Brown & Luker Set for Upcoming Downstage Center Shows

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio will present interviews with acclaimed actresses Blair Brown and Rebecca Luker on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).

Brown will appear as the special guest on Friday, December 29 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, December 30 at noon, Sunday, December 31 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, January 3 at midnight.

In the interview, Brown "discusses her role on stage in the Lincoln Center Theatre production of Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House, and her part in the play winning the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Award; explains how she ended up going to drama school and the beginnings of her career in Canada; recalls her role in the triumphant Richard Foreman production of The Threepenny Opera and her anguish over the brief Broadway life of The Secret Rapture; and considers the experience of humanizing so-called 'intellectual' plays like Copenhagen and Arcadia," press notes state.

Luker will appear as the special guest on Friday, January 5 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, January 6 at noon, Sunday, January 7 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, January 10 at midnight.

"In the interview, Luker confesses to not reading the original Mary Poppins books despite her role as Mrs. Banks in the current Broadway musical version; recalls her Broadway debut understudying and then assuming the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera; talks about her great experience appearing in a (almost completely) non-singing role in A.R. Gurney's Indian Blood; and explains why she's exploring singing in a register lower than her pristine and acclaimed soprano voice."

Brown most recently appeared on the New York stage in Humble Boy at Manhattan Theatre Club. She also recently played Prospera in The Tempest at McCarter Theatre and starred in A Little Night Music for the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Festival. Her Broadway credits include Copenhagen, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, James Joyce's The Dead, Arcadia, The Threepenny Opera and The Secret Rapture. She is best known to television audiences for her title role in the critically acclaimed NBC television series "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," for which she received four Emmy nominations and a Cable Ace Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series. Other television credits include the WB series "Smallville" and the CBS drama "CSI: Miami." She has narrated more than 50 documentary films and recorded books and has also hosted "The Poet's Voice" for NPR and the Unterberg Poetry Center.

For the role of Marian in The Music Man, Luker received Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. Her Broadway credits include The Sound of Music (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Showboat (Tony Award® nomination), The Secret Garden (Drama Desk nomination) and The Phantom of the Opera. Her regional credits include Time and Again (Old Globe) and Harmony (La Jolla Playhouse/Drama-Logue Award). Luker has performed in the concerts No, No Nanette; Gay Divorce; "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies" (all at Carnegie Hall); and The Boys From Syracuse (Encores!). She has performed with the London, Stockholm, American, Boston, and Hollywood Bowl Symphonies, and is featured on numerous recordings.

Each new "Downstage Center" program is regularly broadcast at 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays at 12 a.m. (all times EST). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally as both streaming audio and podcast on ATW's Web site, www.americantheatrewing.org.  Visit www.xmradio.com for more on XM Satellite Radio.