Transcribed by Saffron -  April 2003

RATING: G

Notes and Disclaimer: I transcribed this, but I don't own the copyright. No infringement intended. Please do not post or distribute. Thanks! ENJOY!!

CR: You know our next guest as Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. She's currently starring as Katharine Hepburn in the play "Tea at Five" now playing at the Promenade Theatre in New York City. Please welcome the very lovely Kate Mulgrew.

[Applause as Kate enters and sits down]

Caroline: You are so tiny.

Kate: I'm sorry, would you repeat that.

Caroline: You are so tiny, tiny, tiny.

Kate: Thank you.

Caroline: You're like a petite girl.

Kate: Well, Hepburn was, as you know, a long drink of water...

Caroline: Yes she was.

Kate: ..as she was fond of saying so I have to watch everything that I eat.

Caroline: Did you lose weight to become her?

Kate: I think I naturally lost it. Have you ever done a one person show?

Caroline: Helloo. Um, yeah. Ahh.. [laughs] Sorry Botti (the band leader), I'm kiddin'. No, it's had the opposite affect on me. But that's good, may I should...

Kate: No, no, no, no, you look...

Caroline: I've gained eight pounds since September, but this is not about me. First of all, I just have to tell you, I loved you as Mary on "Ryan's Hope".

Kate: Thank you.

Caroline: I loved you.

Kate: Thank you.

Caroline: You were the best!

Kate: You have a long memory.

Caroline: I have a long memory.

Kate: What was it about that girl?

Caroline: Idaknow. She was just spunky.

Kate: That was so.. I mean...we were talking backstage about aging with grace.

Caroline: Uh-huh.

Kate: I was telling those young guys that work for you, who are all dolls...

Caroline: I know.

Kate: ...I said, 'Who want's to stay young and beautiful. We should age with grace and with some wisdom.' [to audience] Don't you agree, ladies?

Caroline: I do!

Kate: Which is, of course, why I'm playing Katharine Hepburn at 31...

Caroline: Exactly! [laughs]

Caroline: But does everybody always remember you as Captain Janeway, because you were the only woman, right, who was the captain of one of those...

Kate: Yes, the only captain...

Caroline: The only female captain...

Kate: ...of a starship vessel...

Caroline: Big deal.

Kate: Yes, it was, at the time. Mm-hm

Caroline: I mean, do they still... those fans are pretty devoted.

Kate: The allegiance is unparalleled.

Caroline: Those are the best fans to have.

Kate: The best and it's international...[starts to laugh as audience begins to applaud]  I think we have one star trek fan in the audience.

Caroline: We have one star trek fan in the audience!

Kate: Is there one star trek fan in the aud... There she is, in the back, "Hello!"

Caroline: They're just being polite. Alright, now tell me about your play, which, I apologize, I have not seen yet but I'm going to be seeing...

Kate: Do come!

Caroline: I absolutely will. I absolutely promise you.

Kate: I'm having the time of my live. We're playing at the Promenade Theatre, as you said so graciously before I came out.

Caroline: Yes, the lovely... [pulls out Tea at Five poster] Look how much you look like Katharine Hepburn here. Isn't that remarkable?

Kate: And we opened on the 9th of March and I go to matinees in 2 weeks, on the 7th of May, so I'll do a Wednesday matinee as well as a Saturday matinee. And I think it's an unlimited run...

Caroline: You totally have her vibe down. I feel like I'm doing a scene from 'The Philadelphia Story'.

Kate: [laughs] You do?

Caroline: Yes. I was Dinah. That was my first role.

Kate: And I did Philadelphia Story, too, in Alaska...

Caroline: Tracy.

Kate: ...at 4 months pregnant..It made absolutely no sense.

Caroline: Thirty-one to Seventy-six.

Kate: She was box-office poison at 31, everything is in the living room of her parents house at Fenwick and at 76, she's just been in that terrible car accident where she almost severed her right foot.   [as Hepburn] And she's saying she's never, ever gonna work again. She doesn't wanna work. That's it. She wants a life. [as herself] And of course, by the end of the act, Warren Beatty has convinced her to take his film. So it's all about her undaunted courage, her maverick spirit, this marvelous thing that made Hepburn the most unconventional and possibly the most courageous of the great stars of the 30s.

Caroline: She's such an icon. I mean, people will say, like, 'I saw Katharine Hepburn once.' Just to see her....

Kate: And you know, Caroline, she's living.

Caroline: Oh, I know!

Kate:  She'll be 97 in May.

Caroline: Ninety-seven...

Kate: Yes.

[applause]

Kate: So, I'm very honored..

Caroline: It's a very big honor.

Kate: Very, very...

Kate: And I've never done it before and I might as well do it now and I'm having the time of my life and you're going to....

Caroline: And you're slowly morphing into her.[laughs]

Kate: Am I?

Kate: [laughs]

Caroline: No, you've gotta feel some deep connection when you're playing...

Kate: It has to be total immersion...

Caroline: It has to be...

Kate: ...because when you're all alone on the stage, there's no net.

Caroline: Exactly.

Kate: There's absolutely no net so if I'm not completely there, I might as well....

Kate: People are having a good a good time and I do hope you will come.

Caroline: I swear to god.

Kate: You're going into rehearsal very soon yourself

Caroline: Botti? You and I are going to see this play.

Botti: I... let's get this sorted out right now.

Kate: Wait a minute. A conflict with Margarita Mondays over here?

Caroline: Ha-haa! [laughs]

Botti: No, I'm saying, one night so you'll be prepared to look for us.

Kate: Look for him?

Botti: That's theatre talk for 'showing up at your engagement.'

Kate: That's theatre talk. You can come any night you want.

Caroline: Everyone will go and see Kate in 'Tea at Five' which is a perfect name, which is now playing at the Promenade Theatre here in New York City ... and I also love that theatre.

Kate: Yes it's wonderful, it's a gem.

Kate: And I wish you the best of luck in your play.

Caroline: Yeah, I've got my play, oh my god.

Kate: A drama. Are you looking forward to it?

Kate: I hope you're on hiatus, Caroline, because you couldn't possibly do both.

Caroline: ha-ha-ha. Ok, we'll be right back

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