MARLO THOMAS STARS - Networking Magazine

MARLO THOMAS STARS
in Clever Little Lies at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater
STORY BY SALLY GILHOOLEY • PHOTOS BY JOHN ZACHER, ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL
our-time Emmy-award winning actor, best-selling author and social
activist Marlo Thomas, will light up the stage in a hilarious new
comedy Clever Little Lies by Tony Award winning playwright Joe
DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Memphis, Nice Work If You Can Get It).
Performances run from July 16 through August 3 at the John Drew Theater in the
Dina Merrill Pavilion, Guild Hall, East Hampton.
DiPietro’s new play starred Thomas when it premiered last winter at the George
Street Playhouse, New Brunswick,
New Jersey. Guild Hall’s production,
directed by David Saint, artistic director of George Street, will feature the
original cast with Greg Mullavey, Jim
Stanek and Kate Wetherhead for a theatrical experience guaranteed to entertain Hamptons audiences.
In an interview with Networking®
F
“If you have a good
cast and a good
play and
a good audience,
you have
everything.”
®
16 NETWORKING June/July 2014
magazine Thomas said, “This was my
third play at the George Street which
has a terrific audience. The first, George
Is Dead, was directed by Elaine May
and we took that to Broadway. It was
part of an evening of three one-act
plays entitled Relatively Speaking. (The
other two plays were written by
Woody Allen and Ethan Coen.)
“The second was Arthur Laurents’
last play, New Year’s Eve with Keith Carradine which I just loved. These were
both new plays which was great and
Arthur (Laurents) co-directed New
Year’s Eve with David Strain. Arthur
was 92 years old and worked all day
with us. At night he would regale us
with his stories. Then he would have a
martini with us when rehearsal was
over and then go home. He was such fun,” she added.
“Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies was my third play and third original play at
George Street. That is the fun of theater, the ability to explore and investigate (new
work.) What is a play about? What works and what doesn’t? I think it is more exciting than doing a revival,” said Thomas who will be performing in the Hamptons for
the first time this summer.
In speaking about DiPietro, she commented, “He is so responsive to the actors. He
listens, observes and rewrites specifically for what is working and what is not working. Joe is the kind of writer who has hundreds of ideas,” she added “The goal is to
bring (Clever Little Lies) to Broadway and I think we are getting close to that goal. It
will do wonderfully in New York because it is
very funny.
“I had never worked with Greg (Mullavey) before but wow is he good! One of the
reviews called us a veteran comedy team! You are always concerned who is the person who is going to be ‘playing tennis’ with you all night and Greg is a great ‘tennis
player,’” said Thomas.
“We are going to have a ball. Alec Baldwin, my friend Blythe Danner and Bob
Balaban have all said that audiences in the Hamptons are wonderful,” she said
adding, “If you have a good cast and a good play and a good audience, you have
everything.”
“Born in a Trunk”
Thomas, daughter of TV star Danny Thomas, worked her way up through summer stock and TV roles, making her breakthrough when Mike Nichols cast her in
the London production of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park. She won raves and came
home a star.
In 1966, Thomas created and executive-produced the television hit, That Girl, the
first situation comedy about an independent young woman living on her own and
It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over... Reinventing
your life—And realizing your dreams—
Anytime, At any age, she said, “The women
I meet are fantastic. So many women in this
country are really stuck and to hear their
stories head on in person is
quite moving.”
pursuing a career. The show made
Thomas a household name opening
the door for such other iconic female
characters as Mary Richards and
Murphy Brown.
The overwhelming fan mail from
That Girl introduced Thomas to the
many struggles of women of that era—
domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, gender and racial discrimination—and it
politicized her: She became a delegate
to the 1972 Democratic Convention, an
initial organizer for passage of the
Equal Rights Amendment; a co-creator,
along with her friend and colleague
Gloria Steinem of the Ms. Foundation,
and a co-creator of the national Take
Our Daughters to Work Day.
