Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. Thank you.  How nice of you. Oh.  What a crowd. Well it’s especially good because it’s the fortieth anniversary.  Now I just want to give you a little anecdote so you understand exactly where I stand with all of this stuff.  I had an interview the other day, by a young hip, cool, female journalist. Very earnest, slightly jaded. And she was in my face.  And the question was of such supreme interest to this girl: “How do you account for the success of Star Trek? I mean… I mean, my God, how do you account for forty years of such vibrant success?”  I gave it a pause. And I gave her one of my famous long, hard stares.  And I said, “I’ll tell you what Star Trek is not. It’s not for sissies, and it’s certainly not for idiots!”  “Thank you for this, thank you Miss Mulgrew, now I have to get back to the next episode of Big Love.”

It has been a … a challenging and complicated year for me. I’ll be very direct about it, because my… I just lost my mother – just - a few weeks ago. And I am not prepared. There’s a beautiful line from Edna St. Vincent Millay, ‘I am not prepared, I do not approve, and I am not resigned.’  But here we are – the longest and most enduring love affair of my life is over, and I have to grapple with that, but it’s much more complicated than I thought it would be.  I want to take this opportunity though, right now, to thank any and all of you who have been so generous in terms of Alzheimer’s, and specifically Hospice of Dubuque.  I mean I think the donations have just come pouring in. And I’m deeply grateful, as is my entire family. 

So leave it to my mother – you know she always was a very sly woman – to die – and as she is dying, to deposit a little gift on my pillow.  Which was a new series.  On my way to the airport to go home to say good-bye to her for the last time, I made a pit-stop and met these gentlemen, Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis, and they offered me a role in their new series called The Black Donnellys.  And it’s a great… it’s a great series. It’s a story of an Irish Catholic – how very odd! – family in Hell’s Kitchen.  It’s really the beginning of the West Side Mob.  It’s a mother and her four boys.  The husband was whacked by the Italians.  Somebody is always being whacked in this series! But it’s delicious whacking, you know?!  So I’ve been doing that for about four or five weeks, and we will do thirteen of those, and they’ll air in January on NBC, Thursday nights at ten.  And I had to laugh as I was kissing my mother good-bye, I said, ‘You are a devil to the very, very end.’ “Get this girl back to work” is what my mother said.  And so that’s what I have done. 

Aside from that, the year has been full of… I have to repeat it – complexities.  Questions.  I’m getting older.  I want to get deeper.  It’s not easy.  I’ve started to write.  This is an exploration that’s also very difficult because it forces an honesty from me that even acting doesn’t do. But it’s extremely gratifying.  Very, very hard. So I’m writing and acting. And grieving.  And I laugh.  And I’m here.  And I have to say that life is very -(applause) thank you – life is very good except for one thing, and I’m sure you’ll all agree with me. And I think you are all courageous beyond words for being here.  Where does it end at the bleeping airport?  How can my tube of toothpaste – he found a microscopic tube of moisturizer.  “You can’t go on with these, Madam what are you thinking of?”  I said, “We’re just being sane, I was thinking of being sane.”  “Is it open?” Of course you can’t talk to them any more at checkout, right? ‘Cause everything’s a personal affront.  Well, they won over there, didn’t they?  It’s a mess.  So I won’t get into the politics of it.  My dear husband is here – I think he may have started drinking already! We won’t get into the politics of it except to say we know that the politics is a shamble.  So on that note, I would like (applause) – thank you. I’d like to take questions, because I want to know what you’re thinking, and I want to know what you’re feeling, and I love to take questions from young attractive men as you all know!  Oh… modesty!  Yes? I can’t hear you – it’s not on.  Yes?  Yes?

Q 1: Hi Kate, it’s so great to have you back in Las Vegas.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 1: I remember your appearance here two years ago, and you mentioned how your mom just passed on – back at that time – well you just mentioned that now.  Back at that time she was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and you also mentioned how your dad passed on, and I think that, you know, the way that you expressed these things had a tremendous emotional impact on us, at least it did on me. I really appreciated it.  And I notice that you also shared some political viewpoints, and …

Kate Mulgrew:  Some what, I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear it – what?

Q 1: Some political viewpoints.  I mean you … it was a presidential year …

Kate Mulgrew: Yes…

Q 1:  … And you stated the candidate that you admired and you told us the party that you represented, and I have to say I agree with your politics 100%, I think they’re great.  At the same time, I wondered, was this the ideal place to share them – a science fiction and Star Trek convention? 

Kate Mulgrew:  Was it the ideal place? No (in response to the audience’s negative reaction to this question). But you know, I’ve never been one for picking the ideal place. (audience applause) And why not, right? Why not?  I mean it’s not the ideal place to tell you that I’m broken hearted about my mother, but such is life, right.

Q 1:  So in 2008 we’ll… you know…

Kate Mulgrew:  2008 we’ll … 

Q 1:  (unintelligible)

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Not quite sure what he was about. Enough… enough said, though.  Yes?  I love men more and more. No, no, no! You get to a certain age and you suddenly say, “Look at his shoulders!  Look at that magnificent skin. And little baby boys… oh, they’re all divine.  All of you.  All of you.  Yes? Madam?

Q 2:  I’d have to agree with you on that!

Kate Mulgrew:  (laughs)

Q 2:  Last year… last year you had said you had gone to Ireland and had written some poetry with your son…

Kate Mulgrew:  That’s right.

