Art & Dine Series featuring Actress Mercedes Ruehl Interviewed by Dawn Watson at The Living Room

The Living Room Restaurant at c/o The Maidstone announces the next dinner in the popular Art & Dine series at The Living Room.  The series features special dinners highlighting guest artists, writers, musicians and more.  The next dinner in the 2011-2012 series will be held on Tuesday, January 24th and will feature actress Mercedes Ruehl being interviewed by Southampton Press Features Editor Dawn Watson.  The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a meet and greet with the special guests followed by a prix fixe dinner of two courses prepared by Executive Chef James Carpenter with a cookie plate for dessert and a glass of wine.  After dinner, Dawn Watson will lead a lively discussion with Mercedes Ruehl.  The cost of the evening is $36 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

About Mercedes Ruehl

Mercedes Ruehl is an American theater, television and film actor born in Queens, NY. Ruehl began her career in regional theatre with the Denver Center Theatre Company. In the late 1970s, Ruehl began chalking up New York stage successes, notably in I'm Not Rappaport. On the stage, she won the 1984 Obie Award for her performance in The Marriage of Bette and Boo and twenty years later, an Obie for Woman Before a Glass. She also received a 1991 Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play for Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers.

Her most acclaimed film role was in The Fisher King; her performance in the film earned her the 1991 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as an American Comedy Award, a Boston Society of Film Critics Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, and a Golden Globe. Earlier she had won the 1989 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Married to the Mob. She played KACL station manager Kate Costas in five episodes of Frasier, and had a major role in the made-for-TV film All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story. She is the first Cuban American female Academy Award winner. In 2005, she received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.

About Dawn Watson

Dawn Watson is the Features Editor for the Press News Group, which publishes the Southampton Press (Eastern and Western editions), the East Hampton Press and 27east.com. Her responsibilities include oversight and management of the Arts, Residence and Round & About sections and she is the host of the "5 Questions" web series on 27east.com. Additionally, she continues to write features and take photos for The Press whenever the subject matter strikes her fancy--particularly when the story involves a juicy arts story, house and garden tour or fun-filled event. She also writes a weekly community column for The Press and is a frequent guest on Bonnie Grice's "Eclectic Café" on 88.3 Peconic Public Broadcasting.

An award-winning journalist and photographer, Ms. Watson recently earned first place honors for "Best Home/Real Estate Section" in 2010 and first place for "Best Use of Color" in 2010 at the statewide New York Press Association awards, held in April 2011 in Saratoga, New York. She has also earned first place recognition for "Most Comprehensive News Story" and first place honors for "Art Photo" from the New York Press Association for her work in previous years.