Movies with a Message
Using her celebrity status to benefit
others, Thomas has produced and
starred in issues-oriented television
films. Three of them have been
groundbreaking movies based on true
stories: Consenting Adults, about a
mother coming to grips with her
teenage son’s homosexuality; Ultimate
Betrayal, about a woman coping with
the scars of childhood sexual abuse;
and Nobody’s Child, about a woman’s
journey out of mental illness, for which
she won the Emmy for Best Dramatic
Actress.
In 1972, Thomas brought her passion for fighting cultural stereotypes to a
younger generation, conceiving the celebrated children’s project, Free to Be…You and
Me, which included a number-one bestselling book; an Emmy Award-winning TV
special; a gold record album; and a stage play. Embraced by teachers and librarians
nationwide, Free to Be eventually became a part of school curriculum in 35 states. Its
impact continues to be felt today, as parents hand it down to a new generation of
children.
Career Recognition
Honored by her peers, in addition to four Emmy awards, Thomas has had nine
Emmy nominations, a Grammy, a Golden Globe Award, the George Foster Peabody
Award and the Helen Caldicott Award for Nuclear Disarmament. In 1997, she was
inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
On stage, she explored such complex issues as death and dying (The Shadow Box),
wrongful conviction (The Exonerated) and the emotional aftermath of 9/11 (The
Guys). Her Broadway theatre credits include Thieves (1974), Social Security (1986), The
Shadow Box (1994) and, as she told Networking®, Elaine May’s comedy George Is Dead.
Her regional theater credits include: Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolff at the Hartford
Stage; Woman In Mind at the Berkshire Theatre Festival; Paper Doll, with F. Murray
Abraham at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre; and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-inthe-Moon Marigolds at the Cleveland Playhouse. In 1993, she toured in the national
company of Six Degrees of Separation; and, as she said, in the spring of 2008, she
starred in Arthur Laurents’ final play, New Year's Eve, with Keith Carradine.
Multi-Media Success
Thomas, whose energy and creativity spans many art forms, is also a driving force
in publishing. Her new book, It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over... Reinventing your life—And
realizing your dreams—Anytime, At Any Age (Atria Books,) tells the stories of sixty
amazing women who are proving that it’s never too late to live out a dream—to
launch a business, travel the world, get a PhD, indulge a creative impulse, make a
family recipe famous, escape danger,
find love, or fill a void in life with a
challenging new experience.
In commenting on her book tours
for It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over... Reinventing your life—And realizing your
dreams—Anytime, At any age, she
said, “The women I meet are fantastic. So many women in this country
are really stuck and to hear their
stories head on in person is quite
moving.”
Prior to the release of It Ain’t
Over…, Thomas already had six
best-sellers: Free To Be...You and Me;
Free To Be A Family; The Right Words
at the Right Time; The Right Words at
the Right Time, Volume 2: Your Turn!;
Thanks & Giving All Year Long; and,
in 2009, her memoir, Growing Up
Laughing.
In 2010, Thomas brought her inspiring message to an entirely different demographic—women over
35—when she launched her website,
MarloThomas.com, in partnership
with AOL and The Huffington Post.
Through informative articles, expert
forums and engaging video segments she has sparked a national
conversation among women that exposes the pervasiveness of ageism,
and reinforces her conviction that
“life is not over at 40.” Personal
blogs on topical issues—from equal
pay, to women’s athletics, to her new
national campaign to eradicate bulMarlo Thomas with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital children.
lying—and her wildly popular interview show, “Mondays With Marlo” (the first show of its kind on the Internet), have
The Today Show doing a different story about a different child every day for five days
earned her 100,000,000 page views in 2013 alone.
during Thanksgiving week,” she said adding, “Matt Lauer has been so great to us
She said, “Two things make ‘Mondays With Marlo’ a success. First, it is informaand The Today Show has been wonderful to us for ten years.
tion and complete information from Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, Judge Judy or Dr. Phil or
“St. Jude is a place where doctors send their toughest cases because we are a reeye candy like Jon Hamm a.k.a. Don Draper of Mad Men. Secondly, the answers
search as well as a treatment center,” she explained. “We have 38,000 campaigns a
come from the community. Every Monday we tell the audience on Facebook who
year. In order to raise the money we need we do all different kinds of events: galas,
we will have the next week and invite them to send their questions.
