Lois Smith | |
|---|---|
 Smith in 2017 | |
| Born | Lois Arlene Humbert (1930-11-03)November 3, 1930 (age 95) Topeka, Kansas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1952–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Lois Arlene Smith (néeHumbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American actress whose career spans eight decades.[1] She made her film debut in the 1955 drama filmEast of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, includingFive Easy Pieces (1970),Resurrection (1980),Fatal Attraction (1987),Fried Green Tomatoes (1991),Falling Down (1993),How to Make an American Quilt (1995),Dead Man Walking (1995),Twister (1996),Minority Report (2002),The Nice Guys (2016),Lady Bird (2017), andThe French Dispatch (2021).
In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the science-fiction drama filmMarjorie Prime,[2][3][4] for which she was nominated for anIndependent Spirit Awards,Gotham Awards andSaturn Award, and won aSatellite Award. She has also had many roles on daytime and primetime television. She was a regular cast member in the HBO horror dramaTrue Blood, and received aCritics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series nomination forThe Americans.
Smith also is known for her extensive work in the theatre. A three-timeTony Award nominee, she won the 2020Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance inThe Inheritance, becoming the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting. She also received Tony nominations for her performances inThe Grapes of Wrath (1990) andBuried Child (1996). She starred in an acclaimedOff-Broadway revival ofThe Trip to Bountiful in 2005 for which she received anObie Award for Best Actress, anOuter Critics Circle Award, aLucille Lortel Award, and aDrama Desk Award. She is an ensemble member ofSteppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.
She was inducted into theAmerican Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007 for her outstanding contributions to the theatre.[5] In 2013, she received a Lifetime AchievementObie Award for excellence in Off-Broadway performances. She has taught, directed, and written for the stage.[6]
Smith was born Lois Arlene Humbert inTopeka, Kansas, the youngest of six children of Carrie (née Gottshalk[7]) and William Humbert, who worked for a telephone company. Her father died in 1950 at age 54.[8][9] Her family included her two sisters, Alice and Marvelle, and three brothers, William, Dilman, and Phillip, all of whom are now deceased. Her father moved the family to Seattle when Lois was 11 years old, and he was involved heavily in the church, staging plays there in which young Lois performed. She studied theatre at theUniversity of Washington but did not graduate. At age 18, she married Wesley Dale Smith, whom she met in college; they divorced in 1970. They had one daughter, Moon Elizabeth Smith.[10][11]
Around 1951, Smith and her husband decided to leave Seattle for New York City to begin their professional careers. After she worked withElia Kazan onEast of Eden, he encouraged her to study withLee Strasberg at theActors Studio, which she did. She was also mentored in her early years in New York City byJohn Van Druten.
Smith made her Broadway debut in 1952 at age 22 in the playTime Out for Ginger as Joan, withNancy Malone as Ginger andMelvyn Douglas as their father. She followed this in 1955 withThe Wisteria Trees, a play that starredHelen Hayes. In 1956, she performed with Hayes inThe Glass Menagerie. Also in 1955, she was given the lead role of Josephine Perry inSally Benson's playThe Young and Beautiful, which ran for 65 performances at theLongacre Theatre.[12]
In 1957, Smith originated the role of Carol Cutrere inOrpheus Descending byTennessee Williams, which also starredMaureen Stapleton. In 1958, she was directed byJosé Ferrer inEdwin Booth.
From 1965 to 1967, Smith starred in several plays as a company member with theTheatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia withAndre Gregory. She is a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, founded by Curt Dempster in 1968.
In 1973, she returned to Broadway to appear in a revival ofThe Iceman Cometh byEugene O'Neill. In 1975, she performed the role of Gaby in Corinne Jacker's playHarry Outside. She also played the lead female role inSteve Tesich's playTouching Bottoms in 1978. In 1979, she played the role of Denise in Elizabeth Stearns's playHillbilly Women at theLong Wharf Theatre. In 1987, she played Jessie Bliss in Darrah Cloud'sThe Stick Wife with the Hartford Stage Company.
In 1988, Smith was cast with theSteppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago as Ma Joad in the playThe Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of the1939 Steinbeck novel. Smith originated the stage role, and after going on tour, the production reached Broadway in 1990 and Smith earned aTony Award nomination forBest Featured Actress in a Play.[13]
Also in 1988, Smith originated the role of Mrs. Campbell inHorton Foote'sThe Man Who Climbed the Pecan Trees. In 1989, she played Mistress Overdone in an Off-Broadway production ofWilliam Shakespeare'sMeasure for Measure.