Q 2:  And I was wondering if you had a favorite poet?

Kate Mulgrew:  If I have a favorite poem?

Q 2: Poet.

Kate Mulgrew:  Poet.  Yes, I do.  And you’re going to be disappointed because it will indicate to you possibly a lack of erudition. But it’s not that, it’s taste. And I haven’t read as much poetry as I’d like to read. So I would say as of this moment it’s Emily Dickinson.  But I love… I mean you cannot… you cannot question the greatness of Wordsworth, right?  Anne Sexton, Edna St. Vincent Millay is brilliant.  But I think Emily Dickinson. 

Q 2:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. Yes?

Q 3:  Hello.

Kate Mulgrew: Hi.

Q 3:  I am deeply sorry about your mom…

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 3: … But when my mom passed, some wise person told me that the best way to honor my mother’s life is to have a happy life, because that’s how…

Kate Mulgrew:  Is to have a happy life?

Q 3:  Yes because that’s what she worked so hard to…

Kate Mulgrew:  To have a good life.

Q 3:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  Happy, I don’t know. I don’t know about happiness.  Are you happy? 

Q 3:  For the most part.

Kate Mulgrew:  I don’t really understand the concept of happiness.  It’s so fleeting.  The goodness you can hang your hat on, can’t you? 

Q 3:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  Because goodness is kind of something that you can exercise. You can practice it.  Happiness is illusive. 

Q 3:  Well last time…

Kate Mulgrew:  Anyway… before I put everybody into a clinical depression… I want to move this chair back… yes, go on, but I’m listening to you. Yes, yes?

Q 3:  Well, last year you mentioned a project that you were dying to get into, that is a project that you were meant to have, and it was a lifetime role and that was to spend more time with your family, and I’m wondering how that project is going and are you a grandmother now or…? 

Kate Mulgrew:  What?! Did he say?  Would you please repeat that question… in French! Am I a what now? 

Q 3:  Well, beyond that, I was just wondering…

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh no… no, no.  No back pedaling… Pierre!  Am I a grandmother now?  Ohhh… He thinks that if I spent the year with my family, I should by all rights be a grandmother as a result of that. No.  Here’s how I spend my time with my sons: “Don’t you lay a finger on that girl!” (audience laughter) I may be a grandmother, but I don’t really know about it – let me put it to you that way!

Q 3:  Thank you, Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  And it can wait!  Thank you.  Yes sir?

Q 4:  Hi, how are you?

Kate Mulgrew: I’m good, how are you?

Q 4:  I’m doing good.  I have an eight-year-old girl, and she’s fascinated with the show because of your presence on it. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Because of the what?

Q 4: She’s fascinated with Voyager because of your presence on it – the presence of a female captain.  And I have learned that she has taken you as a role model, telling her that she can do whatever she wants to do. Do you feel that’s true, that …

Kate Mulgrew:  What?

Q 4: …That you have become through your character, and through your actions in your personal life, that you have become a role model for girls? And how that has impacted you?

Kate Mulgrew:  Well, if what you say is true, about your daughter…

Q 4:  It is absolutely true.

Kate Mulgrew:  Well then it’s extremely gratifying.  Nothing is more important… or let me put it another way:  There can be no greater reward than that, right?  Now I’m sure you’re all saying she’s a beastly liar. She’d really like us all to say you’re the world's greatest actress and certainly more beautiful than any other creature who ever walked.  But the reality is when I hear that, that is the thing that endures. If I’ve been a role model to your daughter it means that I’ve imparted something that transcends the performance.  She understood something about Janeway that she’ll take with her, and nothing is more important than that. That’s terrific.  Thank you.

Q 4:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  You must be a wonderful father. Yes sir?

Q 5:  Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi. 

Q 5: I have three daughters too, and I like to watch Voyager with them and show them what a strong woman can be, and you know I love all the captains, but you are my favorite. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 5:  There’s just two things, two scenes that I will always remember.  The episode where the doctor was conflicted over choosing to save Harry Kim instead of basically a stranger, and at the end you just basically told him, you know, live with it – deal with it. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes.

Q 5: And the one with Michael McKean as the evil clown guy …

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh yes, yes…Marvin Rush directed that one. Yes, yes.

Q 5:  And at the end when he said he was scared, and just the way you said, “I know.” I love that. That’s like the greatest line in Star Trek as far as I’m concerned.  That’s it, no question, thanks!

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you! Nobody ever says the clown.  Nobody ever says the clown. But you have said it.  Is it really your favorite?  (in response to someone in the audience) Oh.  Thank you.  You see what I’m talking about? M.E.N.  Delicious!  Yes?

Q 6:  Hi.  Well, somebody just stole part of my question.  I guess you have been to Ireland.  I’ve been there too. What’s your favorite part of Ireland?

Kate Mulgrew:  I love the west coast – County Kerry.  I always go to Kerry. Last summer it was the Beara Peninsula.  But I’ve spent a lot of time in Dingle. It’s the Irish Sea.

Q 6:  I’ve been to Sligo and Galway and Killarney, those are great too.

Kate Mulgrew:  It’s the most beautiful place in the world, isn’t it?

Q 6:  And the UK.

Kate Mulgrew:  Yeah… absolutely fantastic. 

Q 6:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. Yes?

