Lia Chang: Renee Goldsberry, Frances McDormand, Tim Blake Nelson, Duncan Sheik lend vocal talents for The 52nd Street Project 30th Anniversary Gala Celebrating Willie Reale

On Monday, May 9, 2011, Renee Goldsberry, Frances McDormand, Tim Blake Nelson, Duncan Sheik will lend their vocal talents to celebrate Willie Reale, the founder of The 52nd Street Project, at the 30th Anniversary Gala at ESPACE, 635 West 42nd Street in New York.

Hosted by Lewis Black, the evening will feature songs with lyrics written by Project kids and set to music and performed by adults. The kids are Nicolas Carrero, Edelys Tiana Guerrero, Genesis Hires, Haley Zoe Martinez and Malik Velazquez. Adult songwriters include J. Michael Friedman, Henry Krieger, Rob Reale and Duncan Sheik.

Willie Reale founded the The 52nd Street Project in response to a deepening need to improve the quality of life for New York’s inner-city children. Mr. Reale, an actor, playwright, 1994 MacArthur Fellow, and company member of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), used his company privileges to reach out to the children of the neighborhood by creating theatrical endeavors specifically for them. Countless professional theater artists have volunteered their time and talent, being matched up with kids in a series of unique mentoring programs for The 52nd Street Project. The Project’s mission is dedicated to the creation and production of new plays for and by kids between the ages of nine and eighteen that reside in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in New York City. This was done with the cooperation and support of EST and its across-the-street-neighbor, the Police Athletic League’s Duncan Center. The Project is now an independent not-for-profit organization that creates over eighty new plays and serves over 115 children every year.

The evening begins at 7 pm with cocktails followed by dinner and the show. Tickets are $250 and $500, tables of ten are available for $5,000; $10,000; $15,000; $25,000. They can be reserved by calling John Sheehy at 212-333-5252 x16. For further information, visit: www.52project.org.

Espace
635 West 42nd St. btwn 11th & 12th Aves)
New York

Other Articles by Lia Chang
House of Payne’s Denise Burse on the 2011 NAACP Image Awards & Season 7
Multimedia: The 52nd Street Project Benefit Photos: Michael Cerveris, James Monroe Inglehart, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Matthew Morrison, Greg Naughton and Kelli O’Hara
Michael Cerveris, Matthew Morrison and Kelli O’Hara Lend Vocal Talents for 52nd St. Project Benefit
Ruby Dee, Alicia Keys, Sidney Poitier among honorees at Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre’s 40th Anniversary Gala at Edison Ballroom on May 22
André De Shields & Alison Fraser Star in Reading of Michael Aman’s The Unbleached American at Theater Row on 5/9
Samrat Chakrabarti stars in Soham Mehta’s Fatakra, Shiva Shankar Bajpai’s Raju, and Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti at NYIFF
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André De Shields stars in Chicago Premiere of Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at Victory Gardens 5/14-6/12
AEA celebrates Asian Heritage Month w/ Leviathan Lab’s Asian American Female Playwright’s Short Play Festival in NY, 5/12-13
Nicholas Galanin featured in SEEING INDIGENOUS Indigenous Art and Media Arts on Film at the National Museum of the American Indian in NY on 5/7
LUCKYRICE Festival 2011 in New York includes Daniel Boulud, Susur Lee, Anito Lo, Masaharu Morimoto, May 2-8, 2011
Vikas Khanna’s Holy Kitchens Karma to Nirvana premieres at New York Indian Film Festival on 5/7 at Tribeca Cinemas
32nd Annual Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Festival at Union Square Park in NYC on May 8, 2011
11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), May 4-8, 2011
Up Close and Personal with Darren Pettie, Star of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
Photos & Video Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas-In the Makeup Chair with Thom Sesma
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

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

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

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.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com.