It’s been a quarter century since Jean Smart was on Broadway; she was last seen on the boards opposite Nathan Lane in a 2000 revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner (for which she received a Tony nomination). But it’s not like she’s been twiddling her thumbs in the interim. During her time away, the legendary actor has won five (of her six career total) Primetime Emmy Awards, three of them for her current screen role as comedian Deborah Vance in HBO Max’s Hacks.
“The stage was always my first love,” she says fondly. “I did it for years before I ever did anything in front of a camera. It’s been way too long since I’ve done a play.”
She’s fixing that with Call Me Izzy, a new play from playwright Jamie Wax (making his Broadway debut) that sees Smart playing Isabella, a woman in rural Louisiana who’s trapped in an abusive and loveless marriage. Her emotional outlet comes via a library card and an uncommon gift for writing...READ MORE