LOLA PASHALINSKI is an Obie Award-winning, American theatre artist born on this date, who is known for her work as a founding member of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company. 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. S

he 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. Ludlam then founded his Ridiculous Theatrical Company, and Pashalinski was a founding member, working with the company from its establishment in 1967 until 1980. During those years, she appeared in seventeen of the company’s productions, including as Lola Lola in Corn (1973), Brunhilde in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (1977), and Miss Cubbidge in Bluebeard (1970). After leaving the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Pashalinski appeared in a range of theatrical productions and in film and television. In 1999, she and her partner Linda Chapman performed in a play they wrote called Gertrude & Alice: A Likeness to Loving, based on Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ relationship.