined a site. “My very lovely, Harvard-educated friend hopped on for online dates and I thought, alright if there’s this quality of person on here then there must be something to it.” Though her story of virtual love features more lockdowns and quarantines and less swiping through endless profiles of dead fish than your average online romance. It’s also a romance that those who are coming to see “Love Quest” will get to see unfolding in front of them, as her co-lead is also her partner in life, Patrick Duffy.

Linda and Patrick (of “Dallas” and “Step by Step”) attribute the beginning of their relationship to COVID, of all things. Just before the lockdown started in the United States in March 2020, they ran into each other at an awards show, and Patrick confessed to losing the number of a mutual friend. He gave Linda his number to pass along, and a group chat trio was born. After the lockdown began, the group chat became a place to express frustrations and fear over what was happening in the world. Slowly, over the following months, Patrick and Linda began to find that a truly unique connection was forming between the two of them, one that spanned hours of long phone calls, then occasional FaceTime, and then FaceTime every night.

As Linda talks about those early days, you can feel the wonderment and joy at her fortuitous circumstances in finding love. “What was really nice was that all of this was happening without any physicality to it, so it was very nearly Victorian,” she says. A love which was tested in the fiery throes of an enforced quarantine for two weeks upon the pair’s entry into Canada to shoot a Hallmark movie together. “I was thinking, are we going to kill each other? But then it was magical, just full of so much laughter and fun, we absolutely howled the whole two weeks long, I was almost disappointed to leave.”

Linda and Patrick are also leveraging their partnership and talents to help the hungry with Duffy’s Dough, an artisanal bakery using Patrick’s heirloom sourdough starter and dedicating 100% of its profits to supporting hunger relief. Currently, unless you were one of the lucky 200 people that bought the original starter packs that Linda and Patrick sold, it’s a little tough to get our Floridian hands on a loaf, but here’s to hoping they start distributing them beyond Ohio.

While Linda couldn’t pick a favorite scene or line from the show, she does have a favorite aspect of Kate’s character: her relationship with her adult daughter. Throughout the play we’ll see Kate open up to her daughter about what her life is like and is becoming. She struggles to reconnect to her family after a divorce, and is stymied by the interactions she has online with new potential partners. She gets to share all of this with her daughter in conversations that only parents and children who have “flown the nest” can experience. Adult children are full of heart, honesty, and have a perception from witnessing you in both joy and sorrow throughout life. “As someone who has adult children, seeing that in a show is beautiful,” said Linda.

Linda is already anticipating a great rehearsal process. “Working with Steve, the one thing I know we will have is permission. Permission to fail. To try ten different things and have eight of them not work, but to find the choices that will. Having that at this stage of life is invaluable.” Steve McGraw, one of the authors of the play, will also be directing this production. Linda added that audiences should expect “laughter, lots and lots of laughter. Being able to do a live show and hear the audience react to that is one of the most amazing things.”

While I do feel a certain “Lady Whistledown-ish” thrill upon spilling Linda and Patrick’s love story out onto this page, dear reader, I am most excited to announce the diamond of Theatre Winter Haven’s 2025-2026 season, as I can already tell that “Love Quest” will be. Join me in welcoming Linda, Patrick, and the rest of the cast to the Polk County stage and extending them a heartfelt, “break a leg!”

“LOVE QUEST”

October 1 – 26

Theatre Winter Haven

210 Cypress Gardens Blvd, Winter Haven

863-294-SHOW (7469)

theatrewinterhaven.com