Equality Now, one of the world’s leading organizations working to protect and promote the human rights of women and girls worldwide, will mark its 20th Anniversary on April 19 with a benefit at the Asia Society in New York City. The evening will honor Equality Now’s accomplishments over the last two decades and will also celebrate the future of the organization. Hosted by Sarah Jones, the event will feature celebrity readings written by writer, director and producer Joss Whedon and Sarah Jones and a musical performance by Natalie Merchant. Expected performers include Meryl Streep, Laura Linney, Rosie Perez and others. Information about the event can be found at equalitynow.org/event/20thanniversary.

Meryl Streep j4has oined Elton John, Sting and James Taylor for their own special version of The Wizard of Oz at a benefit concert to raise funds for rainforest communities in Central and South America, yesterday. Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, produced the all-star fund-raiser with the theme Songs from the Silver Screen for The Rainforest Foundation US at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sting had a surprise hit with the dark theme from comedy series M*A*S*H, Suicide is Painless, while Streep sang When You Wish Upon A Star. Over 100 pictures from the concert have been added to the image library.

Also, there is some speculation at this time that Meryl is in talks to join Stephen Sondheim’s production of “Into the Woods”, playing the Delacorte this summer. Not long ago, a British newspaper interview with Sondheim mentioned that Meryl was a rumored possibility to portray the Witch in the revival. Sondheim didn’t confirm or deny the buzz, but interestingly said, “We will see. I think she’d be great.” That set excited little heads spinning all around town. Meanwhile, a good friend of Meryl was just cast. Amy Adams – who costarred with the multi-Oscar winner in Doubt and Julie and Julia – is going to play the Baker’s Wife. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up!

The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival revealed its panel series as well as six new titles that will world premiere at the upcoming event. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Judd Apatow will take part in the tribute panel “Tribeca Talks: 100 Years of Universal” on April 19, 2012, to celebrate the anniversary of Universal Pictures, and to share their favorite moments and memories from Universal’s extraordinary history. The panel will be moderated by Mike Fleming. Additional panels include conversations with Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore; director Jim Sheridan and his daughter Naomi Sheridan; as well as Rob Lowe and Christian Slater. The Tribeca Talks panel series is open to the public and will take place throughout the festival, which runs April 18-29 at locations around New York City.

As previously reported, Meryl has attended the New York screening of “Bully”, yesterday. Pictures from the event have been added to the image library.

Here’s what Forbes wrote about the event: Meryl Streep has three Oscars and is considered the best of all American actresses. But she was bulled in school. She talked about it on Monday night after she was introduced by actress Regency Boies at the Weinstein Company screeening of “Bully” at the Paley Center in New York. The screening was part of the campaign to get the MPAA to change the rating to PG-13 before the film opens next Friday in New York and Los Angeles. Here’s what she said: “I watched this with my four college roommates. We get together every year. A child psychologist, a woman who’s a lawyer, a columnist, and a businesswoman–we were all stunned. It brought me back to New Jersey in nineteen fifty…–a long time ago. I was eight year old and up a tree. And my nemesis, this one bully, was hitting my legs with a stick until they bled. It was very ‘Lord of the Flies’. It was a very nice Republican community, I might add. [Ed note–Meryl said this a with a smile, knowing a lot of the audience were bankers from similar towns. The remark got laughs.] Seeing this, you realize it’s been around, bullying. But I hope this film will give encouragement to the kids who are being bullied. My dad had a little statue on his desk of three little monkeys, a carved Chinese statuette– doing this, this and this. [She demonstrated See No Evil, Say No Evil, Hear No Evil]. I thought maybe this will encourage all those little monkeys to stand up and open their eyes and take the earbuds out of their ears and say something. Because a team is stronger than a bully. I hope you really like it, and tell absolutely everybody at the MPAA that it should have a rating of PG-13.”

And from the New York Daily News: Meryl Streep learned something new about her daughter Tuesday. At a special screening of “Bully” that the Oscar winner hosted at the Paley Center for Media, actress Regency Boies recalled the times her classmate, Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer, came to the aid of fellow students who were being tormented. “I saw her on more than a few occasions come to the rescue of some of our classmates that were being ridiculed when none of the rest of us were brave enough to confront them,” Boies said, adding that she knew Gummer’s actions were a product of “the integrity and the kindness that Meryl instilled.” After listening to Boies remarks, an emotional Streep said it was the first time she’d heard this and needed a moment “to recover, because that’s just so great to hear.” Other guests called “Bully” great, adding that they could not understand why the MPAA would give such a powerful documentary an R rating.

In other news, director Ulu Grosbard, who directed Meryl in the 1984 love story Falling in Love, has died. Grosbard was nominated for his first Tony Award in 1965 for The Subject Was Roses, Frank D. Gilroy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a soldier (Martin Sheen) returning from war to his parents in the Bronx. His second nom came in 1977 for the original Broadway production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, the junk shop-set drama that starred Robert Duvall. Grosbard directed Dustin Hoffman in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) and Straight Time (1978) and helmed the 1968 screen adaptation of The Subject Was Roses, his feature debut. Other credits include Georgia (1995), with Jennifer Jason Leigh and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

Yesterday, Meryl has attended the Broadway revival’s opening night of “Death of a Salesman”. Pictures have been added to the image library.

Meryl Streep, Tom Brokaw, Terrence Howard, Dianne Reeves, Chip Kidd, and others will gather on stage at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, on April 5 for the 10th anniversary celebration of Poetry & the Creative Mind. This annual poetry gala is hosted by the Academy of American Poets and features acclaimed actors, musicians, writers, visual artists, and other creative individuals sharing the poems that inspire them. Tickets to the performance ($45-$75) are now available and can be purchased through the Lincoln Center website, the Alice Tully Hall box office, or by phone. Many thanks to Sabine for the heads-up!

As reported earlier, Meryl Streep was in New York City today for Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s third annual Women in the World Summit. Housed at Lincoln Center, the three-day event spotlights the urgent challenges facing women today, from forced marriage to the economic crisis to the Arab spring. The full speech has been added to the video archive and a bunch of pictures can be found in the image library. Pictures are © Marc Bryan-Brown.

In summit’s final act before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton closed out the third annual weekend’s events, Meryl Streep took to the stage to praise the women in the room and the panelists’ many achievements. She went on to compare herself – “as every woman my age has done” – to Clinton, who shares so many attributes with the film star: they both were raised in middle-class families by big-hearted mothers who encouraged them to lead interesting lives. They both went to public schools and on to prestigious all-women colleges, then Yale. “But while I became a cheerleader, Hillary became the president of her class,” Streep joked. “And there, the two paths in the woods diverged.” Streep held up her Oscar to illustrate what actresses receive for playing parts well, but, she said, “Hillary is the real deal.” When Clinton emerged onto the stage, the women shared a long embrace – sisters at the top of their fields, inspiring other women of all ages to aspire to the same.

A day after the Japan premiere, Meryl and Phyllida Lloyd have attended a press conference for “The Iron Lady” in Tokyo. And they apparently had fun. According to visitor Asako, Meryl and Phyllida tasted Sake after braking the top of Sake’s cask – wishing the “The Iron Lady” to become a hit in Japan. Over hundred additional pictures from yesterday’s premiere and today’s press conference have been added to the image library. Thanks for those who have contributed material, especially Asako and Glenn.

Today, Meryl and Phyllida Lloyd have attended the premiere of “The Iron Lady” in Tokyo, Japan. Pictures have been added to the image library. I would be very happy if any of the Japanese visitors of Simply Streep were able to provide more information on her visit. Just drop me a line. Thanks!

It has been a busy weekend for Meryl so far as she has attended the Academy Awards’ Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Symposium yesterday as well – to talk about the makeup process of “The Iron Lady”, alongside the Oscar-nominated makeup team of Marc Coulier and Roy Helland. Click below for the video and pictures from the conversation.