Q 7:  Hi Kate. I’m Inge and I decided to come from Belgium just to say hello to you…

Kate Mulgrew:  She's from Belgium…

Q 7:  You have the best regards from Eveline from Holland.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 7: And I would like to ask you - over the years you have played many great, strong women – how do you keep doing that?  Where do you find the strength?

Kate Mulgrew:  That’s a very interesting question. It is acting, after all!  I’m going to tell you something now that I would not have said a year ago. I think that I have developed - or perhaps it is a great part of my maternal influence – this strong personality. So of course when you go into a room and you’re auditioning or you’re meeting on something, that’s what the producers and the directors see.  They’re hit with the aura, rather than the essence.  But I think that far more compelling than my strength would be the challenge of my vulnerability, which is after all where the strength emanates from. So I think now, in this next chapter of my life, I’m going to concentrate on that kind of revelation.  And I think for me that’s going to be very tough and pretty scary.  But I think the real courage lies in the frailty of the human condition and it’s that that allows us to have empathy.  So I thank you for that, it’s a very nice compliment, but I think the best way to share your heart with people who are watching your performance, is to break your heart first. So I’m going to give that the old college try.

Q 7:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  She’s disappointed. 

Q 7:  No…

Kate Mulgrew:  She wants more strength.  Yes, hello.

Q 8:  Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  How are you?

Q 8:  I’m doing good.  I’m a big fan of Batman, the animated series, and I was wondering, did you record the episode "The Lion and the Unicorn" when you started Voyager, or was it just before?  I mean did you do the episode before you started Voyager or after.

Kate Mulgrew:  I’m afraid I’m not following this question, I’m so sorry. Am I not following this?  Am I missing this?  Did you get it?  Oh, the animated series of what?

From the audience:   Batman

Kate Mulgrew:  Which animated series? Which one, darling?

Q 8:  Sorry, it was the one with Kevin Conroy as Batman.

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh!  I did that before.

Q 8:  Oh yeah, you were playing Red Claw…

Kate Mulgrew:  Red Claw. I did that before.

Q 8:  Oh, okay.

Kate Mulgrew:  Yeah.

Q 8:  Okay, thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. (laughs) I’m losing my mind!  Yes.  Hello.

Q 9:  Hi.

Kate Mulgrew:  How are you sweetheart?

Q 9:  Great.

Kate Mulgrew: It’s good to see you.

Q 9:  I was very sorry to hear about your mother.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 9:  And now…

Kate Mulgrew:  This is a very familiar face to me. She… she’s always there. She’s been a wonderful support to me over these years, and always so generous.  Thank you darling.

Q 9:  Thank you.  We’d like to know if you have any more plans to do any plays in London, this year or next year.

Kate Mulgrew:  Speak of the devil!  Well you know I did that play there last spring.  And now we’re talking about my going back and doing a wonderful play by Tom Kempinski called “Duet for One”. But I have to see… based on the life, loosely on the life of Jacqueline Dupres, who was a world class violinist. And who got MS.  And we find her midway through this journey with MS, and her demented struggle.  Because without her music, she is nothing.  So it’s called “Duet for One”, and I would… I’m thinking of doing it with Henry Goodman who was in “The Exonerated” with me, and who is a marvelous guy. So I have to go over to London – Oh, God! I have to go to London next month.  I suppose I should go stark naked and save them all… (unintelligible – due to audience laughter!)

Q 9:  Did you enjoy doing “The Exonerated” even though it was such an emotional subject?

Kate Mulgrew:  Am I what?  I’m sorry, I can’t really hear very well.  Put your mouth closer to the mike.

Q 9:  Did you enjoy doing “The Exonerated” …

Kate Mulgrew:  Very, very much. Very much.  You know how I feel about capital punishment. Yup… Oh!  Politics! (Kate makes motion to zip her lips shut and throw away the key - audience laughter) Are you well?

Q 9:  I’m good, thanks.

Kate Mulgrew:  You look pretty.

Q 9: Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Nice to see you, sweetheart.  Thank you.  Bye. 

Here’s another funny thing about Star Trek. You never know who loves it.  You never know who loves it.  And I’m constantly surprised.  So… my mother loved the Trappistine Nuns.  You know that’s a cloistered order, and they take the vow of silence, obedience, chastity and every other thing known to man.  And her great wish was that she would be – not buried, but her mass would be held at the Abbey – at the Trappistine Abbey – which it was. Because the Abbess is a great friend of mine, and we managed it.  And Father Xavier, who is a Trappist Monk, celebrated the mass.  Of course he’s this diminutive, demure, very self effacing monk, who has said less than ten words in fifty years, and he celebrated gorgeous mass for my mother, and like a good cloistered order both the Abbess and he came to the wake, which in Irish Catholic land, is nothing more or less than a huge drunken party, right? So I walked them out, four hours and I think about four bottles of wine later, and I said, “Father Xavier, I want to thank you so much for celebrating that beautiful mass for mother.  I’m sure where ever she is, this delights her.”  “That may be true Kate, but more to the point, when are you going to do a Star Trek movie?” (audience laughter) I said, “Father Xavier! I commit my soul to you…” He said, “Oh soul, soul. Let's get those phasers going.”  So you see – they’re everywhere!  Yes?

