Cecily Strong in THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 6:14pm

Running December 21st through February 5th at The Shed

https://www.playbill.com/article/cecily-strong-will-make-theatre-debut-in-the-search-for-signs-of-intelligent-life-in-the-universe

Updated On: 10/12/21 at 06:14 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 6:31pm

Awesome news! She and Vanessa Bayer were always two of my favorites in the recent era of SNL. I've never seen her onstage, so very much looking forward to this! 

The Shed has had a really strange start as far as its theatrical programming. Very curious to see how this season plays out for them. If they play their cards right, it could go a long way to helping them become more established and respected as one of the major non-profit theatres in NY - which hasn't really been the case for them, despite throwing a lot of money and big names at their few productions thus far. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 9:50pm

I've never seen her onstage, so very much looking forward to this!

This is her theatrical stage debut.  No one has seen her on stage.  Yet.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 9:53pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "I've never seen her onstage, so very much looking forward to this!

This is her theatrical stage debut. No one has seen her on stage. Yet.



She’s done improv and sketch comedy on stage for years, not to mention SNL has a live audience, so as usual you are wrong.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 9:58pm

Re-read what I wrote, genius: THEATRICAL STAGE DEBUT. She’s never done a full book play before. Geez, Louise.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 10:01pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Re-read what I wrote, genius: THEATRICAL STAGE DEBUT. She’s never done a full book play before. Geez, Louise. "
 

No one ever suggested she had, you asshat.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 10:11pm

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 10:31pm

Wow, that escalated quickly.

But yes, as Totally Effed pointed out, she has performed onstage many times in a variety of settings. I never specified seeing her in a play, I said “onstage.” So yeah, if I had seen her in another live setting I would’ve counted that as seeing her onstage. Even if I had seen a live taping of SNL.

She even performed on Broadway in Celebrity Autobiography, which I guess the article doesn’t count as theatre. I wanted to see her in that show but I couldn’t attend any of the performances she did (or was it just one?)

Updated On: 10/12/21 at 10:31 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 10:42pm

ive seen her live at Studio 8h three times, and her stage presence is nothing to be worried about (and has grown considerably since her debut 10 yrs ago)

[temms]

Posted: 10/12/21 at 10:51pm

Cecily was a child actor in Chicago so this is absolutely not her theatrical debut. She was in "House Of Martin Guerre" at the Goodman and "Fahrenheit 451" at Bailiwick among several others. I was surprised and thrilled to see the 11-year-old I music directed a billion years ago crushing it on SNL. But she's been on the professional stage many times.

Here's a review of "Martin Guerre" where she played young Bertrand.

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/deceptive-packaging/

And one of Fahrenheit 451.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-04-07-9804070302-story.html

Playbill has gotten very, very sloppy.

[Owen22]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 6:13am

Well there's also the idea that Signs of Intelligent Life is not a real play as it was specifically written around one of Lily's already established characters. Though there have been other productions, multi actor productions at that.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 6:38am

How does that make it "not a play"?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 9:27am

temms said: "Playbill has gotten very, very sloppy."

 

In Playbill’s defense, it looks like they got it from the Times. Surprised they would make a mistake like this!  
 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/theater/cecily-strong-claudia-rankine-the-shed-season.html

 

EDIT: just realized the NYT said “New York theatre debut” which Playbill maybe misappropriated. However, I would actually argue that the Times is still mistaken, as I would consider her performance in “Celebrity Autobiography” to be her New York theatre debut. 
 

Updated On: 10/13/21 at 09:27 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 9:34am

Strong also has a BFA in theater from CalArts.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 12:28pm

I know SNL usually takes a Christmas hiatus, but they tend to come back sooner than February. So, I’m curious how many weeks of SNL she’ll be missing for this. She also, notably, was out of SNL for most of the first half of last season to film Schmigadoon.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 12:48pm

Lorne Michaels is very supportive of the SNL cast so he allows everyone to also work on other projects during the season if there is a scheduling issue with that other project. He’d have her do an SNL Weekend Update appearance which doesn’t require her to attend a full week of production.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 1:57pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I know SNL usually takes a Christmas hiatus, but they tend to come back sooner than February. So, I’m curious how many weeks of SNL she’ll be missing for this. She also, notably, was out of SNL for most of the first half of last season to film Schmigadoon."

Lorne Michaels has never allowed his cast to do "half" or "partial" seasons- you're either in or you're out. But over the last two years (perhaps due to pandemic?) he has eased up and negotiated contracts that allowed SNL cast to take breaks for other projects. Keenan Thompson shot his series last year (but didnt miss a ton) and Cecily Strong did Schmigadoon and was out for the first few weeks of the season. This year, Kate McKinnon has been MIA on SNL (not sure what she is doing) but will be back later this season (perhaps around the time Cecily Strong takes a few weeks off in the mid winter).

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 2:49pm

I also think Lorne would prefer a 50th anniversary cast with lots of seasoned performers in a couple years and that has helped him learn to be somewhat accommodating.

I love this play and almost any of the women in the current SNL cast would be great in it. Kate would be my personal first (and perhaps most obvious) choice, but Cecily I think will particularly nail the undercurrents of sadness. Heidi Gardner would also kill with the striver characters.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 5:33pm

Worth noting that Playbill has since amended their article: 

https://www.playbill.com/article/cecily-strong-will-make-theatre-debut-in-the-search-for-signs-of-intelligent-life-in-the-universe

[Owen22]

Posted: 10/13/21 at 5:38pm

dramamama611 said: "How does that make it "not a play"? "

That it was more of a performance piece than a real  "play". There were some complaints at the time that Lily should not have been nominated for Tony for best actress in a play.