Actress follows her heart to YSU

Mulgrew has been appearing in a one-woman play about Katharine Hepburn in Hartford, Conn.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Kate Mulgrew may be going to Broadway soon, but she's definitely coming to Youngstown this week.
The actress, who's best known as Capt. Kathryn Janeway on the former TV series "Star Trek: Voyager," will be artist-in-residence Wednesday and Thursday at Youngstown State University College of Fine and Performing Arts. Mulgrew will meet with students to discuss director-actor relationships, the auditioning process and other aspects of performance for theater, TV and film.
Mulgrew will perform Thursday night in a staged reading of the play "Dear Liar" with Dr. George McCloud, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. The play was adapted from letters exchanged by writer George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell during their romance.
Importance of discipline
If there's one message Mulgrew wants to share with students, it's the importance of discipline.
"It's at the heart of everything," she says. "It's an easy word to dismiss. Kids do not understand what it means. Discipline is the marriage contract, only it's made with one's craft."
Mulgrew believes she has been "extraordinarily blessed" to have fallen in love at age 12 with something "that has gratified, rewarded, challenged and provoked me. It's been the grand surprise of my life that I get to wake up every day of my life and say 'Oh my God, I'm still in love with it.' That's because I exercise the discipline of the craft; I honor it, cherish it and perfect it."
'Tea at Five'
Mulgrew's latest experience in discipline has been in the one-woman show "Tea at Five" at Hartford Stage in Hartford, Conn. It's about actress Katharine Hepburn as she reflects on events in her life. The title refers to a Hepburn family tradition of inviting distinguished and important guests over for stimulating conversation.
"It's a rigorous night. It's a challenge of altogether new proportions," Mulgrew said recently from her hotel room in Hartford. "It's very solitary, which can be quite daunting. In live theater, chemistry often enhances or detracts ... much is up to the rapport I have with the audience."
"I'm not imitating Katharine Hepburn," Mulgrew added. "I'm trying to realize Katharine Hepburn."
Producers are planning to take "Tea at Five" to Cleveland, Boston and, eventually, New York, Mulgrew said. Whether it will play on or off Broadway has yet to be determined.
The play has piqued a great deal of interest among "Star Trek" fans. "I've had them come from all over the world to see this play," Mulgrew said. "In the entire seven years I was shooting ["Voyager"] I was never more dazzled by the show of support than while I've been in Hartford doing this play."
If they aren't letting go of "Voyager," which left the airwaves last May, neither is Mulgrew. She'll sign autographs for a pre-registered crowd of 100 on April 27 at Kahunaville in Eastwood Mall, Niles.
Husband's family
Mulgrew also intends to help campaign for her husband, Tim Hagan, a Youngstown native and former Cuyahoga County commissioner who wants to be the Democratic party nominee for Ohio governor.
She's developed a great deal of respect for the Hagan family.
"It's the last of something great. You won't see any more of that in this country," Mulgrew said. Hagan is one of 14 children, and all are "deeply bonded to one another," she said. She also admires the social conscience that their parents instilled in them: "They're all good, they're all kind and they're all very busy doing something in the community."
Mulgrew said it's "absolutely terrific" that proceeds from her performance in "Dear Liar" will establish a new theater scholarship at YSU. "That could not please me more. ... That's what sets YSU apart. This is where the future of the art is bred, in the university."
shaulis@vindy.com