The Literature to Life program of The American Place Theatre will kick off its newest campaign, Project 451, with a celebrity gala to be held at Theater at St. Clement’s, May 17 and 18, where Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, will be honored. A verbatim performance of this classic novel, directed by Wynn Handman, that has been developed by Literature to Life, will debut at the Gala, acted by Rich Orlow. The program will conclude with readings of very short passages from other works of great literature by distinguished guests. Celebrities such as actors Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin , Sam Waterston , John Hockenberry and Kathleen Chalfant, Eric Bogosian, Jessica Lange, Anna Deavere Smith, Chris Cooper and Marion Seldes and poet laureate Billy Collins will contribute to the Project 451 campaign by recording clips for the Project 451 Living Library. Following the Gala, guests will be given the opportunity to do the same. Tickets begin at $100. Call 212-594-4482 x 16. More info, including a video message by Meryl Streep, can be found at www.americanplacetheatre.org.

Meryl Streep will receive the Golden Marc’aurelio Acting Award at the Rome Film Festival. The announcement was made by the festival’s president, Gian Luigi Rondi. Meryl Streep will meet the public and the press in a special event when the festival runs from October 15 to 23. Exact dates and more info will come closer to its opening. Many thanks to Terry for the heads-up!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones join Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Dame Judi Dench as part of the 15 film veterans chosen for this year’s Actors Hall of Fame. The list of honorees, which the organization’s president, Rusty Citron revealed Thursday, also includes Robert Duvall, Kirk Douglas, Gene Hackman, Olivia de Havilland, Hal Holbrook, Anthony Hopkins, Angela Lansbury, William H. Macy and Maggie Smith. The Actors Hall of Fame honors career achievement in theater, film and television. Criteria for nomination include peer recognition and awards, humanitarian contribution to the dramatic arts and education and a demonstrated advancement of the craft of acting. The new inductees join the 38 charter members of the hall. An induction ceremony and celebration will take place this year in Los Angeles. Thanks to Cindy for the heads-up.

Article courtesy USA Today: The Streep-inator is about to strike again. Action hero Harrison Ford was once the superstar staple of the summer blockbuster season, but now Oscar’s favorite leading lady, Meryl Streep, is making a habit out of cashing in on the busiest moviegoing period of the year with female-oriented counterprogramming. First, her fashionatrix in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Then came last year’s disco diva in Mamma Mia! Combined ticket sales: a solid $268.8 million in the USA and Canada and $929.2 million worldwide. Next, Streep juggles pots, pans and pâté in what promises to be a deliciously rich portrait of Julia Child during the decade-long span when she evolved into America’s queen of French cuisine in Julie & Julia. Joining her is Amy Adams, her nun sidekick from Doubt, as blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year toiling over all 524 recipes in Child”s classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Director/writer Nora Ephron, who did the screenplays for Streep”s Silkwood (1983) and Heartburn (1986), says the actress basically did an informal audition for her a couple of Junes ago when they bumped into each other at New York”s Shakespeare in the Park. “It was before I even started writing the script,” the filmmaker says. “She asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “Blah, blah, Julie Powell, Julia Child, 524 recipes.” She went into Julia as we were walking out of the theater. She did her for a full 10 seconds. I think she even said, “Bon appétit,” ” the late chef”s famous sign-off from her PBS cooking show. “I thought, “OK, look no further.” ” Once Prada opened, Ephron says, “I knew if I could get her, not only would she be the best person for it, but she would also force the studio to make the film. She was a movie star at age 57 or whatever she is.” The full article can be read in the press section, a second article by USA Today on director Nora Ephron can be read here.

On May 01, “Streep: A Life in Film” will be released in UK book stores. It’s the first English written biography on Meryl since 1987. Writer Iain Johnstone has studied her work since the 1970s and has interviewed her four times in depth. The team behind “Streep” is offering Simply Streep visitors a fantastic opportunity: You can buy your copy of the book and get a “fan discount” granted on your purchase! For more information, please visit www.celebrationstreep.com

At Sony Pictures’ special ShoWest presentation of their summer line-up, ComingSoon.net had a chance to view some all-new footage from the studios’ planned summer releases, which span a fairly diverse variety of genres. They showed the first trailer for Julie & Julia (August 7), starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, which essentially showed the plot of how Amy Adams’ character, unsatisfied with her life and career, decides to start a blog where she cooks her way through Julia Childs’ “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 Days. Based on Julie Powell’s book, it tells the story of the two women, acting as a biopic for Julia Childs, who we see making her way into the French culinary circles, as well as an inspirational story about Adams’ character. There’s a nice moment between Streep and Stanley Tucci, who plays Julia Childs’ husband. (We actually had a chance to see this trailer a few weeks ago, and it looks like a sweet movie.)

Meryl Streep has won this year”s Pantene Best International Actress Award for her performance in Mamma Mia! at the IFTAs which are due to be be held tomorrow in The Burlington Hotel in Dublin. The awards also will be broadcast on RTÉ One tomorrow night. The category is voted for by the general public and celebrates the outstanding female talent in the film industry. The other nominees in the category were Kristin Scott Thomas (“I loved You So Long”), Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”) and Emma Thompson (“Brideshead Revisited”). Stars of film and television are expected to attend tomorrow”s ceremony which will be hosted by RTÉ”s Ryan Tubridy.

Meryl Streep can add yet another trophy to her shelf. This morning she was awarded with the Goldene Kamera in Germany, in the category of Best International Actress. In the wake of the current German financial crisis, the founders of the Goldene Kamera award, the Axel Springer AG – one of the largest newspaper publishing companies in Europe – have decided to not hold a ceremony this year, for the first time in its history. Instead, much in the tradition of last year’s Golden Globes, the winners were announced this morning at a press conference.

Meryl Streep has won this year’s Screen Actors Guild Award as Best Female Lead for “Doubt”. “Can I just say there is no such thing as the best actress, you know? There is no such thing as the greatest living actress,” said Streep, the Academy Awards record-holder with 15 acting nominations, including one for “Doubt,” in which she plays an old-school nun in a war of wills with a priest. “I am in a position where I have secret information, that I know this to be true,” she said. “I am so in awe of the work of the women this year – nominated, not nominated – so proud of us girls. And everybody wins when we get parts like this.” This has been Meryl’s second win since 2003’s Angels in America.

Congratulations to Meryl Streep for winning her career’s 15th Oscar nomination. She was nominated as Best Actress for “Doubt”, alongside fellow nominees Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Maried), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River) and Kate Winslet (The Reader). Philip Seymour Hoffman received a Best Supporting Actor nomination while Viola Davis and Amy Adams were nominated for their supporting performances in “Doubt”. The film received a fifth nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Oscars will be presented on February 22 from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. The broadcast will air on ABC. Hugh Jackman is scheduled to host. A full list of nominations can be found on Oscar.com.