Sarah Marshall (American stage actress)

Sarah Marshall (born 1955) is a stage actress working primarily in the Washington, D.C. region. She has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Award seventeen times and won the award in 1989.[1]

Early life and education

Marshall was born in Kansas, the fifth of eight children in a Catholic military family.[2] During her childhood, she lived in several places in the South.[2] Most of her family currently resides in the south.[3]

As a child, Marshall and her siblings produced plays at their home.[2] Marshall decided to become an actress in the seventh grade after winning a citywide monologue competition in Huntsville, Alabama.[2] Playing the comedic role of the maid in her middle school's production of Junior Miss led her to focus on character acting.[2] She acted throughout high school and college, graduating from Birmingham-Southern College with a degree in theater.[2]

Career beginnings

Marshall moved to Washington with the intent of attending graduate school at Catholic University or American University, but enrolled in classes at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory instead, working as a maid to support herself.[2] During the 1980s, Marshall performed in nine Studio Theatre productions, including a 1983 role as Jo, a pregnant waif in Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, termed Marshall's "breakthrough performance" by friend and Studio Theatre Artistic Director Joy Zinoman.[2][3] She also drew attention for her roles in Studio Theatre's Miss Margarida's Way and My Sister is in This House, for which she received her first Helen Hayes nomination.[1][2]

Other productions in which she performed during that time included Briar Patch at Arena Stage; The Stick Wife at Horizons; The Vampires at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; and Baby with the Bathwater at Round House Theatre in 1989, for which she won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Resident Production.[1][2] She joined the Woolly Mammoth acting company in 1989.[2]

Recent performances

Marshall's recent productions include Dead Man's Cell Phone at Woolly Mammoth in 2007;[4] Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis at Woolly Mammoth[5] and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, featuring Marshall in the title role, at Studio Theatre in 2006;[6] and Camille at Round House Theatre[7] and The Clean House at Woolly Mammoth in 2005, for which she received her fourteenth Helen Hayes nomination.[1][8]

Other activities

Marshall began teaching acting at Round House Theater in 1985.[3] Since 1988, she has taught at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.[2] She is also an adjunct drama instructor at Georgetown University.[3] In her spare time, Marshall has dabbled in crafts such as drawing, metal work and pottery.[3]

Helen Hayes Awards
1985 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Production
My Sister in This House, The Studio Theatre Nomination
1989 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Production
Baby With the Bathwater, Round House Theatre Award Recipient
1990 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Production
Dead Monkey, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination
1990 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Production
Briar Patch, Arena Stage Nomination
1992 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Production
When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, The Studio Theatre Nomination
1993 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Elektra, Round House Theatre Nomination
1994 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Criminals in Love, Round House Theatre Nomination
1996 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Musical
Wanted, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination
1996 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Escape from Happiness, Round House Theatre Nomination
1998 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Sylvia, The Studio Theatre Nomination
2000 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Dead Monkey, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination
2000 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
How I Learned to Drive, Arena Stage Nomination
2001 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
Betty's Summer Vacation, The Studio Theatre Nomination
2006 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
The Clean House, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination
2008 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
As You Like It, Folger Theatre Nomination
2009 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
Boom, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination (award not yet announced)
2009 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Maria/Stuart, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Nomination (award not yet announced)

References
  1. Helen Hayes Awards
  2. Richards, David. "Sarah Marshall, From Myth to 'Monkey'; The Wooley Mammoth Actress and Her Rise from Character to Star." The Washington Post, 1990-01-14, p. G1.
  3. Davis, Daryl. "Miss Marshall's Ways." Washington Theater Review, summer 2005, p. 44-49.
  4. Marks, Peter. "'Dead Man's Cell Phone,' Answering Some Biggies." The Washington Post, 2007-06-18, p. C1.
  5. Marks, Peter. "Mixed Nuts, All Shook Up; 'Chinese Elvis' a Lively Comedy of Canned Laughs." The Washington Post, 2006-11-14, p. C1.
  6. Marks, Peter. "Studio's 'Jean Brodie': Niceness Doesn't Count." The Washington Post, 2006-03-14, p. C5.
  7. Marks, Peter. "Robinson Bows In With a Powerful 'Camille'." The Washington Post, 2005-09-21, p. C12.
  8. Marks, Peter. "'Clean House': A Lemon-Fresh Shine." The Washington Post, 2005-07-19, p. C1.
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