Pasadena Playhouse to Present 'In Conversation: Cecile Richards & Holland Taylor'

Pasadena Playhouse begins performances of the West Coast premiere of Ann - written by and starring Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein March 22, with performances continuing through April 24.

On April 10 at 5:00pm Daughter of Texas Governor Ann Richards, Cecile (Co-founder of Supermajority, co-chair of American Bridge, and former President of Planned Parenthood) joins Taylor (The Chair, Hollywood, Two and a Half Men) centerstage at the Playhouse as the Hollywood legend prepares to take on the Texas star one final time.

Cecile Richards and Holland Taylor will come together for a dynamic, free-flowing conversation about leadership, legacy and creating change in these times... or anything else that enters the minds of the two cultural trailblazers.

Tickets to attend this special event in person are available for $25 at pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. The event will also be available to live stream for free at bit.ly/3qjVTBP

Cecile Richards is a national leader for women's rights and social and economic justice, and a co-founder of Supermajority -- a new organization fighting for gender equity. She is the author of New York Times bestseller Make Trouble. As President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund for 12 years, Richards worked to increase affordable access to reproductive health care and to build a healthier and safer world for women and young people. After starting her career as a labor organizer, working with women earning the minimum wage, she went on to start her own grassroots organizations, and later served as Deputy Chief of Staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Richards is a frequent speaker and commentator on politics and progressive issues. She and her husband, Kirk Adams, have three children and live in New York City.

Holland Taylor (Playwright and Performer) has been a regular fixture of stage and screen for over four decades.

In 2020 she appeared in several notable projects. She received an Emmy nomination for her work in Ryan Murphy's global hit limited series, Hollywood, opposite Patti LuPone, Dylan McDermott, Jim Parsons, and Darren Criss, which premiered on Netflix on May 1,2020. Holland plays veteran studio executive 'Ellen Kincaid', whom she imbues with the sort of charm, moxie, and quiet power necessary to combat the rigged Golden Age studio system that the series reimagines.

She also had a major supporting turn in the feature film, Bill & Ted Face the Music, the latest installment in the cult classic film series, in which she stars as 'The Great Leader' opposite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, reprising their iconic performances.

Next, in June 2020, PBS's Great Performances presented a filmed version of Ann. Holland wrote and starred in the production across the country and on Broadway, receiving a 2013 Tony® Award nomination for "Leading Actress in a Play". Ann was filmed on its Broadway set at Austin's Zach Theatre in Ann's home state of Texas. It currently streams internationally on BroadwayHD as well as on PBS' Passport. For Ann'sBroadway engagement at Lincoln Center's Beaumont Theatre, Holland also received Drama Desk and Drama League nominations, and the Outer Circle Critics Award for Best Solo Performance.

Currently, in an August 2021 release, Holland stars in The Chair, a Netflix series starring Sandra Oh and Jay Duplass, that tells the story of the newly appointed female Chair of the literature department in a "gray stone" university, and the various professors in her charge. Holland plays Professor Joan Hambling, a distinguished scholar putting up a fight at what seems like the end of the line. Bob Balaban, Nana Mensah, and David Morse star as fellow professors managing in the current embroiled climate of higher education. Holland also can be currently seen as Cybil Richards, the savvy chairwoman of the UBA board, on Apple TV+'s The Morning Show alongside Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.

Holland won the Emmy® Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1999 for her groundbreaking performance as 'Judge Roberta Kittleson' on ABC's legal drama The Practice. She has received a grand total of eight Emmy® nominations during her career, including a second for The Practice, one for her guest appearance on the comedy series The Lot, and her most recent nod for Hollywood. She received an incredible four nominations for her inspired work on CBS's #1 sitcom, Two and a Half Men on which she starred as 'Evelyn Harper' for its entire twelve-season run.

Her countless television credits also include the classic comedy Bosom Buddies starring Tom Hanks, the landmark series The L Word, NBC's sitcom The Naked Truth, and most recently David E. Kelley's Mr. Mercedes, starring Brendan Gleeson and based on a series of novels by Stephen King. She also starred in two auspicious Norman Lear projects: The Powers That Be, a short-lived but highly acclaimed political satire; as well as the NBC pilot, Guess Who Died, opposite Hector Elizondo.

Her memorable film roles include Legally Blonde opposite Reese Witherspoon, Peter Weir's The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey, One Fine Day with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, George of the Jungle, Baby Mama, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the classics Romancing The Stone and Jewel of the Nile, To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman, Next Stop Wonderland, Happy Accidents, Spy Kids 2 & 3, Keeping the Faith, Gloria Bell, starring Julianne Moore, and Jay Roach's Bombshell. Most recently, she co-starred in Netflix's hugely popular To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You.

A stage veteran, Holland most recently appeared on Broadway in 2016 opposite Nathan Lane and John Slattery in the Tony®-nominated revival of The Front Page; she made her Broadway debut in 1965 in the play The Devils. She also holds the distinction of having appeared in the historic Broadway flop, Moose Murders, having taken over for Eve Arden during previews a mere week before opening (and closing).

Her New York stage performances also include David Lindsay Abaire's dark comedy Ripcord at Manhattan Theatre Club; 'Bess' in Breakfast with Less and Bess; and the original productions of Butley, opposite Alan Bates, and A.R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour. In Los Angeles, she has performed in Kindertransport, and played opposite Christopher Lloyd in Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man at The Geffen Playhouse. She has also narrated for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Stravinsky's Persephone for Essa-Pekka Salonen, and for John Adams in Phillip Glass' Akhnaten. Maestro John Williams was the conductor as she delivered the spoken word in his Harry Potter Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Holland was a dedicated student of Stella Adler, and has given talks about the work and cultural contribution of this great teacher. A proud Philadelphia native, she went to Westtown Friends School, and received her B.A. at Bennington College. In 2005, she became a student again, earning an M.A. from the University of Santa Monica.

About Ann

Tough as nails. Funny as hell. Emmy®-winning and Tony®-nominated Holland Taylor (The Chair,Hollywood, Two and a Half Men) brings the legendary Ann Richards to the stage for the last time in this dynamo Tony-nominated performance that captures the fire, heart, and brains of Ann herself. Ann's down home charm and passion for fair play fuel her uncanny leadership and capacity for caring. Always ready with a laugh out loud zinger or a telling observation, this superstar in Texas politics ultimately became a national figure. A vividly remembered force of nature, Ann continues to inspire us still.

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