LOS ANGELES — Journalist and Armenian International Women’s Association member Joan Agajanian Quinn recently interviewed actress Andrea Martin who is starring in an upcoming Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA) fundraiser. Tickets are on sale for “Broadway in LA: An Evening with Andrea Martin hosted by Seth Rudetsky,” opening on May 27 at the El Portal Theater on Lankersheim Blvd., North Hollywood.
Quinn recently interviewed Martin, the gifted actress and comedienne. The two had met in Boston when Martin had spoken at a program for AIWA in 1992.
“I had just returned from a trip to Armenia. I think this was around 1992, when Gorbachev had just been ousted and Armenia gained its independence. A very exciting and tumultuous time for the country,” Martin recalled.
According to Quinn, one of AIWA’s founders, Olga Prudian, told her that Martin was “a princess,” a favorite adjective of hers for those she liked. Quipped Martin, “I have always considered Olga an Armenian queen, so it is fitting that I am one of her princesses.”
Martin said that Prudians and her family were part of the Armenian community in Portland, Maine, when she was growing up and that she had known her all her life.
Martin is a regular supporter of AIWA, as well as the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF).