Actor and comedian Jane Curtin, one of the original cast members on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” plans to make a visit to the University at Albany on Saturday, April 29 with two distinct events in store.
At 4pm, Curtin, a two-time Emmy Award winner for Kate & Allie, will participate in an on-stage interview with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series. This event is free and open to the public.
Then, later that day at 7:30pm, Jane Curtin will be a part of the cast of Selected Shorts, the live version of the weekly public radio show that airs locally on WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Tickets purchased in advance are $10-$15. Both appearances will take place at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus at 1400 Washington Avenue.
Starting in its first season in 1975, Jane Curtin was one of the original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” on “Saturday Night Live” and stayed with the show through the 1979-80 season. She later starred in two long-running television sitcoms, “Kate & Allie” from 1984 through 1989, during which she won back-to-back Emmy Awards in 1984 and 1985, and “3rd Rock from the Sun” from 1996 through 2001. Curtin also starred in all four seasons of “Unforgettable” as well as the television movie series “The Librarian” and its spin-off television show, “The Librarians.” Guest appearances have included“The Good Wife,” “48 Hours ’til Monday,” “The Good Fight,” “Broad City,” “United We Fall” and, most recently, “The Conners.”
Jane Curtin has appeared on Broadway in “Noises Off,” “Candida,” and “Our Town.” Her film credits include “Coneheads,” “Antz,”” I Love You, Man,” “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” “The Heat,” “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “Ode to Joy,” “Godmothered,” and “Queen Bees.” Upcoming projects include the film “Jules,” opposite Sir Ben Kingsley.
The Creative Life series is a major arts initiative of the University Art Museum, New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in conjunction with WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Sponsored by The University at Albany Foundation, the series features live onstage interviews conducted by WAMC’s “Roundtable” host Joe Donahue with artists of national and international prominence in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, their careers and the demands of sustaining an artistic practice over time. A question-and-answer period closes each program.
Previous Creative Life guests include fiction writer Joyce Carol Oates, tap dancer-choreographer Savion Glover, jazz violinist Regina Carter, painter David Salle, Young Adult author Lois Lowry, choreographer Garth Fagan, Broadway star Patti LuPone, Warhol film star Bibbe Hansen, sculptor Jean Shin, author/essayist Esmeralda Santiago, New Yorker journalist/author Susan Orlean, comedian/actor Paul Reiser, high-wire artist Philippe Petit, rapper Rakim, novelist Jhumpa Lahiri, chef/food writer Ruth Reichl, designer Debbie Millman, writer Roxane Gay, and art critic Lucy Sante.
Over thirty-five years ago, Selected Shorts was born on the stage at Symphony Space in New York City and quickly became one of the best-known shows of its kind spawning a popular public radio show, podcast, audio collections, and national tours. The series was conceived with a simple premise: take great stories by well-known and emerging writers and have them brought to life by terrific actors of stage and screen. The show is now broadcast on more than 150 stations to about 300,000 listeners around the country. The Selected Shorts podcast consistently ranks as one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes, with more than 100,000 downloads each week. Selected Shorts on Tour takes the show live to theaters, libraries, college campuses and conferences.
This is the third Selected Shorts performance at UAlbany. Previous guests who have performed on stage at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center have included Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”), Anthony Rapp (original cast of “Rent”), Alysia Reiner (“Orange is the New Black”), Patricia Kalember (“The Tick”), Bhavesh Patel (“The Good Wife”) and Rita Wolf (Tony Kushner’s “Homebody/Kabul”). The two actors joining Curtin for the April 29 performance are still to be announced.
Tickets for the live performance of Selected Shorts are available through the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s web site at www.albany.edu/pac. The show is presented by the New York State Writers Institute and the UAlbany Performing Arts Center with support from the University at Albany Foundation and University Auxiliary Services.
