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

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

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

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. 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: André De Shields and Reg E. Cathey Star in Cato at The Flea

Andre de Shields as Cato. Photo by Lia Chang

Andre de Shields as Cato. Photo by Lia Chang

Obie Award winners André De Shields (Prymate, The Full Monty, Black Nativity) and Reg E. Cathey (“The Wire,” The Green Bird, Talk, Blue Door, White Chocolate) star in the Flea Theater’s revival of Cato, by famed English essayist Joseph Addison, which will be directed by Jim Simpson.  Performances for the  limited engagement of Cato are from October 10 through November 1. Opening night is October 18.

Written in 1712, Cato was one of the most popular English plays of that period. It is based on the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95-46 B.C.), a Roman Statesman who took sides with Pompey in an unsuccessful civil war against Julius Caesar. The play takes place in the city of Utica, where Cato (played by De Shields) and a small Roman Senate stand ready to defend the last vestige of the Roman Republic against Caesar. The play delves into such themes as individual liberty vs. government tyranny, Republicanism vs. Monarchism, logic vs. emotion and Cato’s personal struggle to cleave to his beliefs in the face of death.

In addition to De Shields and Cathey, the production co-stars Christian Baskous (Two September), Anthony Cochrane (The Coast of UtopiaCymbeline) and Brian O’Neill, along with five members of The Bat Theater Company, The Flea’s resident acting company. With costumes by Claudia Brown, set and lights by Zack Tinkelman and graphic design David Prittie.

Tickets to shows at The Flea Theater, 41 White St. (between Broadway and Church St.), are available by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting theflea.org. Subway accessibility from the A, C, E, N, R, Q, W, 6, J, M, Z to Canal Street or the 1 to Franklin Street.

Joseph Addison (Playwright)
Joseph Addison (May 1, 1672 – June 17, 1719) was an English essayist and poet. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison, and later the dean of Lichfield. He founded The Spectator magazine with Richard Steele. Cato is his most famous work.

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