CW Guest Artist Looks Forward to 'Time Travel'

By Amber Lester Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mamie Gummer knows a thing or two about breathing in corsets.

The 26-year-old actress has already been cinched into the restrictive undergarments in two of her previous roles, first as the president’s daughter-in-law in HBO’s “John Adams” and then as Cecile in a Broadway revival of “Les Liasons Dangereuses.”

Next, she’ll get pinched and pulled into a gown at Colonial Williamsburg, where she’ll act as the foundation’s first “artist-in-residence.” The artist-in-residence program was created to give artists who love history a chance to appear in CW street theater programs, according to a press release. Gummer can be seen in two performances, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., on May 1 in an open air theater on the grounds of the Governor’s Palace.

“I’m so grateful for my experiences in the field because now I know how to breathe and speak in a corset,” she said in a phone interview from her home in New York. “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”

Gummer will perform in a new Revolutionary City scene called, “Lady Dunmore Prepares for the Ball.” She’ll portray Lady Charlotte Murray, the wife of John Murray, who held a seat in the British Parliament’s House of Lords before becoming governor of the New York colony and in 1774, the governor of Virginia. The arrival of his wife and children was highly publicized and honored with a ball at the Capitol on May 26, 1774.

Gummer said she was intrigued by the prospect of performing in Colonial Williamsburg. She filmed here for a week during the production of “John Adams,” but did not get to see much of the historic area, and calls herself a history buff.

“One of my favorite things and one of the perks of this biz is the time travel aspect of it,” she said. “I just think it’s so much fun to be immersed in another time and another life. This feels like it achieves both so completely.”

During her weekend stint, she’ll perform the scene twice before traveling by carriage from the Governor’s Palace to the Williamsburg Inn, where she will join other interpreters and guests for tea at 3 p.m.

In the weeks leading up to her performance, the Costume Design Center will create a new costume made specifically for Gummer, exemplifying the finery worn by wealthy women of the period. Gummer has done some research into the role, saying Dunmore was “the highest-ranking woman in British North America.” She’s “terribly honored” to be asked to start the artist-in-residence program, and says historical characters are part of the norm in her house because her fiancé, Benjamin Walker, is portraying Andrew Jackson in a rock comedy play titled “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”

“I thought I’d jump on the historical bandwagon,” she said, laughing.

Walker isn’t the only member of Gummer’s family known to step back in time. Gummer’s mother is Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, famous for her precise and studied performances in period movies such as “Out of Africa,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “Doubt” and “Julie and Julia.” Her father, Donald Gummer, is a sculptor.

Despite getting an early start playing her mother’s baby in “Heartburn,” Gummer didn’t consider acting professionally until her senior year as a theater major at Northwestern University. “I didn’t actually consider making a life … a career of it,” she said. “I just knew I really loved doing it.”

She started auditioning for films and plays, and sometime after her 2005 graduation, realized she’d found her career. “It was like, ‘I guess I should just acknowledge it,’” she said. For their part, her parents were completely supportive.

She received a lead role in “Evening,” acting alongside her mother, Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave and the late Natasha Richardson, in 2007. Since then, she’s appeared in “Stop-Loss,” “Taking Woodstock” and on Broadway in “Les Liasons Dangereuses” opposite Laura Linney.

She just completed a pilot for ABC called “Off the Map,” a medical drama produced by the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy” about doctors working in South America, similar to the Doctors Without Borders program.

As for what’s next, she’s not sure. “Everything is so TBD right now,” she said. But she’s looking forward to taking advantage of the amenities historic Williamsburg can offer.

“I might have to partake of the spa facility,” she said. “Just get a good massage there and I’ll be fine.”

Both of Gummer’s performances require a Colonial Williamsburg admission ticket or a Good Neighbor Pass with a free reservation. To make a reservation, call (757) 229-2141 and pick up tickets at any CW ticket sales location. Guests can also join Gummer, as Lady Dunmore, for tea at the Williamsburg Inn at 3 p.m. on May 1. Tickets to the tea are $38 per person and include a keepsake menu.