Q 10:  My question is regarding the first season of Voyager.  Now my understanding is that there was kind of like a lot of uncertainty regarding the Janeway character – how she should look, how she should wear her hair and speak and so forth. I was wondering if you could like elaborate on that experience and…

Kate Mulgrew:  You don’t really want me to elaborate on that, do you?

Q 10:  Well… yeah, kind of.  And when did things finally kind of settle down regarding this?

Kate Mulgrew:  Well you know why they did that.  Everybody here who’s heard me speak about it knows.  It makes perfect sense.  I had bosoms. I had a uterus.  And I was of child-bearing years.  And it freaked them out. More power to them for wanting a woman. I mean I thought, Paramount, you know, they’re great.  Rick Berman, my hat’s off.  But their anxiety was such that it manifested itself in the obvious, which was ‘what do we do about her hair? How are we going to subdue her bosom? Well what are we going to do about her hips?’  When they finally let that go, which took I think about… I’d say a season and a half.  They never let go of this. They’re still not letting go - not even in this new series. You may have noticed it’s a different shade.  Now it’s black. Right?  Men.  They see a woman and they put her in a role and they say, “Let’s get her in the hair chair.”  So, I’d say a season and a half, after the demographic, the young male demographic looked strong enough, they let it go. But I understand it.  Do you understand it? 

Q 10:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  I can’t hear you…

Q 10:  I think I do. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Okay, thank you.  Yes? Yes?

Q 11: Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi.

Q 11:  It’s a real pleasure to see you again…

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 11:  And I’m a poet too, I told you last year.  And have you published any of your poems in a book yet, and what’s the name of the upcoming TV series, I didn’t get it?

Kate Mulgrew: The series is called The Black Donnellys, And no, I have not published the poetry. My son published his poetry, though. So that’s better, isn’t it? I'm very proud.  I’m not sure about my poetry. I’m concentrating first on the book. We’ll see how that goes.

Q 11:  The book is a fiction?

Kate Mulgrew:  The book is a memoir. And it’s really the story of my relationship with my mother. And how that shaped me and all the defining episodes of my life.  And it did.  It did. 

Q 11:  Wonderful. Did you do “Tea” on Broadway? I mean “Tea at Five” on Broadway last year.

Kate Mulgrew:  Did I do “Tea at Five” on Broadway.  Yes, but that was years ago. Four years ago. 

Q 11:  Oh.  I thought I saw you last year at “Tea at…”

Kate Mulgrew:  Time flies, doesn't it!  Yes, I took it on the road and I did it subsequently.  But I started in New York.  Right.  Thank you. Yes?

Q 12:  Hello Miss Mulgrew:

Kate Mulgrew:  Hello.

Q 12: I just want you to know that you’re my hero. I love you, you’re beautiful, you’re eloquent, you’re articulate.  I look forward to seeing you every year to hear your words of wisdom. You make me cry every year. I just love you. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. (audience applause)

Q 12:  And I just wanted to make that comment. I missed last year coming here because I too had a parental death and I understand what you’re going through. I wanted to just ask you… I’m sorry I’m a little emotional, I’m always emotional when I’m in front of you. 

Kate Mulgrew:  That’s all right…

Q 12:  I just want to … when I looked at the clip, I noticed how physical you were, and I didn’t realize that. I thought that…

Kate Mulgrew:  Neither did I! Who did that video?  (In response to the audience’ reply) What a great job you did, Sarah.  Wonderful!  But exhausting!  I look at that… I was watching backstage, and I thought, ‘I did that?’  I think… I did do that, didn’t I?!

Q 12:  Yes, I was surprised myself.  It was wonderful. (audience laughter) I’m sorry, but I… 

Kate Mulgrew:  I wasn’t an armchair captain, was I?

Q 12:  No.

Kate Mulgrew: … No…

Q 12:  I mean it made it all look better, you know, to see you out there really, you know, fighting…

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes…

Q 12:  Just one more question.  Did you ever hurt yourself really badly doing those stunts?

Kate Mulgrew:  I never hurt myself badly. No.  I’m far too agile! (audience laughter)

Q 12:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  I never did… I never did hurt myself.  There was a little burn. Remember the terrible thing about the burn?  The ship exploded or something?  And caught fire. We  all caught fire at one time or another.  The men liked it.  I didn’t. 

Q 12:  Thank you.  Don’t stop coming, please.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you for your very kind words, darling.  And I’m sorry about your parents’ death.  Very hard, that.  And so personal.  There’s no explaining it. You know we live in this bizarre culture wherein everybody says, “Oh, she’s a certain age, you know she’s a middle aged woman.  Her mother’s going to die, her father’s going to die, she should get on with her life.  Don’t mourn, don’t grieve. Don’t … bup…bup… But you can’t throw away fifty years. Fifty years is a long time to adore somebody. It shouldn’t be summarily forgotten.  It should be absolutely understood and felt.  And I think this culture needs to … (applause)… It does, really.  We need to be a little nicer to each other when we’re sad, don’t you think? We really do.  Yes, sweetheart?

Q 13:  Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi.

Q 13: It’s good to see you again, I saw you the last two years that you were here.  And I just have a comment.  A friend of mine and I, we went to see you in Pasadena at “Tea at Five” last year, and I just want to say you were just fantastic.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 13:  And especially in the second act when you played Miss Hepburn older. I honestly did forget that that was you.  I really thought I was seeing the real thing...

