Mayleas, Ruth

Women in theatre. S. Epatha Merkerson( visu )
1 edition published in 2006 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
S. Epatha Merkerson discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. Well known for her television roles as Reba the Mail Lady on Pee Wee's playhouse in the 1980s, and since 1993 as Lt. Anita Van Buren on the crime drama Law & Order, Merkerson has also enjoyed a varied and successful career on stage and in film. Her stage credits include her performance as Berniece in August Wilson's 1990 Pultizer Prize winning play, The Piano Lesson, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, and her work in I'm Not Stupid, for which she won an Obie Award in 1992. Merkerson stresses the importance for her of acting onstage, and the experience she gained as an actor performing in various small theaters. She expounds on getting recognition as an actress in mid-career for her performance in the 2005 miniseries Lackawanna Blues; her upbringing by her mother in Detroit, Michigan; her ability to find work consistently as an actor since arriving in New York City in the late 1970s; and her feelings about two people with whom she has worked, playwright August Wilson and performer Jerry Orbach.

Women in theatre. Marian Seldes( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Actress Marian Seldes discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. Seldes, who made her Broadway debut in 1947 with Judith Anderson in Medea, has performed in a wide variety of productions, and has been nominated for five Tony Awards, winning her first in 1967 for her role as in Edward Albee's A delicate balance. Seldes discusses her upbringing in a culturally prominent family on Manhattan's Upper East Side, her early career aspirations, performing in plays by Albee, her focus on physicality while portraying a character, her experience teaching and directing drama students at the Julliard School, her various roles in productions of Medea; performing in long-running shows such as Deathtrap and Equus, and her various film and television roles.

Women in theatre. Chita Rivera( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Chita Rivera discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. During her nearly 50 years on stage, Rivera originated the roles of Anita in West Side story and Velma Kelly in Chicago, and has worked with many of Broadway's most eminent choreographers. Rivera expounds on her childhood in Washington D.C. as the daughter of a Puerto Rican father and mother of mostly Scottish and Irish descent, her training in ballet at the School of American Ballet in New York City; her performance in the 1984 production of The rink, for which she won her first Tony Award; playing a "femme fatale" in Kiss of the spider woman; her preference for originating roles for the stage over performing them in movie versions; her views on Broadway revivals; her 1988 car accident; and her daily desire to continue to express her talent.

Women in theatre. Carey Perloff( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Carey Perloff discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. In 1992, Perloff took over as artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater which was in debt, homeless due to a recent earthquake, and conservative. Perloff, who previously ran a 200-seat theater in New York City, rebuilt the larger ACT into a successful theater, attracting much attention for her non-traditional programs and multicultural casts. Perloff discusses her reasons for getting into the theater, running a theater as a woman able to hire women actors and directors, her opportunity in San Francisco to choose the plays she wants to stage, the importance of casting American actors instead of importing British actors for classical plays, learning how to direct from her actors, the lack of connection between the work being produced on Broadway and in the regional theatre, how she markets her theater, and the unique ability of women to be efficient theater professionals.

Women in theatre. Ruby Dee( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist Ruby Dee discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. Dee speaks about being denied a role because of her race as a high school drama student in Manhattan; performing in Harlem's American Negro Theatre in the 1940s; being one of the first African American actresses to play important Shakespearean roles with white actors during the 1960s; meeting her husband Ossie Davis during the production of Jeb in 1945; her longstanding involvement, along with her husband, in political activism; their writing of their joint autobiography; being cast in the stage play A raisin in the sun as Ruth, a suffering housewife in the projects; her view of herself as a "fighter" influenced by her early encounters with racism; her kinship with directors and writers with whom she has worked; and the need for more dramatic works about African Americans.

Women in theatre. Kathleen Chalfant( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Kathleen Chalfant discusses her career with Newsday critic Linda Winer. The actress expounds on her upbringing and education in California, her roles in the original stage productions of Tony Kushner's Angels in America and Margaret Edson's Wit, and in the television series The guardian. She also talks about the challenges of making a living as a actor, being passed over for film versions of plays that she has starred in, refusing to condescend to audiences for the sake of popular appeal, and her efforts as a peace activist who feels that one must say what one believes.

Women in theatre. Heidi Ettinger( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Scenic designer/producer Heidi Ettinger discusses her career with Newsday theatre critic Linda Winer. Ettinger, formerly known as Heidi Landesman, speculates about why so few women venture into careers in scenic design, touches on the differences between various directors she's worked with, and also looks at some of the economic changes affecting the theater during her career.

Women in theatre. Lynne Meadow( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Lynne Meadow, artistic director of Manhattan Theatre Club, discusses her career with Newsday theatre critic Linda Winer. The discussion focuses on the thirty-year history of MTC, an Off-Broadway producing organization on the verge of moving into a new Broadway venue, MTC's choice of material, the working relationships MTC has had with a number of playwrights, and related topics. Meadow also discusses the decision she made to become a director early in life and the difficulties she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field.

Women in theatre. Rosemary Harris( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Actor Rosemary Harris discusses her career with Newsday theatre critic Linda Winer. Harris briefly discusses her childhood in what is now Pakistan, her ties to England, and her move to the United States in the 1950s, and examines her theatrical work with various colleagues over the years, especially playwright Edward Albee, with whom she worked in revivals of his plays All over and A delicate balance. Harris also discusses her work in repertory with the Phoenix Theatre.

Interview with Julia Miles( visu )
1 edition published in 2003 in English and held by 1 library worldwide
Julia Miles, founder and artistic director of the Women's Project, discusses her life and career with longtime friend, director Billie Allen. Topics covered include Miles' early career as an actress, her work with Wynn Handman at the American Place Theatre where she was associate director, her founding of the Women's Project & Productions (later known as the Women's Project) and the League of Professional Theatre Women.