Actors Stephanie Berry & Lois Smith, in Conversation

Obie Award winners Lois Smith and Stephanie Berry join host, Rachel Lin, to discuss their decades-long careers in the theater. Together, they have over a century of experience combined! The two esteemed performers talk: self-doubt, motherhood, and the differences in their paths as journeyman actors. Thanks for joining us for the very first episode of EST Re:Members!

 

STEPHANIE BERRY recently appeared in GEM OF THE OCEAN at the Two River Theater and STAFF MEAL at Playwrights Horizon and as Olivia in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio. She is the 2023 recipient of an Obie Award for Performance, for her role in On Sugarland at the New York Theatre Workshop, and an Obie Award for her solo show, The Shaneequa Chronicles. She is the recipient of an AUDELCO Award for Lead Actress, and she was nominated for the 2023 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award for a bandaged place, which premiered at the Roundabout Theatre. Select theater credits include Sugar in Our Wounds at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Trouble in Mind, Fences, Iced Out, Shackled and Chained: Still Looking for the North Star, and Wild with Happy. Select film and TV credits include “Fantasy Island,” O.G., Delivery Man, No Reservations, Finding Forrester, “The Last OG,” “Bull,” “Blue Bloods,” “the Blacklist.” She is the recipient of the 2022 New Professional Theatre’s Award for Activism, and the 2021 League of Professional Theatre Women’s Lee Reynold’s Award. 

 

LOIS SMITH recently appeared at the Barrymore Theater on Broadway in Matthew Lopez’s play THE INHERITANCE, for which she won a Tony Award.  She appears in Greta Gerwig’s film LADYBIRD, and played onstage in Jordan Harrison’s play MARJORIE PRIME at both the Taper in LA and Playwrights Horizons in NYC, and in Michael Almereyda’s film adaptation. She also appeared at the Signature in Annie Baker’s JOHN, for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination; Tony Kushner's THE ILLUSION; and Horton Foote's THE OLD FRIENDS and THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, winning many awards for the latter. Other favorite stage roles include THE GRAPES OF WRATH and BURIED CHILD (Tony nominations for both), Broadway productions originating at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, and Amy Herzog's AFTER THE REVOLUTION at Playwright's Horizons.  Her first film was EAST OF EDEN.  Many others followed, including THE FRENCH DISPATCH, UNCLE FRANK, THE COMEDIAN, FIVE EASY PIECES, MINORITY REPORT, TWISTER, DEAD MAN WALKING, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT, FOUR FRIENDS, and PLEASE GIVE. Numerous television credits include, most recently, RAY DONOVAN, MOM, SNEAKY PETE, YOUNGER, THE VILLAGE, ON BECOMING A GOD IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, THE SON, THE BLACKLIST, THE AFFAIR, THE AMERICANS, and TRUE BLOOD.

Producer & Host: Rachel Lin

Sound Designer & Engineer: Caroline Eng

Artwork: Harrison Densmore