Lola Pashalinski is an American theatre artist known for her work as a founding member of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company.

Early life

Born Regina Hirsch in Brooklyn, New York,[1] Pashalinki's father was an insurance salesman. She spent her young adulthood "bounc[ing] around from odd job to odd job 'mostly in publishing' and briefly attended college before dropping out."[2]

Career

Pashalinski became involved in theatre as an assistant director with John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous, a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, during the 1960s. She left the Playhouse of the Ridiculous with Ludlam when he and John Vaccarro had a disagreement during rehearsals for Conquest of the Universe in 1967.[3]

Ludlam then founded his Ridiculous Theatrical Company, and Pashalinski was a founding member, working with the company from its establishment in 1967 until 1980.[1] During those years, she appeared in 17 of the company's productions,[2] including as Lola Lola in Corn (1973), Brunhilde in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (1977),[4] and Miss Cubbidge in Bluebeard (1970).[5] Black-Eyed Susan, Mario Montez,[6] and John Brockmeyer[7] also performed in that production of Bluebeard, which took place at La MaMa. Mary Brecht[8] and Leandro Katz did design for the production.[9] She also performed alongside Black-Eyed Susan, Brockmeyer, and Ethyl Eichelberger in Eichelberger's Phedre and Oedipus at La MaMa in 1977.[10]

After leaving the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Pashalinski appeared in a range of theatrical productions and in film and television. In 1981, she played the jester Trinculo in The Tempest, directed by Lee Breuer at Central Park's Delacorte Theater.[11] She then worked with Richard Foreman, appearing in his 1983 production of Egyptology (My Head Was a Sledgehammer) at The Public Theater and his 1987 production of Film is Evil, Radio Is Good[12] at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[13] She performed in Tom Eyen's Give My Regards to Off-Off-Broadway at La MaMa in 1987.[14]

She also worked several times with director/choreographer David Gordon, appearing in his 1983 collaboration with JoAnne Akalitis and Philip Glass, The Photographer, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music,[15] his 1992 production of The Mysteries And What's So Funny at the Joyce Theater, also with music by Glass, and his 1996 production of Punch and Judy Get Divorced.[16] In 1999, she portrayed Gordon in his Autobiography of a Liar at Danspace Project.[17][18]

She also appeared in film and television, including as the psychiatrist in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol,[19] as Narc in Peter Sellar's The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez,[20] as Mona Black in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,[21] as Hedy Wormenhoven on One Life to Live,[2] and in smaller roles in All Good Things,[22] The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and The Equalizer.[2]

In 1999, she and her partner Linda Chapman performed in a play they wrote called Gertrude & Alice: A Likeness to Loving, based on the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.[23] "I've always loved Gertrude Stein and felt that as a gay woman, I understood her in a way that many biographers did not," Pashalinski told journalist Simi Horowitz for a profile published in Backstage in 2005. "I wanted to explode the myth of what Stein was about... and the play gave me the chance to work with Linda."[2] Pashalinksi again portrayed Stein in 2022, in performance artist John Kelly's Underneath the Skin at La MaMa.[24]

Awards

Pashalinski won Obie Awards for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performances in the Ridiculous Theatrical Company productions Corn (1973) and Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (1977), and for her performance in Gertrude & Alice (2000).[25]

Theater

YearTitleRoleNotes
1970BluebeardMiss Cubbish
1973CornLola LolaObie Award For Distinguished Performance by an Actress
1977Der Ring Gott FarblonjetBrunhildeObie Award For Distinguished Performance by an Actress
1981The TempestTrinculo
1983Egyptology (My Head Was a Sledgehammer)nurse
1987Film is Evil, Radio Is GoodHelena Sovianavitch
1999/2000Gertrude & Alice: A Likeness to LovingGertrudeObie Award For Distinguished Performance by an Actress
2022Underneath the SkinGertrude Stein(remotely)

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1986 The Sorrows of Dolores Gypsy Woman
1987 Anna Producer
1987 Ironweed Fat Woman with Turkey
1991 The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez Narc
1992 Me and Veronica Mabel
1994 North Operator
1995 The Pesky Suitor Babe short film
1996 I Shot Andy Warhol Psychiatrist
1997 Arresting Gena Mrs. Meanie
1997 Brokers Roz
1998 Godzilla Pharmacist
1998 Claire Dolan Salon Client #2
1998 Pecker Pelt Room Announcer voice
1999 Sweet and Lowdown Blanche's Friend
2001 The Sleepy Time Gal Adoption Agency Director
2001 K-PAX Russian Woman
2006 Little Children Bridget
2009 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Mrs. Mankievitz
2010 All Good Things Woman at Luxor
2011 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Mona Black
2019 A Call to Spy Hilda Atkins