Smith has been an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1993.
In 1995, Smith starred as Halie in a revival ofBuried Child bySam Shepard at theSteppenwolf Theatre Company that transferred to Broadway in 1996, and for which she received her second nomination for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. In 1997, Smith played the role of Betty inDefying Gravity byJane Anderson Off-Broadway. In 1998, she played Kandall Kingsley inBeth Henley'sImpossible Marriage. In 2001, she starred in the title role ofMother Courage and Her Children, and in 2002 she starred as Fanny Cavendish in a revival ofThe Royal Family, both with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.[12]
In 2005, Smith starred in an Off-Broadway production ofThe Trip to Bountiful as Carrie Watts with theSignature Theatre Company, for which she received anObie Award for Best Actress, anOuter Critics Circle Award, aLucille Lortel Award, and aDrama Desk Award.
In 2010, Smith played Vera inAmy Herzog'sAfter the Revolution, for which she was nominated for aLucille Lortel Award. In 2012 she originated the role of Mable Murphy inSam Shepard's playHeartless, and in 2013, she starred in a revival ofHorton Foote'sMy Old Friends. In 2014, she starred in a new play byJordan Harrison,Marjorie Prime, originating the title role at theMark Taper Forum.[14] She was featured inAnnie Baker's playJohn, which opened Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre Company on July 22, 2015, and ran to September 6.[15]
In 2018, she took on the leading role[16] inBrooklyn College student Lily Thorne'sPeace for Mary Frances.[17] The drama, directed by Lila Neugebauer,[18] was given its world premiere by off-Broadway'sThe New Group at thePershing Square Signature Center in New York. Smith's performance was praised, but the play received negative reviews from a variety of outlets fromThe New York Times[19] toThe Hollywood Reporter[20] andThe Wrap.[21]
Smith made her film debut in 1955 directed byElia Kazan in the drama filmEast of Eden withJames Dean,Julie Harris, andJo Van Fleet. Her next film was the westernStrange Lady in Town. In November 1955, she was featured on the cover ofLife magazine.[22] Smith then focused on television work, not making a film untilThe Way We Live Now in 1970. She then earned critical acclaim for her role as Partita Dupea, the sister ofJack Nicholson's character inFive Easy Pieces (1970), and Smith won theNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.[23]
Supporting roles in films in the 1970s and 1980s includedUp the Sandbox,Next Stop, Greenwich Village,Resurrection,Foxes,Four Friends,Reuben, Reuben,Reckless,Black Widow,Fatal Attraction, andMidnight Run.
Supporting roles in the 1990s and 2000s includedGreen Card,Fried Green Tomatoes,How to Make an American Quilt,Falling Down,Holy Matrimony,Dead Man Walking,Twister,Tumbleweeds,The Pledge,Minority Report,P.S.,Sweet Land,Hollywoodland, andKillshot. In the 2010s, Smith played supporting roles inPlease Give,The Nice Guys,The Comedian, and the documentaryThe Gettysburg Address.
In 2017, Smith appeared in the science-fiction drama filmMarjorie Prime,[22] for which she won theSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actress at the22nd ceremony. Later that year, she had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed comedy-dramaLady Bird, receiving aScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination.[24] She was later cast inThe French Dispatch, a drama film written and directed byWes Anderson.[25]
Smith made her television debut in 1953 onKraft Television Theatre. In 1954, she appeared as the daughter ofMary Astor in aStudio One production. On December 26, 1955, she starred as Swedishopera singerJenny Lind in Sandra Michael's "The Second Day of Christmas", an episode ofRobert Montgomery Presents that portrays the relationship between Lind andHans Christian Andersen.[26] Smith performed on many series through the 1950s and 1960s, guest-starring onNaked City,The Doctors,Dr. Kildare, andThe Defenders. In 1956, she appeared withJohn Cassavetes inBring Me a Dream, a teleplay by John Vlahos, and she appeared as Felicia inNoon on Doomsday, written byRod Serling. In 1959, she was given the lead role of Cindy in the teleplayCindy's Fella, a modernized version of Cinderella, withJames Stewart and directed byGower Champion.[27]
In 1960, she performed inThe Master Builder as Hilda and as Julie inMiss Julie in public television specials. Also in 1960, she appeared as Lena in a teleplay based onVictory byJoseph Conrad, and in a teleplay version ofMen In White bySidney Kingsley as Barbara Dennin. She did four episodes ofRoute 66, and in 1967 performed inDo Not Go Gentle into That Good Night on CBS Playhouse withShirley Booth. In 1970, she performed withKim Stanley in a television special ofTennessee Williams's plays,Dragon Country.
