Martha Ripley
Born	November 30, 1843 Lowell, Vermont
Died	1912
Spouse	William W. Ripley

Martha George Ripley (November 30, 1843–1912) of Lowell, Vermont was an American physician and founder of the Maternity Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ripley was nominated director of public schools but not elected because she was female. She served six years as president of the Minnesota Suffrage Association.^[1]

Maternity Hospital, later renamed Ripley Memorial Hospital, remained in operation until 1957, when it was closed due to low occupancy and funding problems. The hospital structure was sold, and the proceeds were used to create the Ripley Memorial Foundation.^[2] Since 1993, the foundation has focused on supporting programs that prevent teenage pregnancies.^[3]

In 2007, the historic Dr. Martha Ripley Maternity Hospital was re-developed into affordable apartment homes by Aeon, a Minneapolis-based non-profit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing. The site - which had been vacant and boarded for several years - was renamed Ripley Gardens in honor of Dr. Martha Ripley. The development restored a historic property, helps meet the community’s need for affordable homes, and continues Dr. Ripley’s tradition of serving those in need.

References[link]

	Biography portal
	Minnesota portal

External links[link]

• Ripley Memorial Foundation
• Ripley Gardens
• "Martha Ripley: Pioneer in medicine and social justice"

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Saint Martha
Martha on the left, Jesus at the house of Mary and Martha, Harold Copping
Virgin, Myrrhbearer, Wonder Worker of Southern Gaul
Born	probably Iudaea Province (modern-day Israel or West Bank)
Died	traditionally Larnaca, Cyprus or Tarascon, Gaul (modern-day France)
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Christianity, Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church
Canonized	Pre-congregation
Feast	July 29 (Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran), June 4 (Orthodox)
Attributes	broom; keys; ladle[1]
Patronage	butlers; cooks; dietitians; domestic servants; homemakers; hotel-keepers; housemaids; housewives; innkeepers; laundry workers; maids; manservants; servants; servers; single laywomen; travellers; Villajoyosa, Spain[1]

Martha of Bethany (Aramaic מַרְתָּא Martâ) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She is the middle child of her family with Lazarus being the eldest and her sister Mary Magdalene the youngest. She was witness to Jesus' resurrection of her brother, Lazarus.

Etymology of the name[link]

The name Martha is a Latin transliteration of the Koine Greek Μαρθα, itself a translation of the Aramaic מַרְתָּא Martâ, "The mistress" or "the lady", from מרה "mistress", feminine of מר "master". The Aramaic form occurs in a Nabatean inscription found at Puteoli, and now in the Naples Museum; it is dated AD. 5 (Corpus Inscr. Semit., 158); also in a Palmyrene inscription, where the Greek translation has the form Marthein. ^[2]

Biblical references[link]

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha. The two sisters are contrasted: Martha was "cumbered about many things" while Jesus was their guest, while Mary had chosen "the better part", that of listening to the master's discourse.^[3] The name of their village is not recorded, nor any mention of whether Jesus was near Jerusalem:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
- (Luke 10:38-42, New International Version)

In the Gospel of John, Martha and Mary appear in connection two incidents: the raising from the dead of her brother Lazarus (John 11) and the anointing of Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper (John 12:3).

In the account of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus meets with the sisters in turn: Martha followed by Mary. Martha goes immediately to meet Jesus as he arrives, while Mary waits until she is called. As one commentator notes, "Martha, the more aggressive sister, went to meet Jesus, while quiet and contemplative Mary stayed home. This portrayal of the sisters agrees with that found in Luke 10:38-42."^[4] In speaking with Jesus, both sisters lament that he did not arrive in time to prevent their brother's death: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21,32). But where Jesus' response to Mary is more emotional, his response to Martha is one of teaching calling her to hope and faith:

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Lord", Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord", she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
- (John 11:20-27, New International Version)

As the narrative continues, Martha calls her sister Mary to see Jesus. Jesus has Mary bring him to Lazarus' tomb where he commands the stone to be removed from its entrance. Martha here objects, "But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days", to which Jesus replies, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:39-40). They then take away the stone and Jesus prays and calls Lazarus forth alive from the tomb.

Martha appears again in John 12:1-8, where she serves at a meal held in Jesus' honor at which her brother is also a guest. The narrator only mentions that the meal takes place in Bethany, while the apparently parallel accounts in the Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 26:6-13) and Mark (Mark 14:3-9) specify that it takes place at the home of one Simon the Leper. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "We are surely justified in arguing that, since Matthew and Mark place the scene in the house of Simon, St. John must be understood to say the same; it remains to be proved that Martha could not 'serve' in Simon's house."^[2] It is at this meal that a woman (Martha's sister Mary, according to John) anoints Jesus with expensive perfume.

