The following article from the Connecticut Theater Reviews not only features some great remarks by Meryl on her early stage work but also four amazing pictures from her collaboration with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 1975. The complete article can be read here and below.

I just got off the phone, talking to Meryl Streep about the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, and its second Tony Award — this one for outstanding regional theater, which was presented during last night’s Tony ceremonies at Radio City Music Hall. Streep spent a summer at the O’Neill 35 years ago when she was a young actress starting out, fresh out of her three years at Yale School of Drama. While at the O’Neill in 1975 she appeared among projects in a John Guare play being developed there called “Marco Polo Sings a Solo” and Jeff Wanshel’s “Isadora Duncan Sleeps with the Russian Navy.” Also in the staged reading were actors Joel Brooks, Jay Garner and Kevin O’Connor.

As reported earlier, Meryl has attended the AFI Lifetime Achievment Award to director Mike Nichols, yesterday. Pictures have been added to the Image Library with more information below. It was a reunion with lots of her Nichols-directed co-stars – Cher of “Silkwood”, Jack Nicholson of “Heartburn” and Shirley MacLaine of “Postcards from the Edge”. The tribute to Nichols airs June 26 on TV Land.

I remember on ‘Silkwood’ once, you said to me, ‘You know, directing is like making love.’ And I said, ‘Eww, I don’t even know him that well. Why is he telling me this?’ ‘Because,’ you went on, ‘you never know if you’re doing it right or as well as the other guy.’ I just found that insecurity so completely disarming, and, well, you know, I started to fall in love with you over and over and over again.

Introduced by Streep at the end of the evening, Nichols gushed thanks for his costume designers, cinematographers, script supervisors, makeup artists, composers and other associates. “If I thanked everyone who contributed importantly over the years, we would be here until Miley Cyrus’ AFI award,” Nichols said. “All of you made me feel I got away with it. I love the process of making a movie, and doing it with all of you was – despite the fear, the pressure, the budget – happiness.”

On May 27, Meryl Streep has accepted an honorary degree at Harvard Universities commencement in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pictures can be found in the Image Library, a video will follow later.

Meryl has attended yesterday’s Vassar College commencement. Pictures can be found in the Image Library with additional information below the previews.

Featured as commencement speaker was 1985 graduate Lisa Kudrow, who is also a college trustee. Kudrow told the graduates how she went from being a biology major to an actress. After graduating and doing research in her father’s headache clinic, she said, she found herself looking critically at how other actors and comedians approached their craft, and decided at 22 it was time to try her hand at acting. “I was also nervous about this career choice because I didn’t really care for actors,” Kudrow said. No one seemed to laugh more at that comment than Vassar alumna Meryl Streep, who was sitting with the other trustees.

As reported earlier, Meryl Streep has delivered this year’s commencement speech at Barnard College, yesterday. Pictures can be found in the Image Library. Her speech – with thanks to Nora – can be watched at Youtube. The additional information below comes from the New York Post and Salon.

In her lovely commencement speech at Barnard College on Monday, Meryl Streep touched on a great many things: the importance of empathy; Streep’s history, as a high school student, of performing the role of the amenable, agreeable, gaily giggling girl who appealed to boys; her experience of meeting Vassar classmates who allowed her brain to wake up.

My success has depending wholly on my putting things over on people, so I’m not sure that parents think I’m that great a role model anyway. I am however an expert in pretending to be an expert in various areas. Just randomly, like everything else in this speech, I am an expert in kissing … river rafting, miming the effects of radiation poisoning, knowing which shoes go with which bag, coffee plantationing, Polish, German, French, I-talian – that’s Iowa-talian, from “the Bridges of Madison Country,” bit of a brogue, bit of the Bronx – Aramaic, Yiddish, Irish clog dancing, cooking, singing, horse riding, knitting, playing the violin and simulating steamy sexual encounters. These are some of the areas in which I have pretended quite [successfully to be proficient in] … as have many women here, I’m sure.

