Signature Theatre’s Revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson Leads 28th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations

Congratulations to Signature Theatre’s Revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, which has been nominated for 6 Lucille Lortel Awards including Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Director for Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Outstanding Lead Actress for Roslyn Ruff, Outstanding Lead Actor for Brandon J. Dirden, Outstanding Featured Actor for Chuck Cooper, and Outstanding Lighting Design for Rui Rita.

Eric Lenox Abrams, Roslyn Ruff, Alexis Holt and James A. Williams in Signature’s revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Joan Marcus

Signature’s Off-Broadway Revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, helmed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, runs October 30 -December 9, 2012

Bill Irwin, Nellie McKay and David Shiner at The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York for the opening night party of their show Old Hats on March 4, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

This year the Outstanding Body of Work Award, which recognizes a significant contribution to Off-Broadway, will be presented to Theatre Development Fund. Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience has been awarded to Signature Theatre’s Old Hats, created and performed by Bill Irwin and David Shiner, with music by and featuring Nellie McKay.

This year’s special award recipients include Todd Haimes, Artistic Director of the Roundabout Theatre Company, who will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Neil LaBute, who will be inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. A cocktail reception honoring the nominees will take place on Monday, April 22, 2013 from 5:00 – 7:00pm EST at The Library at The Public, 425 Lafayette Street.

The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00pm EST, and hosted by acclaimed stage and screen actors Aasif Mandvi and Maura Tierney. This year’s event will once again benefit The Actors Fund.

Complete List of 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations
Outstanding Play
Bethany
Produced by Women’s Project Theater
Written by Laura Marks
Cock
Produced by Stuart Thompson, Jean Doumanian, Royal Court Theatre, William Berlind, Scott Delman,
Dena Hammerstein, Jon B. Platt, Scott Rudin, Ted Snowdon, True Love Productions
Written by Mike Bartlett
Detroit
Produced by Playwrights Horizons
Written by Lisa D’Amour
The Flick
Produced by Playwrights Horizons
Written by Annie Baker
The Whale
Produced by Playwrights Horizons
Written by Samuel D. Hunter

The cast of Giant at The Public. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Musical
Dogfight
Produced by Second Stage Theatre
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Book by Peter Duchan
Giant
Produced by The Public Theater in association with The Dallas Theater Center
Book by Sybille Pearson, Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa, Based on the novel by Edna Ferber
Murder Ballad
Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club
Conceived by and with Book and Lyrics by Julia Jordan, Music and Lyrics by Juliana Nash
The Other Josh Cohen
Produced by Amas Musical Theatre in association with Scandobean Productions, LLC
Book, Music and Lyrics by David Rossmer and Steve Rosen
Skippyjon Jones
Produced by TheatreworksUSA
Book and Lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila, Music by Eli Bolin

Signature’s revival of Athol Fugard’s My Children!, My Africa!, starring James A. Williams, Allison Gallerani and Stephen Tyrone Williams and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, has been nominated for Outstanding Revival. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Revival
All In The Timing
Produced by Primary Stages in association with Jamie deRoy
Written by David Ives
My Children! My Africa!
Produced by Signature Theatre
Written by Athol Fugard
Passion
Produced by Classic Stage Company
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine
The Piano Lesson
Produced by Signature Theatre
Written by August Wilson
Talley’s Folly
Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company
Written by Lanford Wilson

Outstanding Solo Show
All the Rage
Produced by piece by piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory in association with The Barrow Group
Written and Performed by Martin Moran
Jackie
Produced by Women’s Project Theater
Written by Elfriede Jelinek, Performed by Tina Benko
Title and Deed
Produced by Signature Theatre
Written by Will Eno, Performed by Conor Lovett

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Outstanding Director
Sam Gold, The Flick
Anne Kauffman, Belleville
Tina Landau, A Civil War Christmas
James Macdonald, Cock
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson

Bobby Steggert as Jordy Jr., Natalie Cortez as Juana and Raul Aranas as Polo in Giant at The Public. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Choreographer
George De La Peña, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Christopher Gattelli, Dogfight
Kyle Mullins, TRIASSIC PARQ: The Musical
Alex Sanchez, Giant
Doug Varone, Murder Ballad

