After yesterday’s panel discussion, Meryl and Yo-Yo Ma participated in a Musical Dialogue. According to The New York Times, the night’s production was put together by Damian Woetzel, a former dancer and prominent dance producer, and it included much more than jookin and strings. Among those joining in onstage were Wu Tong, the sheng player, Brooklyn Rider and Meryl Streep, who did a dramatic reading in English while Mr. Ma played. One person involved in the logistics said Ms. Streep had actually practiced a Tang Dynasty poem in Chinese for the occasion, but had decided not to go ahead with reading it. Pictures from the musical dialogue have been added to the gallery.

Added more pictures of Meryl’s appearance at the De Pizan Honors Gala hosted by the National Women’s History Museum as well as today’s appearance at the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture Panel.

In a week that has included London and Washington appearances already, Meryl is now in China, as previously reported, attending the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture with a panel discussion today. Tomorrow will mark the Chinese premiere of “The Iron Lady”, so check back for more pictures.

Yesterday, Meryl was a speaker at the De Pizan Honors Gala hosted by The National Women’s History Museum in Washington DC. Pictures from the event have been added to the Image Library.

Lots of “Iron Lady” news today. This morning, Meryl and director Phyllida Lloyd attended a photocall in London to unveil the film’s poster and promote its January 2012 release. Lots of pictures have been added to the gallery.

As previously reported, Meryl Streep has attended tonight’s AMPAS tribute to Vanessa Redgrave in London. The two have starred in three films together, starting with Meryl’s screen debut in 1977’s “Julia” to playing mother and daughter in 1993’s “The House of the Spirits” and playing lifelong friends in 2007’s “Evening”. Pictures from the event have been added to the gallery.

Vanessa Redgrave, Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for “Julia”, will be the recipient of an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences salute on Sunday, November 13, in London. “An Academy Salute to Vanessa Redgrave” is billed as the Academy’s “first-ever European tribute to an actor.” Two-time Oscar nominee David Hare (The Hours, The Reader), will host the event, which will also feature Meryl Streep, Eileen Atkins, Redgrave’s Coriolanus director and co-star Ralph Fiennes, this year’s Honorary Oscar recipient James Earl Jones, and Redgrave’s daughter Joely Richardson. Former Academy President Sid Ganis will introduce the evening.

Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Suzan-Lori Parks and Oskar Eustis participated in a panel discussion held at the Ford Center on Wednesday, October 26. The panel was held in conjunction with an advance screening of the film “Joe Papp in Five Acts” by Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen.

The screening was covered by the New York Times with a very interesting article on Meryl’s first audition for Papp’s Public Theater: Fresh out of the Yale School of Drama in 1975, Meryl Streep was 90 minutes late for her first audition with Joseph Papp, the artistic director of the Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. Her train from New Haven had been delayed, and there were, of course, no cellphones or e-mail then. She arrived to find Papp sitting in one of his signature white suits, his impatience conveyed with a grimace and twitchy crossed-leg kicks. Yet a few minutes later, the potential of a great actress had transformed his mood, and soon he was offering a small role to Ms. Streep in what would be her Broadway debut: “Trelawny of the ‘Wells’” at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, in an era when acting work in New York was hard to find. The complete article can be read here.

Many thanks to Julie for passing the following information to me. November 16th, 2011 will mark the official opening of the first U.S.-China Forum on The Arts and Culture in Beijing. This four-day event will involve the participation of an extraordinary line-up of American cultural icons, including Meryl Streep, film director Joel Coen, musician Yo-Yo Ma, among others, who will engage in dialogue and perform with their Chinese counterparts. A special screening of “The Iron Lady” will be held on Nov. 19, 2011 at 7:30pm local time, in the National Museum of China, with a follow-up discussion after the screening.

Presenters for Thursday’s New York ceremony will include Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and directors Taylor Hackford, Steven Soderbergh and Martin Scorsese. The DGA Honors are the guild’s annual honorary awards; they go to individuals and institutions “that have made distinguished contributions to American culture through the world of film and television.” Belzer has hosted three times in the past. This year’s honorees are director/writer/producer Nora Ephron, senator Patrick Leahy, IATSE International president Matthew Loeb, HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins and filmmaker Alice Guy Blache. Streep will present the award to Ephron, Mirren and DGA vice president Paris Barclay to Leahy, DGA president Hackford and DGA national executive director Jay Roth to Loeb, Soderbergh to Nevins, and Scorsese to Blache. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 13 at the DGA Theater in New York City.