Posts Tagged ‘Marcia Gay Harden’

Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
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Marcia Gay Harden is one of the most celebrated actors of her generation. In 1993, she originated for Broadway the now-iconic role of Harper Pitt in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 2001, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of the painter Lee Krasner in Pollock and in 2009, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Veronica in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage. Her films include Miller’s Crossing, The First Wives Club, Mystic River (for which she received a second Academy Award nomination), Into the Wild, Magic in the Moonlight, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Her television credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Newsroom, How to Get Away with Murder, and Code Black. She holds a BA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Visit her website and follow her on Twitter.

In The Seasons of My Mother, Marcia Gay Harden uses the imagery of flowers and the art of Ikebana to depict the unique creative bond that she has had with her mother throughout the years—and how, together, they are facing her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Marcia Gay Harden knew at a young age that her life would be anything but ordinary. One of five lively children born to two Texas natives—Beverly, a proper Dallas lady, and Thad, a young officer in the US Navy hailing from El Paso—she always had a knack for storytelling, role-playing, and mischief-making. As a military family, the Hardens moved often, and their travels abroad eventually took them to a home off the coast of Japan. It was here that Beverly, amidst the many challenges of raising a gaggle of youngsters, found solace in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

Using the imagery of flowers and Ikebana as her starting point, Marcia Gay Harden takes us through the different seasons of her mother’s life, all the while weaving in the story of her own journey from precocious young girl to budding artist to Academy Award-winning actress. With a razor-sharp wit, as well as the kind of emotional honesty that has made her performances resonate with audiences worldwide, Marcia describes the family’s travels overseas, her flourishing career in New York and Hollywood, and, most poignantly, Beverly’s struggles today to maintain her identity as she tackles her greatest challenge yet: Alzheimer’s disease.

Featuring photographs of gorgeous Ikebana arrangements created specially for this book, this memoir illustrates the uniqueness, beauty, and unforgettable love of motherhood, as Marcia does what Beverly can no longer do: she remembers. 

Lisa Napoli is the creator and host of the podcast, Gracefully: Your field guide to growing old.  A career journalist who has worked for the New York Times, MSNBC, and public radio’s Marketplace, she’s also the author of two books, Ray & Joan and Radio Shangri-la.