Karen Pittman (left to right), Erik Jensen, Heidi Armbruster and Aasif Mandvi in Disgraced. Photo by Erin Baiano

Outstanding Lead Actor
Danny Burstein, Talley’s Folly
Brandon J. Dirden, The Piano Lesson
Daniel Everidge, Falling
Shuler Hensley, The Whale
Aasif Mandvi, Disgraced

Sharon Washington and Colman Domingo in a scene from “Wild With Happy,” at The Pubilc, which Domingo also wrote. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Lead Actress
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Neva
America Ferrera, Bethany
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist
Roslyn Ruff, The Piano Lesson
Sharon Washington, Wild With Happy

Chuck Cooper, Jason Dirden, Brandon Dirden and Roslyn Ruff in Signature’s revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Featured Actor
David Wilson Barnes, Don’t Go Gentle
Chuck Cooper, The Piano Lesson
Zach Grenier, Storefront Church
Jake Gyllenhaal, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet
Mark Nelson, My Name Is Asher Lev

Outstanding Featured Actress
Eisa Davis, Luck of the Irish
Annie Funke, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet
Rebecca Naomi Jones, Murder Ballad
Amanda Quaid, Luck of the Irish
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, What Rhymes with America

Outstanding Scenic Design
Beowulf Boritt, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet
Miriam Buether, Cock
Clint Ramos, Wild With Happy
Louisa Thompson, Detroit
Mark Wendland, Murder Ballad

Costume designer Anita Yavich has been nominated for Outstanding Costume Design for Signature’s revival of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child. Photo by Lia Chang

Outstanding Costume Design
Toni-Leslie James, A Civil War Christmas
Jessica Pabst, The Whale
Clint Ramos, Wild With Happy
Emily Rebholz, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Anita Yavich, Golden Child

Outstanding Lighting Design
Jane Cox, The Flick
Rui Rita, The Piano Lesson
Ben Stanton, Belleville
Ben Stanton, Murder Ballad
Scott Zielinski, A Civil War Christmas

Outstanding Sound Design
Leah Gelpe, Slowgirl
Bray Poor, The Flick
Shane Rettig, Detroit ’67
Jane Shaw, Jackie
Matt Tierney, Detroit

SPECIAL AWARDS
Lifetime Achievement Award
Todd Haimes

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee
Neil LaBute

Outstanding Body of Work Award
Theatre Development Fund

Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience
Old Hats
Created and performed by Bill Irwin and David Shiner
Music by and featuring Nellie McKay
Produced by Signature Theatre

The Off-Broadway League’s Lortel Awards Producing & Administration Committee (Terry Byrne, Denise Cooper, Margaret Cotter, George Forbes, Melanie Herman, Catherine Russell and Steven Showalter) produces the Lortel Awards Ceremony. Acclaimed writer and director Michael Heitzman returns to direct the Lortel Awards for the fourth consecutive year. The Lucille Lortel Awards is produced by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation. Additional support provided by Theatre Development Fund. Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, in addition to theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals, serve on the Voting Committee.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the ceremony. General public tickets are $75.00 and will be available via phone at 212.352.3101, online at www.nyuskirball.org and in person at the Skirball Center’s Shagan Box Office at 556 LaGuardia (Tuesday – Sunday from 12 – 6pm).
For updates and news about the ceremony, please visit www.LortelAwards.org. For general inquiries and eligibility requirements, please contact the Off-Broadway League at 212.924.2817 x212 or email at info@offbroadway.org. Follow the Lortel Awards on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/LortelAwards
and become a fan on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/LortelAwards
.

ABOUT THE LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS
The Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were created in 1985 by the Off-Broadway League. The Lortel Awards recognize excellence Off-Broadway by honoring the invaluable contribution of artists to the theatre community. Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Lucille Lortel Foundation in addition to theatre journalists and academics and other Off-Broadway professionals serve on the Voting Committee.The awards may be given in the following categories: Play, Musical, Solo Show, Revival, Alternative Theatrical Experience, Director, Choreographer, Lead Actor and Actress, Featured Actor and Actress, Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound Design. The following honorary awards may also be given: Lifetime Achievement, Body of Work (awarded to an institution), the Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence, Service to Off-Broadway Award and induction onto the Playwrights’ Sidewalk in front of the historic Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City. For more information, please see www.LortelAwards.org.

