Cecily Strong to star in 'The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe' off Broadway

The production will mark Strong's debut on the New York stage.

Live from New York, it's...Cecily Strong! The veteran Saturday Night Live actress will star in Jane Wagner's one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at The Shed off Broadway. Performances will begin December 21, and the production will run through February 6, 2022.

Strong has been a cast member on SNL since 2012 and is known for her impressions of celebrities — including many theatre stars including Liza Minnelli, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Julie Andrews, among many Hollywood celebrities and politicians. Elsewhere on screen, she also recently starred alongside multiple Broadway actors in the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon! The Search... will mark Strong's New York stage debut; however, Strong is a veteran of the Chicago stage who has performed at venues there including the Goodman Theater, the Bailiwick Theater, and Second City, as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

In The Search..., Strong is taking on a role made famous by Lily Tomlin, who starred in the play's critically acclaimed Broadway premiere in 1985. The role encompasses 12 characters, all played in one costume. The show uses these various women to offer an abridged history of the feminist movement and the female experience in society through the ages.

Leigh Silverman will direct the new production at The Shed.

^{Photo credit: Jon Kopaloff via FilmMagic}