Bebe Neuwirth Set for League of Professional Theatre Women's Oral History Interview Series, 5/5

The League of Professional Theatre Women will present Award-winning actress BEBE NEUWIRTH for the next Oral History interview on Monday, May 5, 2014 at 6:00 pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street & Amsterdam Avenue. Ms. Neuwirth will be interviewed by arts journalist Patrick Pacheco. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis.

Betty Corwin, who produces the Oral History series is delighted that Ms. Neuwirth has agreed to ?share her thoughts with us. She is an amazing actress who has played all three of the principal roles in the revival of Chicago: in the original role of Velma in 1997, as Roxie Hart in 2007 and in 1914, as the warden, "Mama" Morton. Quite an extraordinary accomplishment ."

Oral History Project: With the generous support from the The Betty R. and Ralph Sheffer Foundation, the League has interviewed Mercedes Ruehl and Tyne Daly; the Edith Meiser Foundation has previously supported the interviews of Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole, 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.

On May 8, 2014, The League of Professional Theatre Women will take to the streets in an Advocacy March through Times Square. The Women Stage the World, an advocacy project from The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), will bring to life a suffragette inspired parade in which Broadway theatregoers will see 200 women parading and advocating for equal representation in theatre. An Advocacy Anthem has been written by composer/lyricist Sheilah Rae in celebration and solidarity. Many parading will be wearing costumes in honor of famous women who set the stage: you may recognize the likes of Dorothy Parker, Katharine Cornell, Aphra Behn, Margo Jones, Lady Gregory or Hallie Flanagan, the director of WPA Theatre. To learn more about the program and parade route, visit www.womenstagetheworld.org; to learn more about LPTW, visit www.theatrewomen.org

BEBE NEUWIRTH starred as Velma in the Broadway production of Chicago, for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Astaire Award, and Distinguished Performance of the Year Award. A few years later she returned to the show, this time portraying Roxie. She received her first Tony Award for her portrayal of Nickie in Sweet Charity. Other Broadway credits include Fosse, Damn Yankees, The Addams Family, Dancin?, Little Me, and A Chorus Line. She has performed in regional productions, including Anita in West Side Story, Jenny in The Threepenny Opera, the title role in Kiss of The Spiderwoman (London's West End), and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew.

Off-Broadway credits include a Woody Allen play (directed by Mr. Allen) at the Atlantic Theatre Company, a Terrence McNally play at MTC, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Classic Stage Company, and singing and dancing in an evening of Kurt Weill music in Here Lies Jenny at the Zipper Theatre. She has also played in comedy revues such as Upstairs at O'Neal's. Concert work includes appearing with symphony orchestras around the country, singing the music of Kander & Ebb and Kurt Weill, and a more intimate show called Stories with Piano.

On television Bebe is well known for her role of Lilith on Cheers, for which she received two Emmy Awards. Other TV appearances include her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Dash and Lily, and a starring role in the series Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

Film work includes Liberty Heights, Summer of Sam, Celebrity, Jumanji, Malice, Green Card, The Faculty, Bugsy, and Tadpole. Bebe has also provided cartoon voices for several characters in both television and the movies. Ms. Neuwirth is a recipient of the 2007 Dance Magazine Award, The CTFD Rolex Dance Award, and is proud to be an Honorary Ziegfeld Girl. As a vice-chair of The Actors Fund, she founded The Dancers' Resource, a program committed to addressing the needs - emotional, financial, physical, etc. - of professional dancers across the country.

Bebe recently returned to Chicago to perform the role of 'Mama' Morton, the third principle role she has played in the Broadway production, surely a record of some kind.

PATRICK PACHECO is a New York- based arts journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other periodicals and webzines. His blog Play by Play is published on Artinfo.com and he is a regular contributor to the TV programs, NY1 Onstage and PBS?s Theater Talk. He wrote the 2009 Disney documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty and is the co-author, with Maria Cassi, of the play, My Life with Men...and Other Animals.