In 1978, Smith played the lead role of Stacey MacAindra in the teleplayStacey based on Margaret Laurence'sThe Fire Dwellers. In 1980, she appeared in the television filmThe Jilting of Granny Weatherall as the daughter ofGeraldine Fitzgerald, and in 1981 played Bertha in a television film version ofThe House of Mirth.
She played supporting roles in theEmmy-nominated TV filmsRage of Angels (1983),The Execution of Raymond Graham (1985),Switched at Birth (1991) andSkylark (1993). She guest-starred on two episodes ofThe Equalizer and one episode ofThirtysomething in 1991.
In 1991, she portrayed Alice, the mother ofThelma Todd, inWhite Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd and in 1995 portrayed Margaret, the mother ofBess Truman in the Emmy-nominated television filmTruman. She guest-starred on episodes ofThe Practice,Frasier,Just Shoot Me!,Touched by an Angel,Cold Case andLaw & Order.
In 2002, Smith appeared inThe Laramie Project and in 2004 she portrayedAnna Howard Shaw in the Emmy-nominated filmIron Jawed Angels. In 2007, she guest-starred on four episodes ofER and in 2009 inA Dog Year withJeff Bridges. She played Adele Stackhouse, the grandmother ofAnna Paquin's character onTrue Blood and played the mother-in-law ofFelicity Huffman's character onDesperate Housewives.
In 2015, Smith was nominated for aCritics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer for her role in an episode ofThe Americans.[28] In 2017 she guest-starred in "The Gun", episode five of the third season of the Netflix seriesGrace and Frankie, as Mrs. Hanson, the vituperative mother of Martin Sheen's character Robert. Also in 2017, she guest-starred in "In the Pink", episode 4 of season 4 ofYounger, as Belinda Lacroix, a Barbara Cartland-type romance novelist. In 2019, she guest-starred inMom as Claire, Bonnie and Tammy's former caretaker at the old foster home.
In 2024, Smith appeared in several episodes ofLaw & Order: Organized Crime as "Mama Boone", matriarch of a honey farm used as a front for heroin distribution.
Soap opera fans have seen Smith on daytime in many recurring and guest-starring roles over the years, as the psychotic wife Zoe Cannell onSomerset (1972–1974), Eleanor Conrad onThe Doctors (1975–1977), Ella Fitz (the co-conspirator of evil Alma Rudder) onAnother World (1982–1983), Mrs. Oakes onThe Edge of Night (1983), Elwinna Pendergast onAll My Children, and as Dorian's imperious aunt Betsy Cramer onOne Life to Live (2003–2004).
