Tomei, Redgrave, and Cohen Set for Women Center Stage 2005 Festival

Marisa Tomei, Lynn Redgrave, and Lynn Cohen are among the artists who’ll participate in Women Center Stage 2005, July 29-August 31 at the Culture Project. The four-week festival of theatrical events is intended to explore women’s choices and amplifies women’s voices.

The festival’s most high-profile offering is a new adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (August 7 & 8), starring Tomei. The actress won the Academy Award for her performance in My Cousin Vinny; her Broadway credits include Wait Until Dark and Salome.

On August 30, Redgrave — who is currently on Broadway in The Constant Wife — will star in Nightingale, a one-woman show that she wrote based on the life of her grandmother. She has done readings of the piece previously in the Food for Thought series.

Women Rebel: The Words of Margaret Sanger, a compilation of speeches, letters, and articles by the founder of Planned Parenthood, will be performed on August 15 by Cohen, a respected theater actress who is also known to many as Magda in Sex and the City.

Other events include the play The Speed Queen, starring Anne Stockton and directed by Austin Pendleton (August 11-26); Baghdad Burning, based on the blog of a 25-year-old Iraqi woman (August 16-24); and Timothy Cooper’s Saviour, based on the real-life story of a couple who decided to have a second child to save their son, who was suffering from a rare blood disorder (August 22). For more information, go to www.womencenterstage.com.