Kate Mulgrew:  Then I did my job, thank you.

Q 13:  I had to keep reminding myself.  I was like, oh no, wait, that’s Kate Mulgrew!  But I really did want to tell you that, because it was amazing and moving, and by the way, you look great, too!

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you, sweetheart.  So do you!  We should all look like that! She’s eighteen!  Yes?  Yes madam?

Q 14:  Captain!

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes?

Q 14:  On Voyager you spent a lot of time in the Maestro’s studio.  Are you really much of a fan of Renaissance art, or was that just kind of a historical story line, and you prefer other genres more?

Kate Mulgrew:  Of course I’m a fan of that art.  You’re talking about da Vinci.  Michelangelo. Who wouldn’t be?  Am I an afficionado?  No. Am I a fan…

Q 14:  Do you like other genres as well?

Kate Mulgrew:  Pardon me?

Q 14:  I just wonder if you like other, more modern genres just as well, or you really like that Renaissance art?

Kate Mulgrew: You know, my… I grew up with painters.  So my feeling about painting is again, sort of, about, sort of, the feeling I have about grief.  We should care less what other people think when it comes to art, and when it comes to what we’re feeling and thinking about art. And we should just love the art for itself. And you should always buy the piece of art that moves you. Not the piece of art that’s popular.  Not the up and coming artist.  Not the celebrated artist.  The artist who moves you is the artist that you should pay for.  So of course the whole world has loved da Vinci. There’s nothing not to love.  He’s a genius. But I think some of the modernists, and of course the Impressionists.  And I have always adored Giacometti. Because he did that extraordinary thing with miniatures. By the time he died, his miniatures were as big as a matchstick. Superb proportions of a human being. This big.  Alberto Giacometti. Great genius. Any way…

Q 14:  That big.

Kate Mulgrew:  That’s it.  She says, that’s it!  Yes ma’am?

Q 15:  Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi, how are you?

Q 15: I’m good, how are you? Well, somebody already asked part of my question – you were in London apparently this spring – of course when I’m not in Europe!  Are you going to do any… did you do anything else in Europe? Or are you going to do anything – not just specifically in London, I’m from Holland, so, roughly there.

Kate Mulgrew: Well I just said, I’m trying to do this play there, in the West End, next spring.  But that’s all I’m thinking about in Europe right now. 

Q 15:  But in the past have you done anything else in London, or …

Kate Mulgrew:  I’ve done a movie in London, but that was some time ago.  Years ago.

Q 15:  Just in London. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes, London. I love London. I love poor, beleaguered London!  You know, I love it.  And I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s wrong isn’t it.  Terrible.  Beautiful city like that. And New York.  (whispered) God, I’m so furious. Anyway, is that it?

Q 15:  Yes.  But you should come to Holland, it’s very nice.

Kate Mulgrew:  Holland, yes, yes. I know.  Very sane, Holland. Right? Thank you, I will try.  Yes?

Q 16:  Hi Kate.  My very first time up on the mike, so I’m a little nervous. I just want to let you know that I’ve been a long time fan – way before Voyager. And I went to see you at “Tea at Five” and I didn’t wear any Star Trek stuff, so I didn’t embarrass you, but…

Kate Mulgrew:  Believe me, it wouldn’t have embarrassed me.

Q 16:  But I do have a question and it’s been burning in my mind since I saw the segment on Voyager.  It was the episode where everyone gets amnesia and you’re a regular laborer in a camp.  And it always…

Kate Mulgrew:  What was it called?

Audience:  Workforce.

Kate Mulgrew:  It was good. Two parts, right?

Q 16: It struck me because of course your character is so stoic and strong and a lot of the emotions are kept in, but in that episode you were able to be a girl, you know.  You were a working girl, you had a boyfriend, you were happy, you had no worries.  And I realize that you’re an actor and of course that was a lot of it, but …

Kate Mulgrew:  You realized I was a human being.

Q 16:  Right.  And that came through. And I’m wondering was that a relief for you to be able to show that?

Kate Mulgrew:  That never came through with Janeway?! (laughs) Oh, dear God!

Q 16: Well, another side of Janeway.  The side that she couldn’t show her crew.

Kate Mulgrew: Uh huh.

Q 16: So I’m wondering, was that a relief for you to be able to do that character?

Kate Mulgrew:  Quite liberating.  It was liberating and fun, yeah. Absolutely.  Any time you can take a brief departure from what you are most commonly playing is a great joy to any actor. But I always loved going back to Janeway, you know.  I loved her.  I loved her. 

Q 16:  We loved you too.

Kate Mulgrew: Strange that I would say that, but it’s true. 

Q 16:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  I have real sentimentality about Kathryn Janeway.  I mean I almost think of her as another person. I’ll stop short of saying that we chat, but … (audience laughter) it’s very much inside, you know. Seven years is a long time.  Yes?

Q 17:  Good day, Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hello.  Australian here.

Q 17: Yup.  I’ve traveled back in time to come here to see you, you know that!  I originally came up here just to beg for you and plead for you to come to Sydney, ‘cause you haven’t been there since 2000. But just standing here I realize since I probably won’t get a chance again, I just want to say thank you, because three years ago when I discovered Janeway, that changed my life, so thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 17:  That’s all.