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | East of Eden | Anne | |
| Strange Lady in Town | Spurs O'Brien | ||
| 1970 | The Way We Live Now | Jane Aldridge | |
| Five Easy Pieces | Partita Dupea | ||
| 1972 | Up the Sandbox | Elinore | |
| 1976 | Next Stop, Greenwich Village | Anita Cunningham | |
| 1980 | Foxes | Mrs. Axman | |
| Resurrection | Kathy | ||
| 1981 | Four Friends | Mrs. Carnahan | |
| 1983 | Reuben, Reuben | Mare Spofford | |
| 1984 | Reckless | Mrs. Prescott | |
| 1986 | Twisted | Helen Giles | |
| 1987 | Black Widow | Sara | |
| Fatal Attraction | Martha | ||
| 1988 | Midnight Run | Helen Nelson | |
| 1990 | Green Card | Brontë's Parent | |
| 1991 | Hard Promises | Mrs. Bell | |
| Fried Green Tomatoes | Mama Threadgoode | ||
| 1993 | Falling Down | D-Fens' Mother | |
| 1994 | Holy Matrimony | Orna | |
| 1995 | How to Make an American Quilt | Sophia | |
| Dead Man Walking | Helen's Mother | ||
| 1996 | Twister | Meg Greene | |
| Larger than Life | Luluna | ||
| 1997 | Hudson River Blues | Julia | |
| 1998 | Trance | Mrs. Ferriter | |
| 1999 | Tumbleweeds | Ginger | |
| 2001 | The Pledge | Helen Jackson | |
| Powder Keg | Mother | Segment:The Hire | |
| 2002 | Minority Report | Dr. Iris Hineman | |
| The Laramie Project | Lucy Thompson | ||
| 2003 | A Foreign Affair | Ma Adams | |
| Red Betsy | Helen Rounds | ||
| 2004 | The Best Thief in the World | Helen | |
| Iron Jawed Angels | Rev. Dr.Anna Howard Shaw | ||
| P.S. | Ellie Silverstein | ||
| 2005 | Sweet Land | Old Inge | |
| 2006 | Little Fugitive | Social Worker | |
| Hollywoodland | Helen Bessolo | ||
| Griffin & Phoenix | Dr. Imberman | ||
| 2007 | Turn the River | Abby | |
| 2008 | Diminished Capacity | Belle Tyke | |
| Killshot | Lenore | ||
| 2009 | A Dog Year | Lois Blair | |
| 2010 | Please Give | Mrs. Portman | |
| 2011 | Roadie | Mom | |
| 2012 | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | Aunt Mel | |
| 2013 | Two Altars and a Cave | Helena | Short film |
| 2015 | Run All Night | Margaret Conlon | |
| 2016 | The Nice Guys | Mrs. Glenn | |
| The Comedian | Miriam | ||
| 2017 | Marjorie Prime | Marjorie | |
| Lady Bird | Sister Sarah Joan | ||
| 2020 | Uncle Frank | Aunt Butch | |
| Tesla | The Grand Dame | ||
| 2021 | The French Dispatch | Upshur "Maw" Clampette | |
| 2022 | Mack & Rita | Betty | |
| 2024 | The Uninvited | Helen | |
| 2025 | On the End | Trudie Ferreira | |
| TBA | The Steel Harp | Hanna | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Love of Life | Mrs. Bendarik | |
| 1953 | Pond's Theatre | Performer | Episode: "The Apple Tree" |
| 1954 | Studio One | Barbara Sparling | Episode: "Jack Sperling, Forty-six" |
| 1955 | Star Tonight | Performer | 2 episodes |
| 1955 | Justice | Performer | Episode: "The Girl Without a Name" |
| 1955 | Robert Montgomery Presents | Jenny Lind | Episode: "The Second Day of Christmas" |
| 1956 | The United States Steel Hour | Felicia Chinik - Jeannie | 2 episodes |
| 1957–58 | Matinee Theater | Performer | 2 episodes |
| 1958 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Actor - Scene from Edwin Booth | Episode: #12.15 |
| 1959 | Startime | Cindy | Episode: "Cindy's Fella" |
| 1960 | Strindberg on Love | Miss Julie | Television movie |
| 1960 | The Master Builder | Hilda | Television movie |
| 1960 | The Play of the Week | Hilde Wangel - Miss Julie | 2 episodes |
| 1960 | The Art Carney Special | Lena | Episode: "Victory" |
| 1960 | DuPont Show of the Month | Barbara Dennin | Episode: "Men in White" |
| 1961 | The Loretta Young Show | Jenny Musgrave | Episode: "When Queens Ride By" |
| 1961 | 'Way Out | Performer | Episode: "The Sisters" |
| 1961 | Naked City | Dawn Garrison | Episode: "Strike a Statue" |
| 1962 | The Defenders | Esther Terranova | Episode: "The Invisible Badge" |
| 1963 | Dr. Kildare | Libby Clayton | Episode: "To Each His Own Prison" |
| 1961–64 | Route 66 | Various | 4 episodes |
| 1964 | The Eleventh Hour | Jane Wells | Episode: "A Pattern of Sundays" |
| 1967 | CBS Playhouse | Evelyn | Episode: "Do Not Go in Gentle to That Goodnight" |
| 1970 | Dragon Country | Performer | Television movie |
| 1972 | Particular Men | Anne Starr | Television movie |
| 1972–74 | Somerset | Zoe Cannell | Unknown episodes |
| 1975–77 | The Doctors | Eleanor Conrad | 253 episodes |
| 1978 | Stacey | Stacey | Television movie |
| 1980 | The Jilting of Granny Weatherall | Cornelia | Television movie |
| 1981 | The House of Mirth | Bertha Dorset | Television movie |
| 1982 | ABC Afterschool Special | Margaret | Episode: "The Unforgivable Secret" |
| 1982–83 | Another World | Ella Fitz | 2 episodes |
| 1983 | Rage of Angels | Clara | Television special |
| 1984 | The Edge of Night | Mrs. Oakes | 2 episodes |
| 1984 | Tales of the Unexpected | Sara | Episode: "Proxy" |
| 1985 | Becoming Helen Keller | Anne Sullivan (older) | Documentary,American Masters |
| 1985 | The Execution of Raymond Graham | Mary Neal | Television movie |
| 1985 | Doubletake | Sarah | Parts 1 & 2 |
| 1986 | Adam's Apple | Dora Adams | Television movie |
| 1985 | The Equalizer | Marie Ganucci | Episode: "The Confirmation Day" |
| 1987 | The Equalizer | Dorothy Hermes | Episode: "Coal Black Soul" |
| 1988 | Spenser: For Hire | Elsie | Episode: "Haunting" |
| 1991 | Good Sports | Mrs. Tanen | Episode: "Pros and Ex-Cons" |
| 1991 | American Playhouse | Ma Joad | Episode: "The Grapes of Wrath" |
| 1991 | Thirtysomething | Mrs. Warren | Episode: "The Wedding" |
| 1991 | Switched at Birth | Margaret | Miniseries |
| 1991 | White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd | Alice Todd | Television movie |
| 1992 | Keep the Change | Lureen | Television movie |
| 1992 | Deadly Matrimony | Performer | Television movie |
| 1993 | Skylark | Lou Wheaton | Television movie |
| 1993 | Missing Persons | Mrs. Halloran | Episode: "Sometimes You Can't Help Getting Involved" |
| 1995 | Truman | Madge Wallace Gates | Television movie |
| 1997 | Frasier | Moira | Episode: "Roz's Krantz & Gouldenstein Are Dead" |
| 1997 | The Practice | Mary Beth Berluti | Episode: "The Civil Right" |
| 1998 | A Will of Their Own | Miss Maude | Episode: #1.01 |
| 2000 | Just Shoot Me! | Libby | Episode: "When Nina Met Her Parents" |
| 2001 | Going to California | Beatrice Graf | Episode: "Apocalypse Cow" |
| 2002 | The Laramie Project | Lucy Thompson | Television movie |
| 2002 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Rebecca Tolliver | Episode: "Competence" |
| 2002 | Touched by an Angel | Mildred Mancini | Episode: "A Rock and a Hard Place" |
| 2003–04 | One Life to Live | Betsy Cramer | 15 episodes |
| 2004 | Iron Jawed Angels | Anna Shaw | Television movie |
| 2004 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Betty Bennett | Episode: "The Saint" |
| 2004 | LAX | Rose Sinclair | Episode: "Credible Threat" |
| 2004 | Cold Case | Fanny | Episode: "Factory Girls" |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Mrs. Varick | Episode: "Sport of Kings" |
| 2006 | Grey's Anatomy | Mrs. Dickerson | Episode: "From a Whisper to a Scream" |
| 2007 | ER | Gracie | 4 episodes |
| 2009 | Army Wives | Elsie | Episode: "As Time Goes By" |
| 2010 | Desperate Housewives | Allison Scavo | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Ruth & Erica | Ruth | 7 episodes |
| 2012 | Dark Horse | Mrs. Ruth | Television movie |
| 2008–14 | True Blood | Adele Stackhouse | 12 episodes |
| 2015 | The Americans | Betty Turner | Episode: "Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?" |
| 2017 | The Affair | Mrs. Gunther | Episode: #3.07 |
| 2017 | The Blacklist | Lucy Game | Episode: "The Architect" |
| 2017 | Grace and Frankie | Mrs. Hanson | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Younger | Belinda Lacroix | Episode: "In the Pink" |
| 2017 | 9JKL | Wrong Nana | Episode: "Make Thanksgiving Great Again" |
| 2018 | Sneaky Pete | Reverend Ethel Landry | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Impulse | Deidre 'Dippy' Jones | Episode: "The Eagle and the Bee" |
| 2019 | The Village | Velma | Pilot |
| 2019 | Mom | Claire | Episode: "Triple Dip and an Overhand Grip" |
| 2019 | The Son | Jeanne Anne McCullough | 5 episodes |
| 2019 | On Becoming a God in Central Florida | Mimi Waldenstock | 2 episodes |
| 2019–20 | Ray Donovan | Dolores | 4 episodes |
| 2023 | This Fool | Beverly Engelbartson | 1 episode |
| 2024 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Mama | Episodes "Semper Fi","Crossroads","Redcoat" |
| 2025 | Elsbeth | Delores Feinn | season 3 episode 5 "Poetic Justice" |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Time Out for Ginger | Joan | Lyceum Theatre | [29] |
| 1955 | The Wisteria Trees | Antoinette | New York City Center | |
| 1955 | The Young and Beautiful | Josephine Perry | Longacre Theatre | |
| 1957 | Orpheus Descending | Carol Cutrere | Martin Beck Theatre | |
| 1958 | Edwin Booth | Mary Devlin | 46th Street Theatre | |
| 1963 | Bicyle Ride to Nevada | Lucha Moreno | Cort Theatre | |
| 1973 | The Iceman Cometh | Cora | Circle in the Square | |
| 1978 | Stages | Various | Belasco Theatre | |
| 1990 | The Grapes of Wrath | Ma Joad | Cort Theatre | |
| 1996 | Buried Child | Halie | Brooks Atkinson Theatre | |
| 2019–20 | The Inheritance - Part II | Margaret | Ethel Barrymore Theatre |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Glass Menagerie | Laura Wingfield | New York City Center |
| 1970 | Sunday Dinner | Mary | American Place Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1972 | Present Tense | Various | Sheridan Square Playhouse, Off-Broadway |
| 1978 | Touching Bottom | Performer | American Place Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1982 | The Front Page | Mollie Malloy | Long Wharf Theatre Mainstage, CT |
| 1985 | The Vienna Notes | Rivers | Second Stage Theater, Off-Broadway |
| 1986 | Brighton Beach Memoirs | Blanche Morton | ACT, A Contemporary Theater, Seattle |
| 1987 | Bodies, Rest and Motion | Mrs. Dotson | Lincoln Center Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1987 | The Stick Wife | Jessie Bliss | Hartford Stage, CT |
| 1988 | The Grapes of Wrath | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 1989 | Measure for Measure | Mistress Overdone | Lincoln Center Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1989 | Beside Herself | Mary | Circle Repertory Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1992 | Dog Logic | Anita | The American Place Theatre, NY |
| 1993 | Escape from Happiness | Nora | Yale Repertory Theatre, CT |
| 1994 | The Mesmerist | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 1995 | Buried Child | Halie | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 1997 | Defying Gravity | Betty | The American Place Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1998 | Impossible Marriage | Kendall Kingsley | Laura Pels Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1999–2000 | Give Me Your Answer, Do! | Maggie Donovan | Roundabout Theatre Company, Off-Broadway |
| 2001 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 2005 | Absolute Hell | Julia Shillitoe | Roundabout Theatre Company Stage Reading |
| 2005–06 | The Trip to Bountiful | Mrs. Carrie Watts | Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway |
| 2007 | 100 Saints You Should Know | Colleen | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway |
| 2008 | The Trip to Bountiful | Carrie Watts | Goodman Theatre, Chicago |
| 2009 | The Tempest | Gonzalo | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 2009 | Dividing the State | Stella Gordon | Hartford Stage, CT |
| 2010 | Lil's 90th | Lil | Long Wharf Theatre, CT |
| 2010 | After the Revolution | Vera Joseph | Williamstown Theatre Festival, MA |
| 2010 | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway | ||
| 2011 | The Illusion | Alcandre | Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway |
| 2012 | Heartless | Mable | |
| 2013 | The Old Friends | Mamie Borden | |
| 2014 | Marjorie Prime | Marjorie | Mark Taper Forum, CA |
| 2015 | The Herd | Patricia | Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago |
| 2015 | John | Genevieve[30] | Signature Theatre Company, NY |
| 2015–16 | Marjorie Prime | Marjorie | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | Peace for Mary Frances | Mary Frances | The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | I Was Most Alive With You | Carla | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway |
