Veteran actress Meryl Streep, winner of two Academy Awards and a nine-time Oscar nominee, will be honored this Saturday evening with the Dartmouth Film Award.
Streep will receive the award during a Dartmouth Film Society tribute in the Hopkins Center. The presentation will be one of the highlights of the College's 25th anniversary celebration of coeducation.
Although Streep is only spending one night in Hanover, she is no stranger to the College. She attended Dartmouth as one of the first women to take classes here in the fall of 1970 as an exchange student from Vassar College.
She returned again in 1981 to receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the College.
While in Hanover as a student, Streep focused in drama and studied playwriting with Errol Hill, the College's John D. Willard Professor of Drama and Oratory, Emeritus, according to a College press release.
Hill said Streep wrote a "respectable one-act play" in his class and stands out in his memory because of her strong interest in her play, according to the press release.
Streep comes to the College directly from Ireland, where she is working on the set of her most recent film, "Dancing at Lughnasa."
Director of Film for the Hopkins Center Bill Pence said the actress will arrive about two hours before the tribute begins and will leave Hanover Sunday morning with her husband and parents.
"The fact that she's willing to travel here [before she visits her family] indicates to me that she really wants to be here," he said.
Pence said the actresses' connection to the College may be a reason why she is attending the tribute.
"Maybe she's curious about seeing her old stomping ground," he said. "She's probably pleased to be accepting a major award."
Regardless of the explanation for her visit, Pence said he was thrilled to have Streep in Hanover for the weekend.
"To have her here even for a few hours and in celebration of Dartmouth's coeducation makes this one of our most memorable events ever," he said.
The program for the evening includes almost an hour of clips from a number of Streep's movies, her acceptance speech and an on-stage interview conducted by Laura Knoy, host of New Hampshire Public Radio's talk show "The Exchange."
Stowe said some of the clips will feature Streep's singing voice, one of her more unheralded talents. "She has a great voice," Stowe said.
Streep's tribute, unlike past celebrations, will not include one of her recent feature films.
"We thought it would be more interesting to have an on-stage interview," Pence said. "It's much more important to hear what Meryl Streep has to say.
Past Dartmouth Film Award recipients include actor Robert Redford, Chuck Jones, the creator of Bugs Bunny, and, most recently, director/producer Bob Rafelson.