Kate Mulgrew:  How nice.  Australians are very nice. Have you noticed that?  Why are Australians so nice?  Is it because there are… a shortage of women down there?! There aren’t very many women down there.  There are lots of men to one woman, right?  Why am I sitting here?!  Aren’t there like four men to every woman?  (in response to the audience) Five!  Well, that’s why they’re so happy!  Yes?

Q 18:  Hi Kate. It’s good to see you again.

Kate Mulgrew: And you.

Q 18:  It’s been a great twenty-first birthday for me, so…   My question is, are you going to be releasing “Tea at Five” on DVD, by any chance?

Kate Mulgrew:  I don’t know.  You know I don’t know if you know what’s happened to “Tea at Five” or anybody who cares about “Tea at Five”… 

Q 18:  I really care…

Kate Mulgrew: …But I played it for a long time. And it was meant to be an annuity.  And perhaps I will play it again. But I just couldn’t keep going on and on and on.  I mean it was wonderful, but it… there are other things to be done with one’s life. So another actress has stepped into this role. And I think she’s going to be taking it on tour. Downtown. Stephanie Zimbalist.  So I really don’t know what future there is.  It would be nice to be able to do it. But at this point I’m not in a position to really say anything about it. Except that I loved doing it.

Q 18:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 18:  It’s been a great 21st birthday. 

Kate Mulgrew: Thank you very much.  How nice.  Yes?

Q 19: Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi.

Q 19:  I’m… this is my first convention and I’m very excited to be able to speak with you. You’re my favorite captain because you had the diplomacy of Picard and also the beat ‘em up of Kirk. (audience applause & cheers)

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. 

Q 19:  Being able to balance both of them and I’m just, you know, so excited, and I use you as a role model for myself as well as my daughters, and I…

Kate Mulgrew:  You hardly look old enough to have daughters.

Q 19: Thank you.  And I … oh… my question is …

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes, what is your question?

Q 19:  I forgot my question… oh, well, thank you… you know I just wanted to say I admire you and my question is which was as a nemesis … or an enemy… which was more difficult to handle, either Q or the Borg?

Kate Mulgrew:  That’s a very tough question, actually.  And I would say, Q. For all the reasons you may suspect! In fact the Borg were putty in Q’s hands, were they not?  Devil!  Is he out there somewhere? Has anybody seen John de Lancie lurking around? I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.  (In response to the audience) What?  He’s taking a bath somewhere, you think? A great big pink bubble bath.  Devil! 

Q 19:  Thank you.  I just wanted to say thank you…

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. And thank you for your words, they’re lovely. 

Q 20:  Hi Kate.

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi.

Q 20: Hi. I remember I met you at your very first Star Trek convention in Pasadena when Voyager had just started and all that.  And of course it went through a successful seven year run, and everybody takes their own experience from the show and what they value about it, and my question is to you is what do you value most about that seven year experience? 

Kate Mulgrew:  What do I value the most? 

Q 20:  Uh huh.

Kate Mulgrew:  Shall I tell you the truth?

Q 20:  Yeah.

Kate Mulgrew:  Or should I give you the sort of common answer…

Q 20: No… lay it on straight!

Kate Mulgrew: I am terribly proud of what I did in those seven years. I am convinced that I accomplished what I really was not at all sure I could accomplish. I am… I look back at it in a kind of amazement.  The stamina, the discipline, the presence, the constancy, the devotion I brought to her indicates to me only one thing. It wasn’t just about ego, or it would have gone to hell in a handbasket, it would have. It was about loving that character. And it was about convincing myself from the get-go that I was going to do it my way, and in a different way.  And that – let me say it out loud – I was going to strike a blow for women. (audience applause)

Q 20:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  And I think I did that. I mean you can say what you want ladies and gentlemen… there’s no question that the other two captains - what am I talking about, there were more than two!!  I was…  I was sneezing… achooo… captains!  Lots of captains, but mainly Kirk and Picard – superb, right? Wonderful actors. Both of them bringing all kinds of dimensions to their roles. I mean really incomparable.  And great actors. But they weren’t raising children at the same time. And they weren’t the first of their gender to attack something that was so male oriented.  They were given the comfort and the familiarity of their gender as a passport to the role. Whereas I had to seduce – I use that word diplomatically!  And I had to worry and wonder – are these young men going to buy me?  Are they bright enough, committed enough, deep enough to look beyond the fact that I could be their mother, and see that I could run this ship? Will I be able to electrify and carry them with me?  Will I be able to ignite their imagination and will I be able to sustain their imagination? And when they answered in the affirmative at the end of season one, then I knew that I had done something not only for myself as an actress, but that I had indeed done something for women.  And that’s a hell of a thing. 
Thank you.  Very kind.  Yes, darling?

Q 21:  I’m drawing a total blank!  This is my first convention ever – that I have ever attended, and you’re the reason why I came.  But I believe in serendipity, and it happened about four years ago – a total change in my life – and I was just wondering what made you believe?

Kate Mulgrew:  What made me?

Q 21:  Believe in serendipity.  That fate…

Kate Mulgrew:  Believe in serendipity?

Q 21:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  Is that what you said? 

Q 21:  Yes. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Well… you’re… you’re quoting me back, aren’t you?  Serendipity is a mysterious element in life. 

Q 21:  Right.