Catholic traditions[link]

Martha from the Isabella Breviary, 1497

In Roman Catholic tradition, Martha's sister Mary was often equated with Mary Magdalene. Therefore, additional information is supposed for Martha as well:

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are represented by St. John as living at Bethania, but St. Luke would seem to imply that they were, at least at one time, living in Galilee; he does not mention the name of the town, but it may have been Magdala, and we should thus, supposing Mary of Bethania and Mary Magdalene to be the same person, understand the appellative "Magdalene". The words of St. John (11:1) seem to imply a change of residence for the family. It is possible, too, that St. Luke has displaced the incident referred to in Chapter 10. The likeness between the pictures of Martha presented by Luke and John is very remarkable. The familiar intercourse between the Saviour of the world and the humble family which St. Luke depicts is dwelt on by St. John when he tells us that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus" (11:5). Again the picture of Martha's anxiety (John 11:20-21, 39) accords with the picture of her who was "busy about much serving" (Luke 10:40); so also in John 12:2: "They made him a supper there: and Martha served." But St. John has given us a glimpse of the other and deeper side of her character when he depicts her growing faith in Christ's Divinity (11:20-27), a faith which was the occasion of the words: "I am the resurrection and the life." The Evangelist has beautifully indicated the change that came over Martha after that interview: "When she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come, and calleth for thee."^[2]

Golden Legend[link]

According to legend, St Martha left Judea after Jesus' death, around AD 48, and went to Provence with her sister Mary (conflated with Mary Magdalene) and her brother Lazarus. With them, Martha first settled in Avignon (now in France). The Golden Legend, compiled in the 13th century, records the Provençal tradition:

Saint Martha, hostess of our Lord Jesus Christ, was born of a royal kindred. Her father was named Syro and her mother Encharia. The father of her was duke of Syria and places maritime, and Martha with her sister possessed by the heritage of their mother three places, that was, the castle Magdalen, and Bethany and a part of Jerusalem. It is nowhere read that Martha had ever any husband ne fellowship of man, but she as a noble hostess ministered and served our Lord, and would also that her sister should serve him and help her, for she thought that all the world was not sufficient to serve such a guest.

After the ascension of our Lord, when the disciples were departed, she with her brother Lazarus and her sister Mary, also Saint Maximin [actually a 3rd-century figure] which baptized them, and to whom they were committed of the Holy Ghost, and many others, were put into a ship without sail, oars, or rudder governail, of the paynims, which by the conduct of our Lord they came all to Marseilles, and after came to the territory of Aquense or Aix, and there converted the people to the faith. Martha was right facound of speech, and courteous and gracious to the sight of the people.^[5]

The Golden Legend also records the grand lifestyle imagined for Martha and her siblings in its entry on Mary Magdalene:

Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdalo, a castle, and was born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdalo, which is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem, and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among them. In such wise that Mary had the castle Magdalo, whereof she had her name Magdalene. And Lazarus had the part of the city of Jerusalem, and Martha had to her part Bethany. And when Mary gave herself to all delights of the body, and Lazarus entended all to knighthood, Martha, which was wise, governed nobly her brother's part and also her sister's, and also her own, and administered to knights, and her servants, and to poor men, such necessities as they needed. Nevertheless, after the ascension of our Lord, they sold all these things.^[6]

St. Martha in Tarascon[link]

St Martha's Collegiate Church in Tarascon

Martha and the Tarasque, from a 15th century manuscript

Gothic Tomb of Saint Martha in Tarascon

A further legend relates that Martha then went to Tarascon, where a monster, the Tarasque, was a constant threat to the population. Martha managed to tame the monster and eventually died in Tarascon, where she was buried. Her tomb is located in the crypt of the local Collegiate Church. Again, the Golden Legend provides the details:

There was that time upon the river of Rhone, in a certain wood between Arles and Avignon, a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than an horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, and defended him with two wings on either side, and could not be beaten with cast of stones ne with other armour, and was as strong as twelve lions or bears; which dragon lay hiding and lurking in the river, and perished them that passed by and drowned ships. He came thither by sea from Galicia, and was engendered of Leviathan, which is a serpent of the water and is much wood, and of a beast called Bonacho, that is engendered in Galicia. And when he is pursued he casts out of his belly behind, his ordure, the space of an acre of land on them that follow him, and it is bright as glass, and what it toucheth it burneth as fire. To whom Martha, at the prayer of the people, came into the wood, and found him eating a man. And she cast on him holy water, and showed to him the cross, which anon was overcome, and standing still as a sheep, she bound him with her own girdle, and then was slain with spears and glaives of the people. The dragon was called of them that dwelled in the country Tarasconus, whereof, in remembrance of him that place is called Tarasconus, which tofore was called Nerluc, and the Black Lake, because there be woods shadowous and black. And there the blessed Martha, by licence of Maximin her master, and of her sister, dwelled and abode in the same place after, and daily occupied in prayers and in fastings, and thereafter assembled and were gathered together a great convent of sisters, and builded a fair church at the honour of the blessed Mary virgin, where she led a hard and a sharp life. She eschewed flesh and all fat meat, eggs, cheese and wine; she ate but once a day. An hundred times a day and an hundred times a night she kneeled down and bowed her knees.^[5]

The dedication of the Collegiate Church at Tarascon to St. Martha is believed to date from the 9th century or earlier. Relics found in the church during a reconstruction in 1187 were identified as hers, and reburied in a new shrine at that time.^[7] In the Collegiate Church crypt is a late 15th century cenotaph, also known as the Gothic Tomb of Saint Martha. It is the work of Francesco Laurana, a Croatian sculptor of the Italian School, commissioned by King René. At its base are two openings through which the relics could be touched. It bears three low reliefs separated by fluted pilasters representing : on the left, Saint Martha and the Tarasque; in the center, Saint Mary Magdalene born aloft by the angels; on the right, Lazarus as Bishop of Marseille with his mitre and staff. There are two figures on either side: on the left, Saint Front, Bishop of Perrigueux, present at the funeral of Saint Martha, and on the right, Saint Marcelle, Martha's servant.^[8]

St. Martha and Villajoyosa[link]

The town of Villajoyosa, Spain honors St. Martha as its patron saint and celebrates The Festival of Moors and Christians annually in her honor. The 250-year old festival commemorates the attack on Villajoyosa by Berber pirates led by Zalé-Arraez in 1538, when, according to legend, St. Martha came to the rescue of the townsfolk by causing a flash flood which wiped out the enemy fleet, thus preventing the corsairs from reaching the coast.^[9]

Eastern Orthodox tradition[link]

In Orthodox Church tradition, though not specifically named as such in the gospels, Martha and Mary were among the Myrrh-bearing Women. These faithful followers of Jesus stood at Golgotha during the Crucifixion of Jesus and later came to his tomb early on the morning following Sabbath with myrrh (expensive oil), according to the Jewish tradition, to anoint their Lord's body. The Myrrhbearers became the first witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus, finding the empty tomb and hearing the joyful news from an angel.^[10]

Orthodox tradition also relates that Martha's brother Lazarus was cast out of Jerusalem in the persecution against the Jerusalem Church following the martyrdom of St. Stephen. His sister Martha fled Judea with him, assisting him in the proclaiming of the Gospel in various lands.^[11] While Mary Magdalene remained with John the Apostle and assisted him with the Church of Jerusalem. The three later came to Cyprus, where Lazarus became the first Bishop of Kittim (modern Larnaca).^[12] All three died in Cyprus.

Gnostic tradition[link]

Martha appears in the sacred gnostic text Pistis Sophia. She is instructed by the risen Christ on several of the repentances that must be made in order to have salvation. She also makes several prophetic interpretations of different Psalms.^[13]

Veneration or commemoration as a saint[link]

Christ with Martha and Maria, by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1886

Martha is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches, and commemorated by the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Communion.

Feast days[link]

In the Roman Catholic tradition, her feast day is celebrated July 29. Her celebration, classified as a "Semi-Double" in the Tridentine Calendar, became a "Simple" in the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, a "Third-Class Feast" in the General Roman Calendar of 1962, and an obligatory "Memorial" in the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions, Martha and her sister Mary are commemorated on June 4. They are also commemorated collectively among the Myrrh-bearing Women on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (the Third Sunday of Pascha—i.e., the second Sunday after Easter). She also figures in the commemorations of Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday).

