League of Pro Theater Women Presents Judy Kaye

On Monday, May 11, The League of Professional Theatre Women is pleased to present Tony-Award winning actress, Judy Kaye, for the next Oral History interview. Kaye will sit down with award-winning actor and writer Donald Corren to discuss her fascinating work as a theatre artist.

Betty Corwin, who produces the Oral History series with Ludovica Villar-Hauser, is thrilled that, "the Edith Meiser Foundation has made a significant donation to the League of Professional Theatre women and Oral History. Meiser was integral in the creation of the Oral History program and it is wonderful that her legacy continues to support great women like Judy Kaye."

Kaye recently appeared on Broadway as the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella." She also appeared on Broadway in "Nice Work If You Can Get It," for which she won the Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. She won her first Tony Award for "The Phantom of the Opera." Other highlights of her career include "Souvenir" (Tony-nomination, Theatre LA Ovation Award as Best Actress), "Mamma Mia" (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), "Ragtime" (Theatre LA Ovation Award) and "On The Twentieth Century"(Theatre World Award, Drama Desk nomination).

Kaye has also been Mrs. Lovett in a number of productions of "Sweeney Todd," including the most recent Broadway production and National Tour and in London with the original Sweeney, Len Cariou. Others include "Annie Get Your Gun," "Gypsy," "Follies" and "Tales of the City."

Dramatic credits include productions of "Souvenir" in 10 cities around the country, "Lost in Yonkers" at the Old Globe in San Diego and Arizona Theatre Company in Tucson and Phoenix. Other roles include Maggie in "The Man Who Came To Dinner," Penny in "You Can't Take It With You" Shirley Valentine, and Kitty Dean in "The Royal Family."

Opera credits include "La Boheme," "Orpheus In The Underworld" and "The Beggars Opera," all for Santa Fe Opera and "Brigadoon," "Candide" and "The Pajama Game" for New York City Opera.

Kaye has appeared with the New York Festival Of Song many times, in "Fats and Fields" and "Lost Tribes Of Vaudeville" among many others, and in the Grammy-winning recording of Leonard Bernstein's "Arias And Barcarolles." She has performed in concert with many of the world's greatest orchestras and has sung at the White House twice. Kaye is also the voice of Kinsey Millhone for Random House Audio's recordings of the Sue Grafton "Alphabet Mysteries," of which "W Is For Wasted" is the most recent release. For more information, visit www.Judykaye.com.

She will be interviewed by Corren, who created the role of Cosme McMoon opposite Judy Kaye's Florence Foster Jenkins in the original Broadway production of "Souvenir," directed by Vivian Matalon. Also on Broadway, he starred in Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy," a performance which earned him both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Drama Critics' Circle Awards while on tour. Off-Broadway appearances include "The Fantasticks," "Old Jews Telling Jokes," "The Soap Myth," "Dietrich & Chevalier," "The Last
Sunday in June," Stephen Sondheim's "Saturday Night" and the original New York production of "Tomfoolery."

This program is made possible, in part, in with public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

The League of Professional Theatre Women is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization. It presents numerous events each year as part of its mission to promote visibility and increase opportunities for women in the field. None of its work is possible without generous philanthropic support. The League, celebrating its thirty-third anniversary, now boasts a membership of nearly 500 women representing a diversity of theatre professionals in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.

League members are actors, administrators, agents, arrangers, casting directors, choreographers, company managers, composers, critics, designers, directors, dramaturgs, dramatists, educators, general managers, historians, journalists, librettists, lyricists, press agents, playwrights, producers, stage managers, and theatre technicians.

The League has major support from the Edith Meiser Foundation covering interviews with such notable actresses as Billie Allen, Mercedes Ruehl, Tyne Daly, Patti LuPone, Christin Ebersold, playwright Kia Corthron, Donna Murphy, Frances McDormand, and many others. The ongoing Oral History Project chronicles and documents the contributions of significant theatre women in many fields. The interviews are videotaped and preserved for posterity in the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

LPTW's conversation with Judy Kaye will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 11 at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 65th Street & Amsterdam Avenue. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis. For information, visit www.theatrewomen.org