Lia Chang: A night out with Gordana Rashovich, Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore

Gordana Rashovich Photo by Lia Chang

“I love Tennessee Williams’ women, because they are giants with tremendous appetites for life,” shared Obie-award winning actress Gordana Rashovich, as she dined on a dish of fried calamari and sipped a glass of Lillet at Un Deux Trois with cast mates, after her Wednesday night performance as Flora Goforth, in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, by Tennessee Williams, at the Laura Pels Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.

Delighted to be working with director Michael Wilson again, who directed her as Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Ms. Rashovich can be seen as Flora on Wednesday, March 9th, March 16th, March 23rd and March 30th at 7:30pm.

Williams’ haunting drama takes place in Flora’s picturesque Italian mountaintop home, where the wealthy American widow, in denial over her impending demise, has sequestered herself from the world in order to write her memoirs. When Christopher Flanders (Darren Pettie), a handsome and mysterious young poet arrives without warning to keep Flora company in her final hours, this dreamlike play blossoms into a fascinating meditation on life and death.

Gordana Rashovich Photo by Lia Chang

Ms. Rashovich appeared in the Broadway productions of Old Acquaintance, Cymbeline and Conversations with my Father. She received a Drama Desk nomination and Obie Award for playing Luisa, a Holocaust survivor in A Shayna Maidel (Westside Arts Theatre), a role she also played to acclaim in Los Angeles, where she garnered the L.A. Drama Critics Award and the Drama Logue/LA Weekly Award. Her New York stage debut in Fefu and Her Friends (American Place Theater), resulted in a Theatre World Award. Other Off-Broadway credits include: The Crucible (Roundabout Theatre Company), Not I (EST), Mr. Melancholy (NY Stage and Film) and The Persians (National Actors Theatre/The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University). Her regional credits include: Maria Callas in Master Class (Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company DCTC, Arizona Theatre Co.); Madame Ljubov Ranevsky in The Cherry Orchard and Miss Van Huysen in The Matchmaker (Drama Logue) (ACT), Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest , Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending (Alley Theatre); Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire (Players Theatre of Columbus); Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Emilia in Othello, Marie in WOYZECK, Irene Livingston in Light Up The Sky, Morocco (Hartford Stage); Olivia in Twelfth Night (Guthrie Theatre); Mrs. Meany in A Prayer for Owen Meaney; Regina in The Little Foxes, Esme in Amy’s View, Kate in Cripple of Inishmann, Gertrude in Hamlet, Yelena in Uncle Vanya (Denver Center Theatre Company DCTC); and Miss Holroyd in Bell, Book & Candle, Dr. Wu/Sir. Lionel in Shanghai Moon, Sally Cato/Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame, both opposite Charles Busch (Bay Street Theatre).

Co-starring in “Shanghai Moon” are, from left, Thom Sesma, the playwright Charles Busch, Gordana Rashovich and Jodi Lin. Photo by Lia Chang

Television audiences will be familiar with Ms. Rashovich from her recurring roles as Dr. Greta Gutman on “Mad Men,” Jadwiga on “Whoopi,” The Madame on “The Wire”, Judge Lillian Alverio on “Law & Order Trial by Jury, ” and for her guest starring appearances on “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,”, “Gracie and Glorie,” “Law and Order,” and “Third Watch.” Her film credits include Doug Bollinger's Waltzing Anna, Adrienne Shelly’s Sudden Manhattan, Kenneth Brannagh’s Dead Again and Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate. Ms. Rashovich is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a recipient of the Derek Ware Prize, for stage swordplay w/Shakespeare text and a Vanbrugh Theatre Award.
http://www.gordanarashovich.com.

TICKET INFORMATION:
Catch Gordana Rashovich as Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore at the Laura Pels Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, on Wednesday, March 9, March 16, March 23 and March 30 at 7:30pm. Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Laura Pels Box Office (111 West 46th St.). $22 rush tickets are available on the day of performance.

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Photos: Working Theater’s Production of Rob Ackerman’s CALL ME WALDO at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex through March 11, 2012
Photos: Larry Bryggman, Denise Burse, Peter Jay Fernandez, Tim Hopper, Arliss Howard, Kobi Libii, Mary McCann, Neil Pepe, David Pittu, Steve Rosen, Sheila Tapia, Debra Winger at Atlantic Theatre’s Opening Night of Gabe McKinley’s CQ/CX
Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot, starring Colman Domingo & Scott Shepherd in The Alice Griffith Jewel Box at The Pershing Square Signature Center through March 11, 2012
Linsanity: Sport Illustrated Cover Guy New York Knicks Starting Point Guard Jeremy Lin
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Up Close and Personal with Darren Pettie, Star of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
Jarlath Conroy Leads Cast of Pinter’s The Homecoming at CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore
Jarlath Conroy in The SEAGULL
Juicy Buns at Ollie’s
The Dish on Susur Lee and Shang
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

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