Two-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl) will fly from Chicago to New York next Monday, to join the cast honoring Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach in "A Life in the Theatre--Onstage and Off." The event will take place on June 19th at Symphony Space.
"I love the Wallachs, and have such great respect for their careers, and their lives," Mason stated, currently in
Chicago starring in
Hecuba. "This was a chance I just could not miss."
Mason met Wallach in 1973, while filming one of her Oscar-nominated roles, in
Cinderella Liberty. She went on to perform the role of Maxine in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams'
The Night of the Iguana. She adds "their history with Tennessee was fascinating to me as an actor, to think of all the roles they have originated in their remarkable careers. I'll be doing a scene from one of Tennessee's most imaginative plays,
Camino Real, along with
Boyd Gaines and
Kate Burton. Eli was in the original production."
In addition to Burton and Gaines, Mason joins
Andrea Martin,
Rita Gardner,
Cynthia Nixon,
David Green,
Max Casella, Maggie Lacey,
Marian Seldes,
Eric Stoltz,
Estelle Parsons, and host
James Naughton. Another theatre vetaran,
Austin Pendleton, will also fly in from
Chicago to perform, where he is appearing at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and will also fly back the next day.
Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson
have been recipients of numerous Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe, Theatre
World, Drama Desk and BAFTA awards and nominations in their 60-plus
year careers. Together, Wallach and Jackson have appeared together on Broadway in The Flowering Peach, Lost in Yonkers, Cafe Crown, Twice Around the Park, The Waltz of the Toreadors, Luv, Rhinoceros and others. Separately, Jackson has starred in Middle of the Night, Arms and the Man, The Lady from the Sea, the original production of Summer and Smoke, and others, while Wallach has appeared in Major Barbara, the original productions of The Teahouse of the August Moon, Camino Real, The Rose Tattoo, Mister Roberts and more. Jackson's screen credits include Hunter's Crossing, The Shining and Sticks and Bones; Wallach has been seen in the films Keeping the Faith, Night and the City, The Godfather: Part III, and How To Steal A Million, among dozens more.
Tickets for the event, which benefits the Character Studies Education Projects, are available at
symphonyspace.org, by clicking on June 19, or by phoning the box office: 212 - 864 - 5400.