“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 critically acclaimed and award winning AMC TV series “Mad Men”; as James in Atlantic’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.

This production of Williams’The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore is actually a compilation of different drafts woven together by director Michael...

“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 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.

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...

Update:

March 1, 2012

Jeremy Lin inspires a nation. Writer Dave Zirin delves under the headlines to better understand why Linsanity means so much more than basketball to many Asian Americans. 

His full article is here at Nation Magazine.
 

Related:

February 29, 2012

Radio host, Sam "The Shaolin B-Boy" says his family has a strong case of Linsanity so he brought them together to talk about the causes of going Linsane at KPFA-FM radio.

Click here to Sam's podcast conversation with his cousin Brian Weller, a student at UC San Diego who was a high school basketball point guard, and his father, noted author and journalist William Wong.

Related:

February 27, 2012

Two award-winning writers weigh in on the Jeremy Lin story. 

Author and former Wall Street Journal writer William Wong reports on what Jeremy Lin may have had to do to get his 'game on' and how that confirms a few stereotypes, in his fifth "Linsanity" column.

Wong writes, "In at least two articles, sportswriters in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York have given us a fuller picture of how Lin — with the help of coaches and trainers — transformed himself from a skinny kid with an awkward jump shot into one of the most exciting point guards in the NBA, after graduating in 2010 as a star player at Harvard (definitely NOT an NBA “farm team” the way lesser universities are), but ignored in the NBA draft and getting cut by two other NBA teams."

"The essence...

As violence is escalating against journalists working in war-torn countries, low profile or nearly invisible still and video cameras, and content capture and distribution technologies are becoming necessary survival gear.

  The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported an unprecedented number of casualties: eleven journalists have been killed this year worldwide, eight of the eleven in the Middle East, one in Vietnam, one in the Philippines, and one in Mexico. CPF reports that there have been more than 300 attacks on journalists covering the recent political unrest in the Middle East.

CNN's Anderson Cooper and his camera crew were attacked by pro-government supporters on February 2, 2011 in Cairo while covering the Egyptian conflict. A video shot by Cooper for CNN's AC360 can be seen on this link. Cooper was able to keep his small Flip video camera recording, as he was escaping from his attackers. While Cooper was able to broadcast his reports and fly back to New York, many other journalists have not been as lucky. Some have been jailed, brutally beaten, stabbed or shot, their equipment destroyed, or worse - killed.

The large, conspicuous shoulder mounted video cameras have quickly been replaced by low profile gear such as the miniature Flip video cameras. Laptops are being replaced in the field by iPhones and other cell phones which can transmit still images, audio and video, and update blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Al Jazeera online producer...

Daniel Dae Kim and Dr. Patricia E. Taylor will be honored at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s 35th Anniversary Gala on Monday, March 19, 2012, at the Edison Ballroom, 240 W 47th Street in New York. Tickets are $350, $500 and $1,000; tables begin at $5,000. Call 212-868-4030 or visit www.panasianrep.org to purchase.

The evening will be co-emceed by Broadway performer Raul Aranas (Miss Saigon), and SLANT's Richard Ebihara and Perry Yung.  Pan Asian Rep will honor Daniel Dae Kim, alum from Pan Asian Rep’s 1993 production ofA Doll House and star of television series “Hawaii Five-O,” “Lost,” and Academy Award-winning film Crash; and Dr. Patricia E. Taylor, research scientist, who with husband Kenneth Taylor, former Canadian Ambassador to Iran in the 70′s, was a key player in the escape of 6 Americans during the Iran hostage crisis.

The 7th Annual Red Socks Award, established to honor the memory of Lilah Kan, will be given to an Asian-American performer, to be announced at the event. The evening’s entertainment will also present highlights from Pan Asian’s musicals, andspecial In Memoriam photo tributes to Ellen Stewart founder of La Mama E.T.C. and Jadin Wong entertainer and artists manager.

The evening opens with a cocktail hour and dinner, and continues with the awards ceremony, dancing and a raffle, proceeds of which will benefit Pan Asian Repertory’s continuing commitment to...