Carole Shelley to be Interviewed at NYPL 5/17

On Monday, May 17th at 6pm journalist and theater critic Don Shewey will interview Tony Award-winning actress Carole Shelley. On stage, Shelley made her Broadway debut in the original 1965 production of The Odd Couple, playing Gwendolyn Pigeon, a role which she reprised for the film version and for the first season of the subsequent television series. She earned her first Tony Award nomination in 1975 for her performance as "Jane" in Absurd Person Singular, won the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as "Mrs. Kendal" in The Elephant Man, and was nominated again in 1987 for her performance in Stepping Out as "Maxine." Shelley created the role of "Madame Morrible" in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked. She is currently playing the role of "Grandma" in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre, for which she received a 2009 Tony Nomination. Following the interview, there will be a question and answer period.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), a non-profit organization committed to promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in the professional theatre, is pleased to present this interview as an installment of the Edith Meiser Oral History Project, which chronicles and documents the contributions of significant theatre women in many disciplines. Interviews with 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.

Admission is free, however reservations are recommended and may be made by emailing oralhistory@theatrewomen.org or by calling (888) 297-3117, ext. 1.

The program begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, entrance on 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. This program is made possible through the generous support of the Edith Meiser Foundation.
Please check the LPTW website for more information: www.TheatreWomen.org.

Carole Shelley Broadway: Billy Elliot (Tony Award Nomination), Wicked, Cabaret, Show Boat, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Odd Couple (NY debut), The Miser, Stepping Out (Tony nomination), Noises Off, The Elephant Man (Tony Award, Best Actress), Hay Fever, The Norman Conquests (LADCC Award), Absurd Person Singular (Tony Award Nomination), Loot. National tours: Broadway Bound, The Royal Family, Noises Off. Various repertory in Great Britain, U.S., Canada. Off-Broadway: The Film Society, London Suite, The Destiny of Me, Richard II (NYSF), Later Life (Drama Desk nom.), Cabaret Verboten, What the Butler Saw, Little Murders, Twelve Dreams (Obie), Tartuffe. Starred in Lettice and Lovage (West End). TV/Films: Frasier, Gabby, Coconut Downs, The Cosby Show, The Odd Couple, Road to Wellville, Jungle 2 Jungle, Devlin, The Super, Quiz Show, Aunt Clara in Nora Ephron's Bewitched. Disney animated: Hercules, The Aristocats, Robin Hood.
DON SHEWEY has been a journalist and theater critic in New York City since 1980. He has written extensively for the New York Times, the Village Voice, Esquire, Rolling Stone, American Theatre, and other publications. He has published three books about theater, including the biography Sam Shepard and a book of interviews with actors called Caught in the Act: New York Actors Face to Face, a collaboration with photographer Susan Shacter. He has contributed essays to numerous anthologies ranging from Contemporary Shakespearean Criticism to The Politics of Manhood. He writes a blog devoted to cultural commentary called "Another Eye Opens," and an archive of his writing is available online at www.donshewey.com. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice.