Entertainment

Kate Mulgrew’s next voyage

Kate Mulgrew didn’t have to study obscure scientific texts or space-nerd esoterica for her role in the new play “Somewhere Fun” like she did when she helmed “Star Trek: Voyager” from 1995 until 2001. She had to study a more intimidating topic: her own mortality.

The play, written by Jenny Schwartz and starting previews Wednesday at the Vineyard Theatre, explores the nature of aging and friendship through the eyes of two old friends, Rosemary and Evelyn.

“What is it like to announce on stage that I am now — I just turned 58 last week — what we would call in this society ‘middle aged?’ ” Mulgrew says from the couch of the Upper West Side apartment she bought after making “Voyager,” surrounded by pictures of her grown children.

“That’s what the play is about: facing irrelevance, facing loss of what we once held so dear, losing our currency,” she says. “There’s a terrific sadness to it.”

Mulgrew plays Rosemary, who met her friend Evelyn (Kathleen Chalfant) a lifetime ago in Central Park when their children were just born. The play brings them together 35 years later on Madison Avenue, where they confront their frailty.

The reflection is nothing new to Mulgrew, who keeps her long career in constant perspective. Before “Voyager,” she was the title character in the short-lived “Columbo” spin-off “Mrs. Columbo,” along with numerous other TV roles. But she’s always balanced filmed work with the stage.

“I didn’t just spend three years in conservatory so I could go to Hollywood and play Mrs. Columbo,” she says. “That’s fine, I’ll do that. In exchange, the next thing is a play.”

Mulgrew will also be playing prison elder Galina “Red” Reznikov in the new Netflix original series “Orange Is the New Black,” premiering July 11. When she was debating whether to take the job in the still-green streaming online market, she got some advice from her friend Kevin Spacey, whose own Netflix show “House of Cards,” was a hit.

“He said, ‘Baby, catch this wave. This is it. Trust me,’ ” she recalls.

Soon, she hopes to write a book looking back on her life — not unlike Rosemary in the play — but she’s far from calling it quits: More plays, television and travel await Mulgrew, who is basking in her position as a versatile actor who can do the serious drama of “Somewhere Fun” and the irreverent comedy of her role as Kove on Adult Swim’s “NTSF: SD: SUV.”

“Women who are this age, we can tap in with abandon and impunity to a darkness that young women simply haven’t learned, haven’t known,” she says. “And out of the darkness can be spun all sorts of exquisite language, stories, the thing that keeps us going, keeps us alive.”