Mari Gorman is an American actress perhaps best known for her work in
television, particularly as a frequent guest star on the s and s
sitcom Barney Miller, but she is also known for her theater acting.
She has won several acting awards, including two Obie Awards. She is
the author of Strokes of Existence: The Connection of All Things,
which is about her long-term, formal investigation of acting that
realizes Shakespeare's words, "All the world's a stage, and all the
men and women merely players." (As You Like It, Act II, Sc .)Mari
Gorman had her first professional role in Arnold Wesker’s The
Kitchen, directed by Jack Gelber, with Rip Torn. She has won Obie
Awards for three acting performances: in Walking to Waldheim, by Mayo
Simon, directed by George L. Sherman at Lincoln Center; The
Memorandum, by Vaclev Havel, directed by Joseph Papp at The Public
Theatre; and The Hot L Baltimore, by Lanford Wilson, directed by
Marshall W. Mason at The Circle In-the-Square (with Circle Repertory
Company), for which she also received the Theatre World Award, Drama
Desk Award and Clarence Derwent Award. Other highlights include the
lead role of The Girl in The Red Convertible, by Enrique Buenaventura,
in the premiere production of The Third Stage (Tom Patterson Theatre)
at Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Ontario; the role of Pam in the
American premiere of Saved by Edward Bond, with the Yale Repertory
Theatre; and the role of Kathy in the world premiere of Moonchildren
(originally titled Cancer) by Michael Weller at The Royal Court
Theatre in London. She has acted in numerous television series and has
taught acting on both coasts, in her own studios as well as at Loyola
University in Los Angeles, and as a Lecturer-in-Acting as a repertory
company member at the Yale Drama School. She has directed several
productions in New York and L.A., where she won a Drama-Logue Award
for her direction of Vanities, by Jack Heifner. In , after Hot L, she
began a formal investigation of acting which has led to discoveries
that pertain to numerous disciplines in addition to acting. In she
published Strokes of Existence: The Connection of All Things, about
this work, which continues. She has a BA in Theatre, and MA in Liberal
Studies (Transformations of Modernity) CUNY Graduate Center,
.[citation needed]Her first major tv role was as murder victim and mob
pawn Taffy Simms on the television soap opera The Edge of Night in the
s. She also had a regular role in the Barbara Eden sitcom Harper
Valley PTA, playing PTA member, Vivian Washburn, and was a frequent
guest star on the s and s sitcom Barney Miller, including as an
amateur prostitute housewife (in Season , Episode , "Bugs") and as a
police detective with a jealous husband (in Season , Episode , "Wojo's
Problem," and other episodes). She has had numerous recurring or guest
starring roles in many other television shows, and her film career has
included roles in Goodbye, Columbus (), The Taking of Pelham One Two
Three (), (), Oh, God! Book II (), and made for television movies,
Curse of the Black Widow (), Choices of the Heart () and Kids Don't
Tell ().[citation needed]She has produced and directed theatre in New
York and Los Angeles, and teaches acting. Among other productions, in
in Los Angeles and in New York, she produced and directed Cries for
Peace, composed of firsthand accounts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic
bomb survivors performed by multi-ethnic casts. In she founded the
New York City theater company, Glass Beads Theatre Ensemble, and
produced and directed playwright Michael Locascio's Lily of the
Conservative Ladies, at the June Havoc Theatre; and produced, directed
and, with Danna Call and Craig Pospisil, co-wrote Browsing, performed
as part of the New York International Fringe Festival.
television, particularly as a frequent guest star on the s and s
sitcom Barney Miller, but she is also known for her theater acting.
She has won several acting awards, including two Obie Awards. She is
the author of Strokes of Existence: The Connection of All Things,
which is about her long-term, formal investigation of acting that
realizes Shakespeare's words, "All the world's a stage, and all the
men and women merely players." (As You Like It, Act II, Sc .)Mari
Gorman had her first professional role in Arnold Wesker’s The
Kitchen, directed by Jack Gelber, with Rip Torn. She has won Obie
Awards for three acting performances: in Walking to Waldheim, by Mayo
Simon, directed by George L. Sherman at Lincoln Center; The
Memorandum, by Vaclev Havel, directed by Joseph Papp at The Public
Theatre; and The Hot L Baltimore, by Lanford Wilson, directed by
Marshall W. Mason at The Circle In-the-Square (with Circle Repertory
Company), for which she also received the Theatre World Award, Drama
Desk Award and Clarence Derwent Award. Other highlights include the
lead role of The Girl in The Red Convertible, by Enrique Buenaventura,
in the premiere production of The Third Stage (Tom Patterson Theatre)
at Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Ontario; the role of Pam in the
American premiere of Saved by Edward Bond, with the Yale Repertory
Theatre; and the role of Kathy in the world premiere of Moonchildren
(originally titled Cancer) by Michael Weller at The Royal Court
Theatre in London. She has acted in numerous television series and has
taught acting on both coasts, in her own studios as well as at Loyola
University in Los Angeles, and as a Lecturer-in-Acting as a repertory
company member at the Yale Drama School. She has directed several
productions in New York and L.A., where she won a Drama-Logue Award
for her direction of Vanities, by Jack Heifner. In , after Hot L, she
began a formal investigation of acting which has led to discoveries
that pertain to numerous disciplines in addition to acting. In she
published Strokes of Existence: The Connection of All Things, about
this work, which continues. She has a BA in Theatre, and MA in Liberal
Studies (Transformations of Modernity) CUNY Graduate Center,
.[citation needed]Her first major tv role was as murder victim and mob
pawn Taffy Simms on the television soap opera The Edge of Night in the
s. She also had a regular role in the Barbara Eden sitcom Harper
Valley PTA, playing PTA member, Vivian Washburn, and was a frequent
guest star on the s and s sitcom Barney Miller, including as an
amateur prostitute housewife (in Season , Episode , "Bugs") and as a
police detective with a jealous husband (in Season , Episode , "Wojo's
Problem," and other episodes). She has had numerous recurring or guest
starring roles in many other television shows, and her film career has
included roles in Goodbye, Columbus (), The Taking of Pelham One Two
Three (), (), Oh, God! Book II (), and made for television movies,
Curse of the Black Widow (), Choices of the Heart () and Kids Don't
Tell ().[citation needed]She has produced and directed theatre in New
York and Los Angeles, and teaches acting. Among other productions, in
in Los Angeles and in New York, she produced and directed Cries for
Peace, composed of firsthand accounts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic
bomb survivors performed by multi-ethnic casts. In she founded the
New York City theater company, Glass Beads Theatre Ensemble, and
produced and directed playwright Michael Locascio's Lily of the
Conservative Ladies, at the June Havoc Theatre; and produced, directed
and, with Danna Call and Craig Pospisil, co-wrote Browsing, performed
as part of the New York International Fringe Festival.
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