Streep Donates $1 Million for Public Theater Renovation

By ALLAN KOZINN

At a reception on Thursday night to mark the completion of the Public Theater's $40 million renovation of its Astor Place home, the theater was scheduled to announce another reason to celebrate: the actress Meryl Streep has donated $1 million to be put toward the cost of the reconfiguration.

“I give this gift, “ Ms. Streep said in a statement, “in honor of the founder of the Public Theater, my friend and mentor Joseph Papp, and in remembrance of one of the theater's Board members and greatest supporters, my friend Nora Ephron.” (Papp died in 1991; Ephron died in June.)

Ms. Streep's association with the company goes back to her 1975 Broadway debut in Papp's staging of “Trelawny of the Wells” (the cast also included Mandy Patinkin and John Lithgow). She has also appeared in Shakespeare in the Park productions of “Henry V” and “Measure for Measure,” and more recently, “The Seagull” and “Mother Co urage and Her Children.”

The Public Theater's renovation includes an expanded lobby, a new mezzanine-level cocktail lounge called the Library, a lobby snack bar meant to encourage theatergoers to congregate, a new entrance to Joe's Pub and an expanded box office.