Rosie O'Donnell Partakes in 'Why Documentaries Matter' Panel, 5/26

Rosie O'Donnell is set to be a panelist for 'Why Documentaries Matter' at the 92nd Street Y on May 26. Leading the panel will be Sheila Nevins, who has produced nearly 1000 documentaries. Nevins is the president of HBO Documentary Films.

Also on the panel will be DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, the veteran documentary film team who worked on 'Elaine Stritch At Liberty,' Al Maysles the director of 'Grey Gardens,' and Alexandra Pelosi.

For six years, Rosie O'Donnell was America's best friend for an hour each day as host and executive producer of the critically acclaimed and Emmy Award winning nationally syndicated talk/variety series "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," for which she won three Daytime Emmys. She also won a Primetime Emmy for "The 52nd Annual Tony Awards." Ms. O'Donnell was last seen on daytime television as moderator on the tenth season of ABC's "The View." Her acting credits include: TV - "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Queer as Folk," "Nip/Tuck;" Film - A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Harriet the Spy; and on Broadway - Grease, Seussical, Fiddler on the Roof. In 2004 Rosie and Kelli O'Donnell launched R Family Vacations, a gay, lesbian, straight, young and old, family cruise to the Caribbean. HBO aired a documentary, "All Aboard Rosie's Family Cruise," directed by Emmy nominee Shari Cookson, which garnered three Emmy Award nominations and chronicled this historic undertaking, offering a glimpse of a society shaped by a truly diverse, inclusive network of families. As a tireless crusader for children, she established the "Rosie's For All Kids Foundation" in 1997. Since its inception, the foundation has raised more than $60 million and awarded more than $27 million dollars in grants to over 1,400 child-related non-profit organizations to benefit low income families across the country. In 2003, Ms. O'Donnell established "Rosie's Broadway Kids," a program that provides free in-school, after-school and summer instruction in musical theater to the public school children of New York.

The panel will begin at 8:15. Tickets are $27 and are available online Here.

The 92nd Street Y is located at 92nd Street and Lexington Ave. The panel will take place in Kaufmann Concert Hall.

For more infomation visit http://www.92y.org/