I had the pleasure of seeing Richard Skipper Celebrates at the Metropolitan Room on Sunday, Feb 16^th.  His guest was Eileen Fulton, best known to the television viewing audience as Lisa Grimaldi from the CBS soap As The World Turns.  It was a worthwhile event, not only to see Eileen, but proceeds from the event went to Habitat for Humanity NYC (www.habitatnyc.org).

After a short video explaining Habitat for Humanity’s mission, Richard took the stage and introduced the Guest of Honor.  Eileen looked as beautiful as the last time we saw her on our television sets.  She received a standing ovation as she walked down the center aisle to the stage.  She was ready to talk and we were ready to listen.

Richard’s 60 minutes Q&A had the feel of James Lipton’s Inside the Actor’s Studio.  He did what he does best … talk and ask interesting questions, ranging from her start in show business to the end of As The World Turns in 2010, and everything in between.  Rather than juicy gossip or disparaging stories, Richard celebrated Eileen's extensive body of work.

Injecting humor in the stories, the audience laughed along with Eileen as we learned things that most of us never knew.  She talked about the period of time when she was performing ATWT live on TV, then darting out the studio across town to co-star in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, followed by co-starring in the long-running, off-Broadway show The Fantastiks every evening.  Everyone was equally surprised when we discovered Colleen Zenk, aka Barbara Ryan of ATWT, was sitting in the audience, supporting and cheering her long-time friend.

At the end of his questions, similarly to comic legend Carol Burnett, Richard instructed the crew to “bump up the lights” to take questions from the audience.  Once again, nobody asked anything mean-spirited; each person who asked a question respected the soap legend sitting just twenty feet away from us.  Eileen entertained us with some more funny stories, like an accidental fire she started during a cooking scene on a live episode of ATWT.  After the last question was asked, following another standing ovation, Eileen made herself approachable, sitting down at one of the tables, shaking each person’s hand and thanking them for attending her show.

High praises must go to Richard Skipper, for organizing an amazing event.  He knew how to relax the audience and his special guest, keeping everything light and fun with his graciousness.  If anyone thought listening to a Q&A would be a boring way to spend an evening in NYC, I would invite that person to attend the next Richard Skipper Celebrates show.