Author Archives: Christina

Karen Ludwig
Video Conversations with prominent actors, directors and writers.

“ABOUT THE WORK”

Over the course of 4 years, Karen Ludwig conducted a series of conversations with prominent actors, directors and writers under the auspices of the New School for Drama. Her interviews focused on the work of creating, influences, introspection and resulted in surprising and in-depth responses from her guests which include Cynthia Nixon, Jeremy Irons, John Guare, Josh Hamilton, Lucas Hedges, Ethan Hawke, Cherry Jones, Dale Soules, among many more.

Enjoy an hour or so of discovery and inspiration .
Click on: Karen Ludwig Interviews

KAREN LUDWIG
Actor, director, writer and teacher.

Her Broadway credits include PRELUDE TO A KISS with Steve Guttenberg and John Randolph, BROADWAY BOUND with Joan Rivers, THE DEVILS with Anne Bancroft, THE BACCHAE with Irene Pappas and many plays at the Public Theater. She was a member of Andre Gregory’s Manhattan Project for two years and performed in THE SEAGULL and Wallace Shawn’s OUR LATE NIGHT with the Company throughout the United States and Europe. Her first film was Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN, (Meryl Streep’s lover and most recently THAT AWKWARD MOMENT with Zach Efron. She wrote WHERE WAS I?, a solo show that she performed at Joe’s Pub. She produced and directed UTA HAGEN’S ACTING CLASS with Pennie duPont; a two-part DVD of her incomparable teacher and friend. UTAHAGENVIDEO.COM . Ms. Ludwig has taught abroad including Amsterdam, Israel and Australia as well as USC Film School, UCLA, NYU and is currently on the faculty of The New School and HB Studio in NYC.

While shooting an episode of LAW AND ORDER, in which Jeremy Irons was starring, she asked him if he’d be willing to talk to her students at The New School. He did and that led to Karen asking more prominent actors she had worked with, like Cherry Jones and that was the beginning of Karen’s interview series, About the Work. All in all, 41 actors, directors, and writers were interviewed.

Photo: Frankie Alduino

Kate Walter
Buying Clothes in the Pandemic

Uniqlo

The Pandemic Changed Me: I Learned to Like Clothes Shopping

Kate Walter
The Village Sun
January 20, 2021

….But there is no way I missed clothes shopping. My dislike dates back to my childhood when I was a girl and my mother dragged me with her from store to store on Main Street in downtown Paterson, New Jersey. Back in the ’50s and ’60s, before the suburban malls, my home city had a lively commercial area with department stores and specialty shops.

I felt trapped. I wanted to be playing basketball or roller skating, but I was forced to help my mother decide on patterns and material for dresses she would sew. (Not the least bit appealing to a tomboy.) I was bored after half an hour but my mother wanted to shop much longer. I couldn’t wait to get home. The only thing that kept me going was the reward.

When we finished, we went to the soda fountain at Woolworth’s and I ordered a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles. I plopped down on the spinning stools, trying to restrain myself from twirling while waiting. I was an energetic baby dyke in training.

Read the entire article HERE

Edward Field
A Minor Accident of War
Award-winning Short film

Gay World War 2 Veteran Tells Harrowing Tale of Survival
in Animated Short

The Oscar 2020 nominated animated short, A Minor Accident of War, directed by Diane Weiss tells the gripping story of a gay man’s survival in World War 2.

That man is her uncle, Westbeth poet Edward Field, 96 who was a 21 year old navigator in the U.S. Air Force when his plane, part of a raid on Nazis, took fire over Germany during one of his 27 missions.

One of the reasons the film was made, Weiss explains in the 112 January 2021 article in The Advocate written by Daniel Reynolds, was in response to the Trump administrations attack on transgender troops.

Watch A MINOR ACCIDENT OF WAR on The Advocate website HERE.


Minor Accident of War is inspired by a 1967 poem written by Field, who also narrates the production. In addition to his military service, Field is a distinguished poet who has been honored with the Lamont Poetry Award, a Lambda Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Additionally, Field penned To Be Alive, a short documentary that won an Oscar in 1966.

Manhattan’s Last Home for Artists Weathers Another Storm

Wikimedia photo

Excerpts from the article in Bedford and Bowery
by Sarah Krolewski
January 12, 2021

…“Westbeth was very concerned about everything” related to COVID-19, said Walter, a sentiment echoed by many other residents. “People here are vulnerable, but I feel very taken care of.”

Residents still stop for conversations with each other, standing six feet apart, and banter with staff at the front desk. Younger Westbethers feel compassion for their older counterparts, and disputes have died down. Most of the building’s usual events have moved online, attracting a steady stream of participants. Cominskie says he feels optimistic about the current board’s ability to meet future challenges. Westbeth appointed a new CEO, Ellen Salpeter, in 2019, a change that even long-time residents, accustomed to administrative shuffling, find promising. These are hazy signs that Westbeth may continue to survive, not fade away, and that it may at last be doing something right.”

” Months into the pandemic, masks are now mandatory in every part of Westbeth, and volunteers have continued to help the building’s most vulnerable residents with errands. The work of people like Dowling and Cominskie—a coterie of advocates fiercely committed to Westbeth—has helped to bring this community back from the brink.

“The collective energy of the building has been phenomenal,” said Cominskie, reached over the phone in October. “You’re going through this horrible period, and then somebody does something incredibly sweet—and you want to cry, it’s that wonderful.”

Even in the midst of so much grief and fear, Westbeth’s artists are continuing to make art, channeling these emotions into new and compelling work.”

““Our artists are the most important thing,” said Cominskie. “Without them, it’s just another apartment complex.”

Read the entire article which features interviews with Charles Seplowin, Karen Santry, Kate Walter, and George Cominskie.

“Our artists are the most important thing,” said Cominskie. “Without them, it’s just another apartment complex.”

Read the entire article which features interviews with George Cominskie, Karen Santry, Jack Dowling, Kate Walter and Charles Seplowin.
Bedfordl and Bowery about Westbeth