Culture Connect Featured Event

The Women Behind Broadway

Women's History Month Lecture & Lunch

Thursday, March 15     12 p.m.- 2 p.m.

with Alexis Greene, author of Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway and Helen Sheehy, author of Eva Le Gallienne. A Biography

Friends Lucille Lortel and Eva Le Gallienne forged exceptional careers in the world of theatre.

 Both women played challenging roles on stage and both kept a commitment to theatre education and avant garde theatre. Gallienne (1899 – 1991) became an accomplished performer, educator and a master at building nonprofit repertory theater companies. Lortel (1900 – 1999) began her theatre career as an actress, appearing on Broadway in 1925 and later played roles on the stage and screen.

She settled into married life and began producing theatre in 1947 with the creation of the White Barn Theatre in Westport.

She was a stalwart promoter and producer of new and original plays and was pivotal in establishing Off-Broadway as an alternative to the commercial theatres in New York.