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by Marcina Zaccaria 

 

 

 

On Monday, January 13 at 6PM, Actress Mercedes Ruehl spoke with Andrea Chapin at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, located at 65th and Amsterdam Avenue.  The conversation was part of The Oral History Project, presented in collaboration with the League of Professional Theatre Women.

Interviewer Andrea Chapin asked Mercedes Ruehl about her beginnings, her time in Hollywood, and her plans for the future.  Andrea Chapin has been an editor at art, movie, theater, and literary magazines, including The Lincoln Center Theater Review.  Chapin has acted professionally, including touring Germany in Edward Albee’s Seascape.

During the conversation, Mercedes Ruehl brought up key points in her career.  Her impressive credits include a Broadway run in “Lost in Yonkers,” a Drama Desk nomination for “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?,” an Obie for Christopher Durang’s “The Marriage of Bette and Boo,” and performances at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis for in Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”  Mercedes Ruehl won an Academy Award for her performance in “the Fisher King” and has appeared in many shows the small screen, including “Frasier,” “Entourage,” and “Law and Order.”

The celebrated actress was glad to share stories from her career.  She discussed how she became successful in the theater industry in her 30s.  She also spoke about meeting Edward Albee after performing in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”  She told anecdotes about performing live at Circle in the Square Theater and the process of working with text from award-winning playwrights.  She also told the audience of over one hundred people what it was like to wear the perfect dress at the Oscars.

The Oral History Project is made possible by generous grants from the Edith Meiser Foundation, the Robert and Betty Sheffer Foundation, and private sponsors. The Oral History Project is produced by Betty Corwin at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and chronicles and documents the contributions of significant theatre women in many fields. Interviews with such outstanding women are videotaped and housed in the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.