bike-a-thons,, colleges run a campaign called Up ‘Til Dawn. What is exciting is to
“We get hundreds of questions and choose the ones that are most relevant and an
see how many people care about kids.
audience question is answered by a top professional. Where else could a person get
“My father used to say, ‘There are two kinds of people in the world: the givers
that kind of professional advice? “ said Thomas. “And, we get wonderful people
and the takers. The takers eat better but the givers sleep better.’ What you see here is
like Kelly Ripa talking about how do you have a career like she has and raise three
that there are an awful lot of givers in this country,” she said.
children and keep a marriage to“St. Jude has to raise 78% of its money from the public because every child comes
gether. All our guests have some- to St. Jude for free. Most hospitals only have to raise 8% of their budget from the
thing to do with how women
public. But we have to raise 78% so we are very dependent on the public, it is the
live. Even Jon Hamm who has
lifeblood of the hospital,” Thomas explained.
been in a steady relationship for
“You realize how generous America is. That is why we call it America’s hospital
about fourteen years talks about
because the children come from all over America and the money comes from all
how he keeps that relationship
over America. And nobody pays for treatment, housing, food or travel. That was my
going and protects it given his
father’s promise. It is a big promise and it takes a lot of us to keep it,” she said. “It is
big movie star personality and
a primary focus for our whole family, my brother and sister, myself and a big organpersona.”
ization.”
“...You realize how
generous America is.
That is why we call it
America’s hospital
because the children come
from all over America
and the money comes
from all over America.
And nobody pays for
treatment, housing,
food or travel.
Thomas is married to TV talk show pioneer Phil Donahue. They met when she
was interviewed on the Donahue Show in 1977. Thomas says it was “instant chemistry.” The couple lives in New York City. ■
Sneak Preview
Clever Little Lies by Joe DiPietro reveals a mother (Thomas) who always
knows when something's up and a son who is distracted, under pressure and
off his game. Will a surprising evening with his parents send him further offkilter? Secrets are exposed and clever little lies are crafted when a confidence
shared between father and son escalates into an unexpected revelation that
could change everything...
July 16 – August 3
Tuesdays - Sundays at 8pm plus matinees at 3pm on Sunday, July 27 and
Sunday, August 3
The John Drew Theater in the Dina Merrill Pavilion at Guild Hall, Center for the
Visual and Performing Arts, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, New York 11937,
631.324.0806; Tickets online at GuildHall.org or at Box Office 631-324-4050; theatermania.com or 1-866-811-4111. Free student rush tickets available for this program.
®
No 8pm show on Friday, July 25 or Sunday, August 3
Prime Orchestra $75/$70 members; Orchestra $55/$53 members; Balcony
$40/$38 members
NETWORKING June/July 2014 17
St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital
It would be impossible to assess Thomas’ life work without
acknowledging her ongoing
commitment to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee, which her
father founded in 1962. St. Jude’s
provides life-saving medical care
to children with cancer and other
catastrophic illnesses regardless
of a family’s ability to pay. As St.
Jude’s National Outreach Director, Thomas is the public face of
the hospital, spearheading the team that raises $850 million annually.
“We do a special that really plays all year and brings in about $75 million annually. I have other people on with me like Jennifer Garner, Alan Alda, Betty White,
Gloria Estafan and Tom Selleck and maybe four or five others who I feel appeal to
people. They tell stories about the children,” Thomas explained.
In 2004, she created the annual Thanks & Giving program, an unprecedented collaborative campaign, in partnership with more than 60 of the nation’s leading corporations and retailers that raises millions of dollars from holiday shoppers across
the nation. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the campaign has raised a total of $387
million. In 2013 it raised $99 million.
“Our Thanksgiving program has Jennifer Anniston, Morgan Freeman, Sophia Vergara, Robin Williams and Olympian Shaun White. At that time you will see me on