ZOE KIRIAZIS
Staff Writer
Each year students in the performing arts have the opportunity to work with highly credible artists in the theatre, music and dance industry. Stage and film actress Judy Kuhn, musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown and Fredonia alum and Broadway actress Jen Cody have visited Fredonia over the last couple of years. Fredonia adds another name to the list as acting students will be able to work with Broadway veteran Judith Ivey as she takes residency from March 22 through 24.
Ivey, the sister of theatre professor James Ivey, has maintained a career as an actress for the last 40 years, with a resumé that includes more than 70 stage productions including Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatre credits.
She was first seen on Broadway in “Bedroom Farce” before earning her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in “Steaming” in 1982. Two years later she went on to win her second Tony Award in the same category in “Hurlyburly” in 1984. She earned her third Tony nomination in 1992 for Best Actress in “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard” and recently in 2013 for “The Heiress,” racking in four Tony nominations total. She was last seen on Broadway most recently in “The Audience” as former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and stateswoman Margaret Thatcher.
Ivey has an equally successful career in film and television playing Eleanor Markus on “Will & Grace,” reprising her role as Madeline in the movie adaptation of “Piaf” from the play of the same name and appearances in series such as “Designing Women,” “White Collar” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Ivey is also known for her directing as well as acting, having directed “Steel Magnolias,” “Chapatti” and “The-Go-For-It-Guy” to name a few.
During Ivey’s residency at Fredonia, theater majors will be able to work one-on-one with her through coaching sessions on different monologues, scenes and conversations about the business.
The 1891 Fredonia Opera House will be holding an “Inside the Actor’s Studio” format event titled “A Conversation with Judith Ivey” on Friday March 24 at 7:30 p.m. James Ivey will be the evening’s host. Tickets for students are $10 and can be purchased directly through the Fredonia Opera House. All students, performance majors or not, are encouraged to attend as Ivey will be discussing her knowledge, experience and advice on what she has learned throughout her extensive and insightful years of being in theatre, film and television.