ABOUT THE LUCILLE LORTEL FOUNDATION
Lucille Lortel Foundation was created by Lucille Lortel to foster excellence and diversity in the theatre, as
well as to faithfully preserve the rich history and support the continued prosperity of Off-Broadway. The Foundation has several major programs, including its general operating support program that has provided millions of dollars to small to mid-size theatres in New York City, universities, and theatre service organizations. The Foundation created and maintains the Internet Off-Broadway Data Base (www.lOBDB.com). For a listing of all of the Foundation’s programs, previous Lortel Award nominees and recipients, information on the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Playwrights’ Sidewalk, and much more, please visit www.LortelAwards.org.

ABOUT THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND (TDF)
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND was created in the conviction that the live theatrical arts afford a unique expression of the human condition that must be sustained and nurtured. It is dedicated to developing diverse audiences for live theatre and dance, and strengthening the performing arts community in New York City. Since 1968, TDF’s programs have provided over 83 million people with access to performances at affordable prices and have returned over $2.2 billion to thousands of productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths (now in its 40th year of service in Times Square), TDF’s membership, outreach, access (including its newly formed Autism Theatre Initiative) and education programs — as well as its Costume Collection — have introduced thousands of people to the theatre and helped make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone, including students and people with disabilities. Recent TDF honors include a 2011 Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture, a 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence for its Open Doors Arts Education Program and a 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Award for its support of the off-Off Broadway community.
http://www.tdf.org/
.

ABOUT NYU SKIRBALL CENTER
The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and
performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. Led by executive producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and senior director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU’s mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center’s mission is to build
young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.nyuskirball.org.

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Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. She is a Signature Theatre alumni who was in the cast of Sam Shepard’s Chicago, during his Signature 1996-1997 Playwright-in-Residence Season.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2013 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: Up Close and Personal with Darren Pettie, Star of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore

Darren Pettie Photo by Lia Chang

“The early Sixties have been good to me lately,” said Darren Pettie, whose diverse roles circa 1960′s include his turn as Lucky Strike scion Lee Garner, Jr. in several episodes of the AMC TV series “Mad Men”; as James in Atlantic Theater Company’s Off-Broadway production of Harold Pinter’s The Collection penned in 1961; and as Christopher Flanders in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s current production of Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, with Olympia Dukakis, set in 1962.

Erik Haagensen of Backstage.com describes Christopher Flanders as a “former poet, aging pretty boy, and professional houseguest,” and notes, “as Chris, Darren Pettie is properly fraying at the edges, an intriguing mix of calculation, sympathy, arrogance, and sexual magnetism.”

Williams’ haunting drama takes place in Flora Goforth’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. Pettie’s character is a handsome and mysterious young poet who arrives without warning to keep Flora company in her final hours. It is a dreamlike play that blossoms into a fascinating meditation on life and death.

Maggie Lacey as Blackie and Darren Pettie as Christopher Flanders in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. Photo by Joan Marcus

For Pettie, everything about Chris is a contradiction.

“Those are the things I love to play, opposing sides, he said. “Chris has a creative side, he makes mobiles, and he was a poet. He had this one book published. With Mrs. Ferguson, he was introduced to this jet set world. He comes from a humble background, has been a gigolo and a ski instructor, and is just trying to survive.”

Director Michael Wilson suggested that Pettie play against the mystical aspect.

Pettie shared, “Chris had the experience where he walked to Baja, connected with a Hindu teacher and helped him die out of a sense of compassion. He walks this line: Am I good? Am I an opportunist? Every time he hears the ocean crash, the boom is like this ohm, the sound of the universe. He’s being reminded of the spiritual nature of the work that he’s there to do. She keeps dragging him back into the physical world, because of his hunger, tempting him with the food, the sex. He’s willing to do all of these things at different points, but the sounds of the ocean keep dragging him back. In his experience with Mrs. Goforth, he finally does realize that he is here to help her with dignity and acceptance. Tennessee does this with all of his characters, he shows their humanity. We’re full of light and darkness, yin and yang. There’s a little bit of that in all of us.”

