In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Chef Rossi about her memoir “The Raging Skillet” that has morphed into a creative and hilarious stage production “Raging Skillet” by playwright Jacques Lamarre. The play opened last summer at TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut to rave reviews and sold-out performances. Recently the Jewish Play Project’s Artistic Director David Winitsky presented the New York premiere of this future off-Broadway smash hit culinary and theatrical event with Judy Gold starring as Chef Rossi, the lesbian punk rock caterer and event maestro. The showcase was directed by John Simpkins and featured Katherine Kates as Chef Rossi’s mother and the versatile Jason Veasey played all the male leads. “Raging Skillet” is one woman's story about cooking her way through some of life's biggest challenges in New York City's most unlikely kitchens. As the rebel caterer parties at the launch event for her new tell-all book her Orthodox Jewish mother shows up unannounced - twenty years after she died - and guilt trips her into a reckoning with her rebellious past, her time with a Hassidic community in Brooklyn and the real meaning of a Jewish home. We talked to Chef Rossi about her inspiration for her memoir, the future of this fabulous play and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.
When asked what she would like to accomplish with her work Chef Rossi stated, “I think I would most like to see the empowerment of women especially in the culinary field would be great. I’d like to see the empowerment of young gay adults and gay teenagers. I’d like to see the empowerment of the underdog in general. I’m kind of a runaway, throwaway, white trash little kid from New Jersey who went from literally being homeless to whatever this thing is called Chef Rossi. I just think that my story really empowers people that are down and out or the underdog or minorities and I just hope I can help.”
Chef Rossi is the catering director, owner and executive chef of The Raging Skillet catering for the past twenty-six years. She has earned a reputation as the go-to company for out-of-the-box catering and weddings. The Zagat's Guide has called Rossi "the wildest thing this side of the Mason Dixon Line" and “The Raging Skillet” has been voted one of New York's Top Five Wedding Caterers by The Knot from 2009 through 2017. Currently Chef Rossi is working on a new memoir and the screenplay for “Raging Skillet”. The play “Raging Skillet” will be performed at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater August 2nd to September 15th 2018 in Wellfleet, MA.
For More Info: theragingskillet.com
ReplyDeleteA fun interview with Rossi.....She's certainly having a wild ride! Thanks.