PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Tribes Star Mare Winningham

By Matthew Blank
06 Mar 2012

Mare Winningham
Mare Winningham

Emmy Award winner Mare Winningham, currently starring in Nina Raine's Tribes at the Barrow Street Theatre, fills out Playbill.com's questionnaire with random facts, backstage trivia and pop-culture tidbits.

Winningham won Emmy Awards for her performances in "George Wallace" and "Amber Waves" and was Emmy-nominated for her work in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "The Boys Next Door" and "Love Is Never Silent."

She also received an Academy Award nomination in 1996 for her role in "Georgia." Winningham made her New York stage debut in 10 Million Miles.

She has recorded three albums: "What Might Be," "Lonesomers" and "Refuge Rock Sublime."



 Continued...

Full given name: Mary Megan Winningham

Where you were born/where you were raised: Born in Arizona, moved to California, King Tut! Sorry, grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.
Zodiac Sign:Taurus... but, jeez, zodiac?
What your parents did/do for a living:Mom raised 5 kids, taught English in junior high and high schools, then had a career as a high school college counselor.

Dad taught us all how to play ball, was the football coach at what was then San Fernando Valley State College, and then Chair of the Department of Physical Education when it became Cal State Northridge.

Special skills: I can play the guitar and the dulcimer and sing old country folk songs. I make challah, and I'm getting better at reading Hebrew.
Something you're REALLY bad at: Public speaking, math, blood tests
First Broadway show you ever saw: Our high school drama class came to New York to see plays. I don't remember in what order but: A Chorus Line, Chicago, The Glass Menagerie, Equus, Travesties and Pippin.
If you could go back in time and catch any performance, what would it be? Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie
Steppenwolf Theater Company's Grapes of Wrath
Current show you have been recommending to friends: 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog at Lincoln Center. It was Off-Broadway last June and will be back this month. You gotta go!
Favorite showtunes of all time: "Tonight" and "Somewhere" from West Side Story
"Rose's Turn" from Gypsy
"A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific
"Old Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine" from Show Boat
"Maybe This Time" from Cabaret
All of Porgy and Bess
Some favorite musicals: West Side Story, Porgy and Bess, My Fair Lady, Into the Woods
Some favorite contemporary playwrights: Amy Herzog, David Rabe, Sam Shepard
Stage or screen stars of the past you would most have loved to perform with: Geraldine Page, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Ethel Waters
The one performance – attended - that you will never forget: Peggy Lee, at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto
Music that makes you cry, any genre: Old country folk songs
Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" album
Calla Louise and Gallop songs
Your personal acting idols: I admire the work of the actors in Steppenwolf Theater Company. And I love and learn from the people I work with, so, presently: Jeff Perry, Russell Harvard, Will Brill, Susan Pourfar and Gayle Rankin.
MAC or PC? MAC
Most played song on your iPod: "Making Pies" by Patty Griffin
Most-visited websites: YouTube
Last book you read: "Dinosaurs on the Roof" by David Rabe. Just beginning to re-read "East of Eden."
Must-see TV shows: "The Hatfields and the McCoys" on the History Channel. It's great. Oh, you haven't seen it? It's not out yet. May 2012. Oh, I'm in it?
Last good movie you saw: The Bill Cunningham documentary, and "Holiday." Saw it on a flight.
Some films you consider classics: "Sunset Boulevard"
"La Dolce Vita"
"Casablanca"
"City Lights"
"Bicycle Thieves"
"Sullivan's Travels"
"Persona"
"The Passion of Joan of Arc"
"Coal Miner's Daughter"
"The Godfather" I and II
"The General"
"Sense and Sensibility"
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