The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore began performances on January 7th at the Laura Pels Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111. W. 46th St in New York and has been extended until April 10th. Maggie Lacey, Edward Hibbert, Curtis Billings and Amanda Tudor round out the cast of this production of Milk Train, which is actually a compilation of different drafts woven together by director Michael Wilson.

“That’s been thrilling because it’s been like working on a new Tennessee Williams play,” said Pettie. “Yesterday was Tennessee Williams birthday. Milk Train is a play he loved. I’m glad to be doing this play because I feel he would be happy to know that not only are they still doing the plays that were his greatest hits, that even these plays that didn’t do so well are being produced. It ‘s like when you are working on a new play and writers come in with new pages. That’s what was happening during our rehearsal process.”

Atlantic Theater Company's production of Harold Pinter’s The Collection. (l-r) Matt McGrath, Darren Pettie and Larry Bryggman Photo by Ari Mintz

I caught up with the Alabama native after his Sunday matinee of Milk Train, to talk about his path to becoming an actor, what it’s like to play with Olympia Dukakis, and the phenomenon of “Mad Men”.

From Desert Storm to Juilliard
Pettie joined the Navy fresh out of high school and was stationed in Norfolk, VA, aboard the USS Guam. For someone who had never ventured out of the South – the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, the Adriatic Sea, the Mediterranean -were parts of the world that he traversed during his tour of duty from 1989-1993.

“It was while I was in the Navy that I started thinking about being an actor,” he said. “In Alabama, we had no arts programs. We had a teacher who came from a bigger town who started a drama class that I took and I really liked it. But I had no clue as to what you did. I figured you went to New York or LA.”

He was living in LA and taking acting courses at Santa Monica College when his teacher suggested he audition for Juilliard, to be classically trained. He auditioned in San Francisco and got in.

“I was a little older than the other students who were auditioning, I was lucky,” he recalled. “I turned 27 the month before class started.”

Darren Pettie and Mia Barron as Bill and Hillary Clinton in New Georges' production of Wendy Weiner's "Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending," directed by Julie Kramer at The Living Theater in New York. Photo credit: Jim Baldassare

Since graduating in 1996 from Juilliard, Pettie has kept busy with film, television and theater projects. He made his Broadway debut as Reg Nuttall in Simon Gray’s Butley opposite Nathan Lane. Off-Broadway, he appeared in This and Spatter Pattern at Playwrights Horizons, Hillary, A Modern Greek Tragedy with a Somewhat Happy Ending at New Georges, Terrence McNally’s Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams at Primary Stages, Hobson’s Choice at the Atlantic Theater, Unwrap Your Candy at the Vineyard Theater, Measure for Measure at NYSF. Regionally, he’s worked on How the Other Half Loves (Westport), Don’t Dress for Dinner (Royal George), The Cry of the Reed (Huntington), The Taming of the Shrew (Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.), Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams (WTF), The Shatter Hand Massacre (Berliner Festspiele).

In Ang Lee’s indie film Taking Woodstock, he plays a carpenter named Paul, a sweet guy who is easy with his sexuality, but not gay in his demeanor. Other film credits include The International, Four Single Fathers, and Ghost Town. He has guest starred on the TV shows “Numb3rs,” “CSI,” “Crossing Jordan,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Line of Fire,” “Charmed,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Without a Trace,” and “Gossip Girl.”

Roundabout Theatre Company’s The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore (l-r) Olympia Dukakis and Darren Pettie Photo credit: Joan Marcus, 2011

It has been an amazing ride on this Milk Train for Pettie.

“Working with Olympia is great,” he shared. “As actors, we’re always trying to feel validated in some way, that we are meant to be doing this. Olympia and I have scenes where we really go at it. When you get to work with someone of that nature, it makes you feel like you belong. I love to do it, and not just with her, but also with Gordana (Rashovich), with Maggie (Lacey), with Edward (Hibbert). Olympia is there to play. If you are having an inspired night, and you’re amped, she takes it and responds in kind. She does the same thing to you and if you are ready, it’s a thrilling experience. I am up here with her and we’re feeding off each other. We had a really good week this week, where we felt the show took a turn. She said this to me an hour ago, after the scene when she dies. That’s the best.”

When Pettie first read the play, he zeroed in on the Beat poets, as the poets that Chris Flanders would be influenced by.

“They were the first American poets that I really knew of – Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Alan Ginsberg - who started to study Hinduism and Buddhism,” he said. “Later on, when the Beatles did it, it became very trendy, but this is 1962. Jack Kerouac was writing The Dharma Bums and talking about Eastern philosophies. Gary Snyder lived in Japan. Those guys were not ethereal, they were flesh and blood men, dusty, and on the road. That was the book that young men went crazy for. I read all of those guys when I was in my early 20’s. That’s how I pictured him. In the opening of one of the versions of this play (there’s a few different drafts that Tennessee wrote), he describes Chris as a prize fighter, like he’s fought one too many rounds, weary, almost deranged looking. These guys were poets.”

The “Mad Men” Season 4 DVD just came out, with Lucky Strike scion Lee Garner, Jr. figuring prominently in the “Christmas Comes But Once A Year” and the “Hands and Knees” episodes. As portrayed by Pettie, Lee Garner, Jr. is a character that viewers love, and love to hate.

“I’m surprised that I’m so associated with this show,” he said. “I’ve only done four episodes for a show that has been running for four years. The character is pretty central to what is going on. I went in to audition for the pilot, which was just a one day thing and got the part. All I’d read was the one scene. I didn’t know anything else about it.”

“This is what is so funny about acting to me,” he mused. “I’ve done more work on Chris Flanders than I ever did on Lee Garner, Jr., but Lee Garner, Jr. is a character that people have really responded to. Since I’m from the South, I put in that old school North Carolina accent. With “Mad Men,” the writing is so good, the wardrobe department and the design element is incredible. They put you in those clothes, which are so specific. They gave me a lighter that they thought Lee Garner would use, because it is a very expensive lighter. The cuff links, the rings, certain tie clips, the hair. And you don’t have to do any work. I gave him a little swagger. They wanted to bring me back for another episode that first season, but I had already planned my trip to China. The show aired while I was in China. I came back and it was a hit. I met some of the writers when they brought me back for the third season, who told me how much they loved writing for my character.”

Even with his hectic acting career, Pettie manages to have a new cultural experience every year. In 2008, he visited China for the first time.

“I got a sense of living in Beijing for a few weeks while staying at my friend’s place, whom I have known since I was 13 years old,” he said. “He was working during the day, so I hung out with him at night. I’d take off and go to The Forbidden City. My favorite thing to do was to go to the Hutong. I could spend time in those Hutong areas for days and never get bored. That was magic to me. There’s a street, lined with cherry blossoms, that borders the Forbidden City. I would go into the tea shop and people would talk to me. It’s fascinating, because being there with my buddy that lived there, I got to meet a lot of Chinese people that I would not have met if I was just a tourist. They were very open. You get the sense of what’s happening- the global shift and the creative burst that’s going on in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. People are coming from other parts of the world to live there. I was amazed to go out at night and see all of those restaurants packed. It had the same buzz as New York.”

TICKET INFORMATION:
The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore has performances at the Laura Pels Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111. W. 46th St in New York through April 10th. Tickets are $71.00 – $81.00, and 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.).

Through April 3, 2011
Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Wed, Sat & Sun Matinees at 2pm
Ms. Dukakis will not be performing Wednesday evening performances through 3/30/11. For these performances, Gordana Rashovich will perform the role of Flora Goforth.

April 5 – 10, 2011
Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm
Sun Matinee at 2pm

Laura Pels Theatre
Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
111. W. 46th St.
New York

Click below to see Darren Pettie in Voll-Damm 2010, a beer commercial he shot in Barcelona for Spanish TV.

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.

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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.

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
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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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