David Hyde Piece

She made her 1938 Broadway debut with Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne in "The Seagull," won a 1963 Tony as the original Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," wrote the now-classic "Respect for Acting" in 1973 and, in the course of five decades, taught her craft to everyone from Jason Robards to Matthew Broderick. But none of that much mattered when Uta Hagen arrived in Los Angeles this spring to begin rehearsals with David Hyde Pierce on a new play.

She made her 1938 Broadway debut with Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne in "The Seagull," won a 1963 Tony as the original Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," wrote the now-classic "Respect for Acting" in 1973 and, in the course of five decades, taught her craft to everyone from Jason Robards to Matthew Broderick. But none of that much mattered when Uta Hagen arrived in Los Angeles this spring to begin rehearsals with David Hyde Pierce on a new play.