ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

TV/ PAQUIN SAYS SHE IS BISEXUAL: Actress Anna Paquin has announced she is bisexual. The "True Blood" actress, who is engaged to her male co-star Stephen Moyer, recorded an ad for the the True Colors Fund, a non-profit organisation founded by Cyndi Lauper to support the LGBT community. In it, she says: "I'm bisexual and I give a damn." Paquin, 27, has never mentioned her sexuality publicly before. The campaign is called Give a Damn and other celebrity supporters include Whoopi Goldberg, Elton John, Cynthia Nixon, Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, and Wanda Sykes.

TV/ MERKERSON LEAVING "L&O": S. Epatha Merkerson is leaving "Law & Order." Merkerson, who has been on the veteran NBC series longer than any other cast member, has asked producers to be released after the current 20th season. She made the request before the cop drama was to enter production on the last episode of the season so her character could be given an appropriate send-off. Merkerson, an Emmy winner for HBO's "Lackawanna Blues," had no deal for next season's "Law & Order." That season is still up in the air as a pickup by NBC hinges on the network's ability to ink an off-network deal with TNT. The chances for that happening have increased recently as TNT has reportedly made an offer to NBC that would secure a record setting 21st season. Merkerson joined "L&O" midway through the 1st season. She has appeared in almost 400 episodes of the venerable police procedural, playing no-nonsense supervisor Lt. Anita Van Buren.

THEATRE/ RAVES FOR "RED": The new Broadway play, "Red," based on the life of artist Mark Rothko, opened on Broadway last evening to rave reviews. The 2 character bio-drama stars Tony winner Alfred Molina as the artist, and Eddie Redmayne as a newly hired assistant. The New York Times said: "Even before you see his eyes, you’re aware of the force of his gaze. Portraying the artist Mark Rothko, Alfred Molina sits with his back to the audience at the beginning of “Red,” John Logan’s intense and exciting drama. Yet the set of his neck and shoulders makes it clear that he is staring hard and hungrily, locked in visual communion with the object before him. That’s an abstract painting, copied from Rothko, and it is indeed very red and very dramatic. But it is Mr. Molina’s stare that invests it with real drama. “What do you see?” he asks in the play’s first line, with an urgency that is part hope and part despair, with despair in the ascendant. By this time we have looked into his eyes. What we see, above all, is an artist seeing, and it’s impossible not to feel thrilled by the privilege". The Times also praises both actors for their roles. The Hollywood Reporter said:  "Bottom Line: Superb performances enliven this fascinating drama about famed abstract expressionist Mark Rothko". They went on to say: "Newly arrived on Broadway for a limited engagement following a recent hit run at London's Donmar Warehouse, the play should prove similarly successful here and stands to figure prominently this awards season". "Red' runs 90 minutes and is playing at the Golden Theater on Broadway.