LETTERS TO URANUS: THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TEDD BURR

You may fondly remember Louis Malle's “My Dinner with Andre” (6th CIFF, 1982). This could be considered a northeast Ohio answer, alias “My Tea with Tedd.” Prepare for an enthralling, real-time, first-person visit with Cleveland Heights septuagenarian Tedd Burr, first seen in a flowing pink gown, greeting you at the door with opera on the stereo. An avid theatere-goer, actor, letter-writer, unpublished novelist/poet, tireless collector of diva lore and the correspondence of “Kings Row” author Henry Bellamann, Burr does at first glance seem like the stereotypical grand old queen, here being consulted by videographer Lenny Pinna for advice on a potential Clelveland Public Theatre adaptation of Dumas' “La Dame aux cam?lias.” But as you listen to him speak (Burr is never at a loss for an anecdote or verse), about the firends and lovers he's known and lost, his own private pain, joys and esoterica, Burr metamorphoses before your eyes from being merely a campy character to something more, a true gentleman of taste, dignity, and panache, generous with his time, eager to share his thoughts and feelings. “Oh my goodness, how I did go on,” he exclaims, after reading some of his own writings. And you'll be glad he did.