Among the things she noted was that years ago, men used to tell her that their favorite of her performances was as Linda, the submissive, sweet character from “The Deerhunter.” Now, Streep said, men are more likely to tell her that their favorite of her roles is as Miranda Priestly, the icy, complicated fashion magazine editor from “The Devil Wears Prada.” This ability of men to not simply look down on or fall in love with a deflated and unthreatening female character, but instead to identify with a powerful, bossy, and intense one, is a vital sign of gender progress.

“Things are changing now,” Streep told the Barnard graduates. “And it’s in your generation that we’re seeing this. Men are adapting. They are adapting consciously and also without realizing it for the better of the whole group. They are changing their deepest prejudices to accept and to regard as normal things that their fathers would have found very very difficult and that their grandfathers would have abhorred.”

Tony Award winner Marcia Gay Harden will join the previously announced Elias Koteas, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Aidan Quinn, Gloria Reuben, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Debra Winger for a reading of Ariel Dorfman’s Speak Truth to Power: Voices From Beyond the Dark, adapted from the book by Kerry Kennedy. David Esbjornson will direct the benefit performance, at the Public Theater on Monday, May 3 at 7pm. The reading is presented by Dorfman, Kennedy, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and The Public. It chronicles the true-story accounts of heroic people withstanding horrific human rights abuses across the globe. Proceeds from the reading will benefit the relief efforts of Habitat for Humanity in Chile. All ticket holders will be invited to an exclusive post-show reception featuring the cast and creative team.

For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.

Top artists from the entertainment community will come together on June 10, 2010 as AFI presents the 38th AFI Life Achievement Award – the highest honor for a career in film – to acclaimed director Mike Nichols. The 25 artists from film, television and the stage who have confirmed their participation on the AFI Benefit Committee in support of the event are: Amy Adams, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Cher, Nora Ephron, Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Steve Martin, Elaine May, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Mary-Louise Parker, Natalie Portman, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor, Emma Thompson, Sigourney Weaver and Robin Williams. “TV Land Presents: The AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Mike Nichols” will air on TV Land on Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

According to Playbill, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci will participate in Ariel Dorfman’s Speak Truth to Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark, chronicling global human rights abuses, at the Public Theater May 3. The Public joins Kerry Kennedy and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights to present the reading of Kerry Kennedy’s book that has been adapted for the stage by Dorfman. Proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity’s earthquake relief efforts in Chile. In addition to Molina, Moore, Streep and Tucci, the star-studded evening will include Elias Koteas, Viggo Mortensen, Aidan Quinn, Gloria Reuben and Debra Winger. David Esbjornson will direct.

According to the Public, “Speak Truth to Power chronicles the true-story accounts of heroic people withstanding horrific human rights abuses across the globe. Voices from around the world cry out against violence and oppression — from world leaders like Desmond Tutu to the unknown activists working on the ground level. Speak Truth to Power is a powerful and moving testimony of the will of the human spirit to rise up against injustice, even in the face of incredible darkness.”

According to the Associated Press, the Meryl Streep will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters as an honorary member. The elite society boasts an exclusive roster of 250 members who are the crème de la crème of art, literature, and music. Academy members can nominate a new honoree if a seat is vacated. Streep has been tapped for a special category that is explained to the AP as “Americans of great distinction in the arts whose work falls outside the traditional departments.” Toni Morrison and Stephen Sondheim already hold memberships to this lofty organization.

The AP reported Streep’s response in a telephone interview as, “I have to say that I was stunned, and when they sent me the roster of people in the academy I just burst into tears.” Streep is noted for excellent performances in films such as, “Sophie’s Choice,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and “Julie & Julia.” Among her past honors, she’s won two Academy Awards. Of this latest thrill, she remarked, “I couldn’t believe that I’d be even allowed in the kitchen.” Streep will be formally inducted into the Academy at a ceremony next month.

Ingrid Betancourt, Franco-Colombian politician, former Senator, and anti-corruption advocate will be one of four women honored at The DVF Awards inaugural ceremony in New York City on Saturday evening, March 13th, 2010 at the United Nations. The Award will be presented to Ingrid by Meryl Streep. “I cannot think of anyone who deserves this award more than Ingrid Betancourt for her courage to fight, her power to survive and her leadership to inspire,” says Diane von Furstenberg. More information can be found at the official website. Many thanks to Caro for the heads-up!