Martha is commemorated on July 29 in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church (together with her siblings Mary and Lazarus) and in the Calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church and the Church of England (together with her sister Mary).^[14]

Churches[link]

A number of churches are dedicated to St. Martha including:

• Roman Catholic: Tarascon, France; St. Martha Catholic Church in Morton Grove, Illinois, USA, and others in East Providence, Rhode Island; Valinda, California; Kingwood, Texas; and Harvey, Louisiana, USA and Plainville, MA, USA; and Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia.
• Church of England: St Martha-on-the-Hill in Surrey and Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England
• Episcopal: St. Martha's Episcopal Church in Papillion, Nebraska, Bethany Beach, Delaware and Lexington, Kentucky, USA
• Methodist: St Martha's Methodist Church in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK.
• Lutheran: St Mary and St Martha Lutheran Church, San Francisco, California, USA

Depictions in art[link]

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Diego Velázquez, 1618

The subject of Martha is mostly found in art from the Counter-Reformation onwards, especially in the 17th century, when the domestic setting is usually given a realistic depiction. However it appears in some Ottonian cycles of the Life of Christ.

• Christ in the House of Martha and Mary - an early work by the Spanish painter Velázquez.
• Christ in the House of Martha and Mary - by Johannes Vermeer
• Martha and Mary Magdalene (Caravaggio)
• "The Sons of Martha" - A poem by Rudyard Kipling.

See also[link]

• Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary
• Lazarus of Bethany
• Martha and Mary Magdalene (Caravaggio)
• Mary of Bethany
• Myrrhbearers

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Martha". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martha

• "St. Martha, Virgin", Butler's Lives of the Saints
• St. Martha on catholic.org
• Mary & Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
• Patron Saints: Martha
•  "St. Martha". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• "The Life of Saint Martha", text from the Golden Legend

Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton, May 23, 2010
Born	Martha Campbell Plimpton (1970-11-16) November 16, 1970 (age 41) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer, model
Years active	1981 – present
Relatives	Keith Carradine (father) Shelley Plimpton (mother) John Carradine (grandfather) Carradine family

Martha Campbell Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress, singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film The River Rat (1984) before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies (1985) portraying the character Stef. She then appeared in The Mosquito Coast (1986) portraying Emily Spellgood.^[1] Plimpton's role garnered her further success within the feature film industry. Throughout her career Plimpton has appeared in many feature films including critically successful films Running on Empty (1988), Parenthood (1989), Eye of God (1997), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Hair High (2004) and Small Town Murder Songs (2011).^[2]

Plimpton has also developed and established a very successful career in stage productions. She has appeared on Broadway and in theatre throughout her career. She is recognised on Broadway for her roles in The Coast of Utopia (2006–2007), Top Girls (2007–2008), Pal Joey (2008–2009) and Shining City (2006–2007). She has performed in theatre productions of The Playboy of the Western World, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Glass Menagerie, Hedda Gabler, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Heidi Chronicles and Uncle Vanya. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in Boston Marriage (2002), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2002) and Runaways (2002).^[3]

Plimpton has appeared in many television roles throughout her career. She has appeared in guest roles on Family Ties (1985), ER (1999), Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (2002), 7th Heaven (2004), Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2006), Surface (2006), The Good Wife (2009, 2010 & 2012), Medium (2009), Greys Anatomy (2009), Fringe (2010) and How To Make It In America (2010).^[4]

Plimpton currently plays Virginia Chance on the FOX television series Raising Hope. For her role she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011.^[5]

Plimpton's roles in film and television are very often favourable among viewers and critics. Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: A Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2007 for her role in Top Girls. Best Featured Actress in a Play again in 2008 for Coast of Utopia. Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey.^[6] Plimpton's roles in television have earned her two primetime Emmy award nominations: In 2002, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for portraying Claire Rinato on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and in 2011 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her critically praised portrayal of Virginia Chance on Raising Hope.^[7]

Early life[link]

More Information: Carradine family

Plimpton was born and raised in New York City, the daughter of actors Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton. Her parents met while performing in the original Broadway run of Hair. Her paternal grandfather was actor John Carradine and she is the niece of Robert and the late David Carradine. She is a "very distant" cousin of the late writer and editor George Plimpton,^[8][9] and, despite the different spelling, cartoonist Bill Plympton.^[10] She attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.^[11] Her first stage appearance was when her mother brought her on stage in costume for the curtain call of the short-lived Broadway play The Leaf People.^[12]

Career[link]

1980s[link]

Plimpton began her career in modeling, securing an early 1980s campaign for Calvin Klein, making an impression as a sophisticated but tomboyish little girl. She made her screen debut in 1981, when at the age of 11 she had a small part in the film Rollover. In 1984, she appeared in the Deep South independent drama The River Rat opposite Tommy Lee Jones. Her breakthrough performance was as Stef Steinbrenner in the 1985 feature film The Goonies. She also appeared that year in a featured role on the television sitcom Family Ties.

