039. Actor: Alison Fraser

The Breakdown with Robbie

Pre-pandemic, Alison was in back-to-back show bliss with David Staller’s adaptation of Heartbreak House (for which she received the Callaway Award for best actress in a classical play), Enter Laughing at the York, and a divine trifecta under the aegis of Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Steel Magnolias at the Jupiter Maltz, Cinderella at the MUNY, and Deathtrap at the Cape Playhouse. Just prior to theatre shut down she was, oddly enough, in a show (co-starring Robbie Simpson) called Paradise Lost which (actually happened a week after we closed-paradise was indeed lost... )She originated the role of Sharon in Aaron Mark’s “Squeamish” (Off Broadway, Outer Critic’s Circle Awards nominee). She was Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford in MichaelJohn LaChiusa’s First Daughter Suite (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk nominee) at the Public Theater, Mommy in The Sandbox and The Landlady in Funnyhouse of a Negro at The Signature Theatre (director Lilia Neugebauer). She is a two- time Tony Award nominee for The Secret Garden (Drama Desk nominee also) and Romance/Romance. Other Broadway roles includes Dorine in Tartuffe; Born Again, Helena in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Tessie Tura in Arthur Laurents’ production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. Roles she has created Off-Broadway include Arsinoé in David Ives’ The School For Lies, Charles Busch’s The Divine Sister, Jessie in Terrence McNally’s Dedication, or the Stuff of Dreams (opposite Marion Seldes and Nathan Lane),Trina in March of the Falsettos and In Trousers ( vocal arrangement credits) Miss Drumgoole in Todd Rundgren’s Up Against It, Connie, Brenda and Petula in Beehive, and The Matron in the world premiere of Tennessee Williams’ In Masks Outrageous and Austere (opposite Shirley Knight). Film and TV credits include Gotham, Happy! High Maintenance, Law & Order: SVU,Happyish, Smash, It Could Be Worse, Blowtorch, Socks and Bonds,Understudies, Jack in A Box, The Thing About My Folks (opposite Peter Falk and Paul Reiser) and the upcoming The Sound of Silence (opposite Peter Saarsgard). She has be heard on thousands of radio and television commercials, Grand Theft Auto 3 and 5, innumerable audiobooks, and many albums, including three solo efforts A New York Romance, Men In My Life, and Tennessee Williams:Words and Music. She recently received the Earphones Award from Audiophile for her narration of “Fierce Poise” for Penguin Random House, and soon will be heard on the podcast “The Laundronauts” starring Ed Asner and John Cameron Mitchell.