Actor Mercedes Ruehl and playwright Lanie Robertson visited the Clocktower studios in late May 2005 just before the WPS1 team left for the Biennale. In a special arrangement between the artists and WPS1, Ruehl performed excerpts from their Off-Broadway production of Robertson's play about Peggy Guggenheim in Venice and then the two sat down with David Weinstein to discuss the project and its future.

In Woman Before a Glass, Mercedes Ruehl portrays Peggy Guggenheim, the tempestuous lover of men and modern art, who spent her life supporting and loving the greatest artists of the Twentieth Century. Set from 1963 to 1968 in Peggy's home in Venice, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the play follows the great triumphs and supreme disappointments of the legendary Grande Dame of the art world. She never bought a work of art for profit and never by chance, assembling a piece-by-piece collection that included major works by Klee, Pollack, Ernst, Miro, Chagall, DeKooning, Dali, Leger, Picasso, Duchamp, Braque, Rothko, Motherwell, Man Ray, among many others.

The 2005 New York production of Woman Before a Glass was directed by Casey Childs and won 5 Obie awards--for Ruehl and the entire design team. Ruehl was also nominated for Drama League and Outer Critic Circle Awards. Scenic design was by Thomas Lunch, with costumes by Willa Kim, lighting by Phil Monat, and original music and sound design by David Van Tieghem. The show was produced by Susan Quint Gallin, Mary Lu Roffe, Debra Black, Maria Cozzi and Morton Swinsky (28 minutes).