Meryl Streep Donates $1M To NYC Public Theater

by uInterviewOctober 8, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

Meryl Streep recently donated $1 million to New York City's The Public Theater in honor of its late founder Joseph Papp and author Nora Ephron. “I give this gift in honor of the founder of The Public Theater, my friend and mentor Joseph Papp, and in remembrance of one of the theater’s board members and greatest supporters, my friend Nora Ephron,” said three-time Oscar winner Streep, 63, in a statement.

Ephron, who directed Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia (2009), died in June, but leaves behind a legacy of Academy Award-winning films like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, as well as a long-standing involvement with The Public. Streep herself has performed for The Public since 1975, featuring in some of its key productions such as Henry V (1976), Mother Courage and Her Children (2006) and, most recently, as Juliet opposite Kevin Kline's Romeo in a benefit reading of Romeo and Julie in Central Park this summer. “Meryl is as great a citizen as she is an actor,” Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater, told The Washington Post. “Joe Papp founded The Public in the belief that great theater belonged to all the people. It means an enormous amount to us that the greatest actor of our time supports that mission.” The donation coincided with the nonprofit's unveiling of its $40 million renovation of its Astor Place headquarters.

Catch Meryl Streep next in her upcoming movie August: Osage County, the movie adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Tony-winning play, which will also star Ewan McGregor and Julia Roberts.