Seattle Culture
Jean Smart Returns to Broadway
The Emmy-winning star, who got her start in Seattle, is taking on a one-woman show
By Sarah Stackhouse March 10, 2025
Jean Smart is heading back to Broadway.
She’ll be starring in Call Me Izzy, a one-woman dark comedy about a rural Louisiana woman with a life-altering secret. Written by CBS News contributor Jamie Wax, the play has never been staged before. The show begins previews at the end of May and opens June 12 for a limited 12-week run at Studio 54 in New York City.
Smart, 73, best known for Hacks, Watchmen, Designing Women and Mare of Easttown, has won six Emmys and five Critics Choice Awards. She made her Broadway debut in 1981.
Last year, Seattle magazine recognized her as one of our Trailblazing Women. In her interview, she said growing up in Seattle shaped her career, crediting her high school drama teacher Earl Kelly at Ballard High School and the University of Washington’s drama program for her foundational training.
“At the University of Washington, I had some remarkable professors in the drama department, such as Eve Roberts and Bob Loper, and Duncan Ross,” Smart said. “I don’t know where I would be right now if I hadn’t had that experience in college.”
We’re currently working on this year’s Trailblazing Women series, which hits shelves May 1. We’ll feature 10 incredible women shaping Seattle’s future, all in their own words. Subscribe now, and we’ll make sure it lands right on your doorstep.
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