This would begin a trend of Plimpton being typecast in the role of a rebellious tomboy for several years, beginning with her critically lauded performance as the Reverend Spellgood (Andre Gregory)'s daughter in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast, starring Harrison Ford. The critically praised but commercially unsuccessful 1987 film Shy People was followed by a performance in the 1988 ensemble comedy Stars and Bars. This was released shortly before Running on Empty, an Academy Award-nominated film starring River Phoenix, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

She began what became a career trend, mixing small independent film appearances with supporting roles in big-budget films. She appeared in the 1989 Woody Allen film Another Woman; that year, she co-starred with Jami Gertz as a cancer patient in the German film Zwei Frauen (released in America as Silence Like Glass). The film was nominated for Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards. Plimpton shaved her head bald to play a cancer patient in Zwei Frauen, and her reputation for playing rebellious teenagers secured her the role of the indignant teenage daughter (who shaves her head) of Dianne Wiest in Parenthood. Plimpton appeared alongside Joaquin Phoenix (then credited as Leaf Phoenix), the younger brother of her former boyfriend, River, who portrayed her on-screen brother. Parenthood grossed over $126 million dollars and received two Academy Award nominations, making it her most successful movie performance to date since The Goonies.

Plimpton attending the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

1990s[link]

In 1991, Plimpton appeared in the Robert De Niro film Stanley & Iris in a supporting role. In 1992, Plimpton appeared as a lesbian terrorist in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland. She played the starring role in the film Samantha.

The success of Samantha garnered Plimpton a variety of roles in 1993. She appeared with Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the television film Daybreak and was a part of the mostly improvised television film Chantilly Lace. She had a featured role in the big-budget films Josh and S.A.M. and played the lead in the critically blasted film adaptation of the Carolyn Chute novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine. Plimpton also appeared that year as herself in the independent film My Life's in Turnaround, a movie about filmmakers trying to make a movie. Plimpton continued to make appearances in featured roles in both independent films and mainstream movies from 1994 through 1997, most notably as a close friend of radical feminist Valerie Solanas in the film I Shot Andy Warhol.

In 1997, the Showtime Network cast Plimpton as the female lead in a television film called The Defenders: Payback. The show was a retooling of the classic television show by the same name, and the characters were descendants of character Lawrence Preston, a role reprised by actor E.G. Marshall. The intent was to spin the program off into a series akin to Law & Order, but Marshall died in 1998. Two additional episodes (The Defenders: Choice of Evils and The Defenders: Taking the First) were aired as specials that year. The decision was made to not continue production (despite high ratings and critical praise) due to Marshall's death.^{[citation needed]}

Plimpton became involved with The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where she appeared in Hedda Gabler (2001) among others.^[13] In 1998 she appeared in the John Waters film Pecker; the film was lambasted but Plimpton's work was praised. This also occurred with her appearance in the 1999 200 Cigarettes. In 1999, Plimpton had a recurring role in the television drama ER as Meg Corwyn.

2000s[link]

In 2001, she co-starred with Jacqueline Bisset in The Sleepy Time Gal, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival.

In 2002, she appeared in the documentary film Searching for Debra Winger and was nominated for an Emmy Award^[14] for her guest appearance on the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Plimpton was the voice of Miss Crumbles in the 2004 animated film Hair High by Bill Plympton. In 2004, she also guest-starred on an episode of 7th Heaven; she received her first writing credit for a different episode of the show that year entitled "Red Socks". She continues to act in television, film and on stage. She had a recurring role on the NBC show Surface (2005–06).^{[citation needed]}

Plimpton attending the 63rd Tony Awards, 2009

From October 2006 until May 2007, she was in The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy of plays by Tom Stoppard that played at the Lincoln Center. For her work in this play she won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony award. In October 2007 Plimpton completed a starring role in A Midsummer Night's Dream on Broadway in New York City. She then began rehearsals for the play Cymbeline. She co-founded a production company, Everything is Horrible, which has produced a number of short films for the internet.

Plimpton received her second nomination for a Tony Award in 2008, Best Performance by a Featured Actress In a Play, for her work in Top Girls at the Biltmore Theater.^[15]

In November 2008, she earned rave reviews as Gladys Bumps in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of the classical Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey on Broadway and garnered her third consecutive Tony nomination, this time for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Plimpton appeared in the 2008 Entertainment Weekly photo issue spread as one of "The Hardest Working Actors In Showbiz." In the spread she appears with Lance Reddick, Celia Weston, John Slattery, Bobby Cannavale, James Rebhorn, Lynn Cohen, Matt Servitto and Bob Balaban. Plimpton says in the write-up about her "I went to jury duty the other day, and somebody said, 'You always play drug addicts!' I've played a few on TV, and I imagine because the shows get replayed, it seems like more. But yeah, people tend to see me as this pregnant teenage heroin addict."^[16]

2010s[link]

In November 2009, Plimpton signed on as a main cast member on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope. The show premiered on September 21, 2010, receiving strong reviews for both Plimpton and the pilot itself. The New York Times called Raising Hope "the most promising" of "the best new fall shows,"^[17] and said "Plimpton isn't the only reason 'Raising Hope' could be the best new sitcom of the season, but she is the main reason."^[18] On July 14, 2011, Plimpton was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal as Virginia Chance in Raising Hope and submitted the episode "Say Cheese" on her behalf.

Plimpton performed "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch of Game 3 of the 2010 World Series in Texas on Fox, October 30, 2010.

On December 15, 2010, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre announced that Plimpton will be the guest of honor at their second-annual "Salute to Women in the Arts".^[19]

In 2010, starred in Ed Gass-Donnelly's independent, crime, thriller Small Town Murder Songs, and was given the trophy for best actress by the Whistler Film Festival.^[20]

Other work[link]

Plimpton is friends with singer Lucy Wainwright Roche. In 2008, she performed a duet with Roche on the E.P. 8 More singing the Bruce Springsteen song Hungry Heart. In 2010 she sang another Springsteen song, this time Thunder Road, on the public radio program Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, accompanied by acclaimed whistler Eric Gilliland.^[21] She has appeared multiple times as a featured guest on public radio's The Leonard Lopate Show, and performed in a roast of Lopate celebrating the 25th anniversary of his radio program.^[22]

Plimpton sits on the board of directors of The Players,^[23] a New York City social club founded in 1888 by actor Edwin Booth. In 2009 she was profiled by The New York Times for their "A Night Out With..." series, in which Plimpton hosted an evening of poker at The Players.^[24]

In January 2010, she performed a one-woman show called Martha Plimpton Sings? for the Lincoln Center's American Songbook program.^[25] The show explored her experiences growing up in 1970s New York City. Her performance, well received by critics,^[26] included such songs as "Jolly Coppers on Parade", "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", and The Smiths's "Ask" tied together with humorous monologues.

Plimpton also narrates audiobooks, notably the novels Diary by Chuck Palahniuk and Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh.

Media references[link]

She is referenced in the Lawrence Arms song "Light Breathing (Me and Martha Plimpton in a Fancy Elevator)," a song detailing the singer unexpectedly stepping into an elevator with her and being unable to overcome shyness to ask her out.

Personal life[link]

River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton on the red carpet at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

Plimpton is a member of the Carradine family.^[27]

Plimpton's high-profile relationship with River Phoenix, including their appearance together at the Academy Awards, overshadowed her work. Their relationship would later end due to Plimpton's objection to his recreational drug use, from which he died in 1993.^[28]

Plimpton was engaged to stage actor Jon Patrick Walker in March 1995. The couple were planning to wed in April 1996, according to Plimpton's spokeswomen. Shortly thereafter, however, the couple announced they would not be proceeding with their nuptials.^[29]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

• Plimpton wrote the 2005 7th Heaven episode "Red Socks."

Theatre[link]

Broadway[link]

• Top Girls Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
• The Coast of Utopia Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Outer Critic's Circle for Best Featured Actress in a Play
• Cymbeline
• Pal Joey Nominated, Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical; Nominated, Drama Desk Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical
• Sixteen Wounded
• Shining City

[edit] The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park

• A Midsummer Night's Dream

Steppenwolf Theatre Company[link]

• The Libertine
• Playboy of the Western World
• The Glass Menagerie
• Hedda Gabler
• Absolution (Director)

Off Broadway[link]

• Flesh and Blood
• Hurly Burly
• Boston Marriage
• The False Servant
• Hobson's Choice Won Obie Award for Outstanding Performance
• Suburbia
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
• The Haggadah
• Runaways

Seattle Repertory Theatre[link]

• Uncle Vanya
• The Heidi Chronicles
• The Sisters Rosensweig
• Robbers

New York Philharmonic[link]

• Company (musical)

Awards and recognition[link]

Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: In 2007 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Top Girls, in the same category in 2008 for Coast of Utopia, and for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey. In 2002 she received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She received another Emmy nomination in 2011 for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her work in the first season of Raising Hope. She submitted the episode "Say Cheese."

Plimpton won the 2001 Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for Hobson's Choice. She also won the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2008 for her role in Coast of Utopia, and was nominated again for a Drama Desk Award in 2009 for Pal Joey.

In film, Plimpton has been nominated for three Young Artist Awards: Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress for Goonies, Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures for The Mosquito Coast, and Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture for Running on Empty. She was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Supporting Female category for her performance in Shy People.

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Martha Plimpton

External links[link]

• Plimpton's page at MySpace
• Martha Plimpton at the Internet Movie Database
• Martha Plimpton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Martha Plimpton at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Martha Plimpton at Emmys.com

Martha Graham
Martha Graham by Yousuf Karsh (1948)
Born	(1894-05-11)May 11, 1894 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 1, 1991(1991-04-01) (aged 96) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Field	Dance and choreography
Movement	Modern dance
Influenced by	Eleonora Duse
Influenced	Paul Taylor
Awards	Kennedy Center Honors (1979) Presidential Medal of Freedom (1976) National Medal of Arts (1985)

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts,^[1][2] Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.^[3]

She danced and choreographed for over seventy years. Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."^{[citation needed]}

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Graham was born in Allegheny City, which today is part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father George Graham was what in the Victorian era was known as an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a third generation American of Irish descent and her mother Jane Beers was a tenth generation descendant of Puritan Miles Standish.

In the mid 1910s, she began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn,^[4] at which she would stay till 1923.

New era in dance[link]

In 1925, Graham was employed at the Eastman School of Music where Rouben Mamoulian was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together they produced a short two-color film called The Flute of Krishna, featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly thereafter and Graham chose to leave also, even though she was asked to stay on.

In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance was established. On April 18 of the same year,^[4] at the 48th Street Theatre, Graham debuted with her first independent concert, consisting of eighteen short solos and trios that she had choreographed. She would later say of the concert "Everything I did was influenced by Denishawn."^[5][6]

One of Graham's students was heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild with whom she became close friends. When Rothschild moved to Israel and established the Batsheva Dance Company in 1965, Graham became the company's first director.

In 1936, Graham made her defining work, "Chronicle", which signaled the beginning of a new era in modern dance.^{[citation needed]} The dance brought serious issues to the stage for the general public in a dramatic manner. Influenced by the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War, it focused on depression and isolation, reflected in the dark nature of both the set and costumes.

In 1938 Erick Hawkins was the first man to dance with her company. The following year, he officially joined her troupe, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in 1948. He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954.

Her largest-scale work, the evening-length Clytemnestra, was created in 1958, with a score by Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh. She also collaborated with composers including Aaron Copland on Appalachian Spring, Louis Horst, Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Carlos Surinach, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti.^[7] Graham's mother died in Santa Barbara in 1958. Her oldest friend and musical collaborator Louis Horst died in 1964. She said of Horst "His sympathy and understanding, but primarily his faith, gave me a landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost."

There were a few notable exceptions to her dances being taped. For example, she worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham in the 1930s, and Barbara Morgan in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman's photographs of "Dark Meadows" the most complete photographic record of any of her dances. Halsman also photographed in the 1940s: "Letter to the World", "Cave of the Heart", "Night Journey" and "Every Soul is a Circus". In later years her thinking on the matter evolved and others convinced her to let them recreate some of what was lost.

Martha Graham with Bertram Ross (1961)

Graham started her career at an age that was considered late for a dancer. She was still dancing by the late 1960s and her works from this era included roles for herself which were more acted than danced and relied on the movement of the company dancing around her. In her biography Martha Agnes de Mille cites Graham's last performance as the evening of May 25, 1968, in a 'Time of Snow'. But in A Dancer's Life biographer Russell Freedman lists the year of Graham's final performance as 1969. In her 1991 autobiography Blood Memory Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in "Cortege of Eagles" when she was 76 years old.

In the years that followed her departure from the stage Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. In Blood Memory she wrote:

It wasn't until years after I had relinquished a ballet that I could bear to watch someone else dance it. I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing. Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see a dancer made up to look as you did thirty years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with, your husband? I think that is a circle of hell Dante omitted.

[When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma.^{[Full citation needed]}

After a failed suicide attempt she was hospitalized. Graham not only survived her hospital stay but she rallied. In 1972 she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals. Her last completed ballet was 1990's Maple Leaf Rag.

Graham choreographed until her death in New York City from pneumonia in 1991, aged 96.^[8] She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico.

Influence and legacy[link]

Graham has been sometimes termed the "Picasso of Dance," in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Pablo Picasso was to modern visual arts.^[1][2] Her impact has been also compared with the influence Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.^[3]

To celebrate her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google celebrated by turning their logo for one day into a logo dedicating the life and legacy of Graham.^[9]

Martha Graham has been said to be the one that brought dance into the twentieth century. Due to the work of her assistants, Ron Protas and Linda Hodes, much of Graham’s work and technique have been preserved. They taped interviews of Graham describing her entire technique, and videos of her performances.^[10] As Glen Tetley told Agnes de Mille, “The wonderful thing about Martha in her good days was her generosity. So many people stole Martha’s unique personal vocabulary, consciously or unconsciously, and performed it in concerts. I have never once heard Martha say, ‘So-and-so has used my choreography.'"^[11] An entire movement was created by her that revolutionized the dance world and created what is known today as modern dance. Now, dancers all over the world study and perform modern dance. Choreographers and professional dancers look to her for inspiration.^[12]

Martha Graham Dance Company[link]

The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest dance company in America,^[13] founded in 1926. It has helped develop many famous dancers and choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Erick Hawkins, Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor. It continues to perform, including at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in June 2008, a program consisting of: Ruth St. Denis' The Incense; Graham's reconstruction of Ted Shawn's Serenata Morisca; Graham's Lamentation; Yuriko's reconstruction of Graham's Panorama, performed by dancers from Skidmore College; excerpts from Yuriko's and Graham's reconstruction of the latter's Chronicle from the Julien Bryan film; Graham's Errand into the Maze and Maple Leaf Rag.^{[citation needed]} The company also performed in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, with a program consisting of: Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Errand into the Maze, and American Original.^[14][15]

Quotations[link]

According to Agnes de Mille:

The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly: "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."^[16]

“Virile gestures are evocative of the only true beauty. Ugliness may be actually beautiful if it cries out with the voice of power” - Martha Graham 1928. ^[17]

Accolades[link]

Graham was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Gerald Ford (the First Lady Betty Ford had danced with Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure".^{[citation needed]}

Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998 Graham was named "Dancer of the Century" by Time Magazine,^[18] and one of the female "Icons of the Century" by People Magazine.^{[citation needed]} The New York Times called her a "brilliant, young dancer".^{[citation needed]}

Choreography[link]

This excerpt from John Martin’s reviews in the New York Times provides insight on Graham’s choreographic style. “Frequently the vividness and intensity of her purpose are so potent that on the rise of the curtain they strike like a blow, and in that moment one must decide whether he is for or against her. She boils down her moods and movements until they are devoid of all extraneous substances and are concentrated to the highest degree.”^[19]

Early dancers[link]

"Graham's original girls were superb – Bessie Schonberg, Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow, Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird, Sophie Maslow, May O'Donnell, Jane Dudley, Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang – as were the second group – Yuriko, Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter, Jean Erdman, Patricia Birch, Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney, Mary Hinkson. And the group of men – Erick Hawkins, and after him Merce Cunningham, David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley, Bertram Ross, Paul Taylor, Mark Ryder, William Carter."^[21]

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bondi, Victor (1995) American Decades 1940–1949
• de Mille, Agnes (1991). Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham. NYC: Random House. ISBN 0-394-55643-7. 

Further reading[link]

• Newman, Gerald (1998). Martha Graham: Founder of Modern Dance. Danbury, Connecticut: Franklin Watts. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martha Graham

• Martha Graham at Find a Grave
• An Athlete of God: The Personal Essay of Martha Graham
• PBS:American Masters biography
• Kennedy Center biography
• Martha Graham at the Internet Movie Database
• MarthaGraham.org – Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
• University of Pittsburgh online text
• MySpace.com/marthagrahamdancecompany – "MySpace site run by dancers of the Martha Graham Dance Company"
• BlackHistoryDaily.com – Martha Graham
• NY Times review by John Martin, June 7, 1959 of Episodes
• Read about the reconstruction of Clytemnestra at The Clytemnestra Project Site
• Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga – Batsheva’s transition from a strongly American-influenced company to the more distinctive troupe it is today.
• (German) Martha Graham Dance Company
• Martha Graham's first recital, dancing barefoot on March 9, 1917, at the Peppers Estate ballroom in Santa Barbara.
• Archival footage of Martha Graham Dance Company performing Night Journey in 1994 at Jacob's Pillow