Kate Mulgrew:  That you no longer question, but you embrace.  It’s not the same as happenstance, it’s not coincidence, it’s not karma.  Serendipity is what happens when you just let it be. And I think if we let go of wanting what we want when we want it, and let serendipity master us, life then becomes indeed not only thrilling, but full of all the answers we thought were unanswerable.  Serendipity is the one reason to go on.  That’s why you’re here, right?

Q 21:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  It was serendipitous.

Q 21:  Yes!

Kate Mulgrew:  Good.  Good.

Q 21:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you for coming. I love women, too!  Yes?

Q 22:  Greetings Mrs. Columbo! May I just… I had the opportunity to see you in your one woman play in Phoenix, and if anything demonstrates the depths of your acting ability, it was that incredible Katharine Hepburn play. From beginning to end you were the only person on that stage but you created an entire event there.  And I just wanted to thank you for that.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.  Thank you for going.

Q 22:  Yeah, it was awesome. One… one … just on a lighter note.  You know you’re very dedicated to Voyager, you’re very dedicated to making that captain the captain, but in the midst of all of that, there must have been some fun things that happened there on the stage, or on the set, in between the real takes - would you share something fun with us …

Kate Mulgrew:  Well, there were a lot of fun things – of course there were.  There were mad things.  But I have to tell you, it was a very disciplined situation. Paramount saw to that.  There was a lot of money being spent there, and they didn’t put up with a lot of nonsense at all.  So it was move, move, move, move.  I mean we did eight, nine, ten pages a day.  That’s a lot of work.  Now you know that I was always right there!  I was in fact the essence of discipline! (audience laughter) Manners, right? Good will!  I was a captain in my own life.  No laughter for me!  I didn’t set myself on fire!  I didn’t drop my trousers at 2 a.m. I didn’t blow spitballs in my face. The boys did it.

Q 22:  The men. 

Kate Mulgrew The boys did it.  And they did it at every conceivable opportunity.  The worst was Chakotay.  Everybody always wants to know, why didn’t you have a love affair with Chakotay?  Well…. uh…hello!  It’s hard to have a love affair with somebody who’s sitting in his chair next to you – it’s now like three o’clock in the morning on Saturday morning – ‘cause you can shoot into Friday morn… Saturday morning because there’s no turn around on Friday night.  And to amuse himself, he would jump up, might divest himself of the … uh…part of his uniform, I won’t tell you which part.  And then he would do Burt Lancaster meeting Frank Sinatra at a bar in Las Vegas!  And he would do it just before I had a five page take!  And the tears would stream. He was outrageous.  But they all did it. They all did it.  They were shameless. Shameless. I, of course, had to carry on!  Thank you very much.  Yes?

Q 23:  Hello Kate.  I want to thank you for bringing “Tea at Five” to Seattle. We loved it very much and I know how much you like Seattle.

Kate Mulgrew:  You live in Seattle?

Q 23:  Yes I do.

Kate Mulgrew:  Beautiful city.

Q 23:  It’s wonderful.  My question is, how did you like being a Klingon?

Kate Mulgrew:  How did I like being a Klingon?

Q 23:  In the Hirogen episode.

Kate Mulgrew:  I didn’t, really. I didn’t really.  Very hairy.

Q 23:  Did you do your own stunts, or…

Kate Mulgrew:  I did all my own stunts.  Very hard work.  Very…. It was!  Hot.  Heavy.  Hairy.  Batleh… the thing.  I insisted on doing the fight myself.  I mean I have nothing but admiration for Klingons, don’t get me wrong! 

Q 23:  How long did it take to shoot that… your Klingon…

Kate Mulgrew:  How long did it take to shoot that?

Q 23:  Like a whole day, or…

Kate Mulgrew:  Sure.  Two or three days. Yeah.  No, I’m glad that I … you know… just me. 

Q 23:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. Thank you.  I know you all think it’s probably great fun when we all play Klingons and Borg and all that, but … it’s hard.  You know I really admire those people who did that all the time.  The stuff that they…  Jeri Ryan had to put that stuff on her face every day, Roxann had to put it on her forehead, John Ethan sat in the chair for three hours.  It’s an agony.  Because I cannot sit in the chair. I am famous for not being able to do that. So there’s a rigor to it that I don’t think I ever could have managed it. Yes?

Q 24:  Hi Kate, my name is Anthony.  First off, I want to say I’m sorry to hear about your mom. My condolences. My question to you is, how did you like working with original cast members in the Flashback episode?  George Takei and Grace Lee Whitney.

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh that was fun. That was the spitball episode with Tuvok!  I liked it very much.  I liked it very much. And I was intrigued by their… by their stories, you know. I want to know what it was like.  It seems to me that they were just great, great people, and I enjoyed it, you know.  That’s the beauty of this kind of a series - that we can cross like that.  And meet.  And make it all somehow make sense. It’s a wonderful opportunity.  (To offstage - Hi Barb, okay.)  Thank you.  Thank you.

Q 24:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes?

Q 25: Hi Kate.  These are shoulder pads by the way.  I know you like shoulders.

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh.  His shoulders.  He has beautiful shoulders!  Yes?  Yes shoulders?  Can I call you Shoulders?

Q 25:  You may.

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes, what’s your question, Shoulders?  Reach down for the mike.

Q 25:  My question is, in the development of the series and your character, it seemed like they really started to push the maternal aspect of Kathryn Janeway, and I was wondering, did you have any input on that?  Was it planned?  Because it seems logical now, now that the series is over but…

Kate Mulgrew:  At what point do you think they started to push that?