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1987 The Equalizer Vera Polivka Episode: "Encounter in a Closed Room"
1989 The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd Zekia Episode: "Here's a Rough Way to Learn a Foreign Language"
1998 Remember WENN Mrs. Etruscan Episode: "Some Time, Some Station"
1999 As the World Turns Rosie 2 episodes
1999 Now and Again Olga Episode: "Pulp Turkey"
2009 30 Rock Cleaning Lady Episode: "Retreat to Move Forward"
2014 Louie Mrs. Frame Episode: "Back"
2014 The Blacklist Apolonia Episode: "Monarch Douglas Bank (No. 112)"
2015 Deadbeat Dottie Episode: "Last Dance with Edith Jane"
2019 Broad City Neighbor Episode: "SheWork and Shit Bucket"
2020 High Maintenance Cora Episode: "Soup"

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Hodges, Benjamin A. (2009). The Play that Changed My Life: America's Foremost Playwrights on the Plays that Influenced Them. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557837400.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Horowitz, Simi (November 5, 2019). "Lola Pashalinski: Evoking a Sense of Menace". Backstage. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  3. ↑ Ludlam, Charles (1992). Ridiculous Theatre: Scourge of Human Folly: the Essays and Opinions of Charles Ludlam. New York: Theatre Communications Group. ISBN 1-55936-041-0.
  4. ↑ Gussow, Mel (1998). Theatre on the Edge: New Visions, New Voices. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557833112.
  5. ↑ "Flyer: "The Ridiculous Theatrical Company presents Bluebeard" (1970)". La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. 1970.
  6. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (August 5, 1988) "Bill Vehr, 48, Actor Who Was Director Of 70's Cult Classics" The New York Times
  7. ↑ "John Brockmeyer, Leading Actor, 50, In Plays by Ludlam (Published 1990)". December 18, 1990 – via NYTimes.com.
  8. ↑ Gussow, Mel (June 28, 1998). "Mary Brecht, 65; Designed Costumes for Theater (Published 1998)" – via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Bluebeard (1970)". Accessed May 29, 2018.
  10. ↑ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Phedre and Oedipus (1977)". Accessed May 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ Rich, Frank (1981-07-10). "Theater: Raul Julia in Park 'Tempest'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  12. ↑ Foreman, Richard (1987). "Film Is Evil: Radio Is Good". The Drama Review: TDR. 31 (4): 149–176. doi:10.2307/1145842. JSTOR 1145842.
  13. ↑ Gussow, Mel (1987-05-05). "STAGE: 'FILM IS EVIL: RADIO IS GOOD'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  14. ↑ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Give My Regards to Off-Off-Broadway (1987)". Accessed May 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ "The Photographer (dress rehearsal) 1983-10". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  16. ↑ "A.R.T. - American Repertory Theater". americanrepertorytheater.org. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  17. ↑ "1999 - Autobiography of a Liar" Archiveography (Under Construction"
  18. ↑ Anderson, Jack (December 13, 1999) "Reminiscences With Literally No Holds Barred" The New York Times
  19. ↑ I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), retrieved 2018-03-03.
  20. ↑ "Lola Pashalinski". To the best of our KNOWLEDGE. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  21. ↑ Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), retrieved 2018-03-03.
  22. ↑ Jarecki, Andrew (2010-12-09), All Good Things, retrieved 2018-03-03.
  23. ↑ Carr, C. (May 25, 1999). "Inventing the Century". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  24. ↑ Dale, Michael (December 5, 2022) "Michael Dale's Theatre Crawl - 'If Shakespeare had a psychiatrist we would not have had his plays or sonnets.'" OnStage
  25. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (1999-06-14). "Gertrude and Alice: A Likeness to Loving". Variety. Retrieved 2018-03-03.

Further reading

  • Katz, Leandro, Bedlam Days: The Early Plays of Charles Ludlam and The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, ISBN 978-987-24581-3-3
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