Q 25:  Well I think Seven of Nine was a turning point.

Kate Mulgrew:  Oh yeah.  But that was so beautifully done with Seven of Nine, don’t you think?  It wasn’t deliberately and obviously maternal.  It was a story about two very different people, and it goes back to – harkens back to what I said about fifteen minutes ago.  Janeway understood that only through her empathy would she be able to reach Annika/Seven of Nine.  And Seven of Nine responded. And if that’s maternal love, more power to it.  Right?  Thank you. They really had a very brilliant idea in that relationship, I thought.  Yes, Ma’am.

Q 26:  Hello. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Hi.

Q 26:  My name’s Deborah, and I’m sorry to hear about your mother, but as long as we remember them they’re not ever really gone, totally. Question.  The last play you did about Katharine Hepburn, is there a chance they’re ever going to put that on DVD so we can acquire it?

Kate Mulgrew:  He just asked that, and I don’t know, darling. I don’t know.  If they come to me and they seriously present it to me, yes, there’s more than a chance. I’d love to do it.  Of course it will have to be done rather quickly, because she’s thirty in Act One, if you get my meaning! 

Q 26:  Okay, thank you very much. 

Kate Mulgrew:  Thirty years old!  Do you know the actresses of old used to do that for years.  Twenty years, Laurette Taylor played something.  “Glass Menagerie”.  I don’t know if I could do that.  As my husband teases, in act two, Hepburn would have to be what?  (In the older Hepburn’s voice) A hundred and twenty-eight! A hundred and twenty-eight.  Yes?

Q 27:  Welcome…

Kate Mulgrew:  He’s got a dog!

Q 27:  You held the namesake for this girl, this is Tasha, the next generation.  You held the other one when she was old and tired. This is a new baby.

Kate Mulgrew:  Awww….

Q 27:  And we just wanted to say welcome and it’s good to see you again.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.

Q 27:  And I think Pat has something to say too.

Q 28: No, no… I just wanted… I just wanted to tell you that of course I have Mr. Data.  She’s a full mini-poodle and this Mr. Data is a mini-poodle with (toy line).  We got shorted!

Kate Mulgrew:  (laughing) Okay! I don’t know whether to say, “I’m so sorry or isn’t that marvelous!’ 

Q 27:  Thank you.

Kate Mulgrew:  I love you folks with your dogs, good for you.  Have a wonderful weekend, all right?  See, that’s happiness. They’re here, they’re in uniform and they have their dogs.  Yes?

Q 28:  Hello.  Thank you for coming out to see all of us – to take the time and everything…

Kate Mulgrew:  Not at all.

Q 28:  And the question I had is that in the final Voyager episode in your portryal of both Admiral and Captain Janeway…

Kate Mulgrew:  Yes…

Q 28:  What was it like to argue with yourself?

Kate Mulgrew:  Why should that be unlike any other day?  I loved that episode.

Q 28:  Yeah.

Kate Mulgrew:  Endgame was good, wasn’t it.

Q 28:  You brought out all the good…

Kate Mulgrew:  Endgame was good.

Q 28:  You brought out all the good heavy artillery at the right time – you just literally shoved it in her face – it was just perfect.

Kate Mulgrew:  Yeah.

Q 28:  Thank you so much for being such a good actress.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Do we have to stop? Barb says we have to stop. Do you want to… yes?  You look like you really… let me take just one… yes?

Q 29:  I just want to say that you’re probably my favorite captain, not knocking the other ones.  And as a Londoner, as a Londoner I’m definitely a bigger fan of yours now. I just wanted you to know.

Kate Mulgrew:  Thank you. 

Q 29:  ‘Cause I love London, it’s a great city and I just wanted your comment on being (unintelligble)

Kate Mulgrew:  Awww… how nice thank you. Thank you very much.  Do you want to ask me something, you look like you…

Q 30:  I had a more detailed question, but I…

Kate Mulgrew:  What is it darling?

Q 30:  I just wanted to tell you one comment – my wife who loves you even more than I do.  I bought all seven seasons of Voyager and she was floored - for her birthday and she was floored.

Kate Mulgrew:  She was floored? How adorable!  (to the audience) Can you see her?

Q 30’s wife:  I absolutely love you …

Q 30:  Just ten seconds more…What is your… what is your viewpoint or your impression of you coming back as Admiral Janeway with other members of the Voyager cast, TNG - The Next Generation cast, and Deep Space Nine cast in the next Star Trek motion picture?

Kate Mulgrew:  (to the audience, over their applause) Wait a minute, wait a minute.  Let me understand him. What is my feeling if I were to come back as the ‘big boss’?

Q 30:  Yes.

Kate Mulgrew:  Is that your question?

Q 30:  Yes… You will have authority… you would have authority over Picard ….

Kate Mulgrew:  Okay!  Now you’re talking!  I’d love that!  And I think maybe they will do it. This is the fortieth anniversary.  Who knows?  By the sixtieth all the captains may have come together in some motion picture.  With any luck they will.  I’d love to be the only girl! In that company, hmmm?  I wonder if I’d survive?! 

I think you’re all terrific.  I’ll see you all anon! And I hope again.  Thank you for everything. You’re wonderful.