By Joe Puccio

Performing on stage before a live audience and acting on a film or television set are two very diverse experiences. While the pair of skills are certainly equally as impressive on their own, being adept at both is even more remarkable. For gifted thespian Allison Smith, she thoroughly excels at each endeavor equitably. “Theater is a whole-body experience. It’s so much more physical and you really need a lot of stamina,” said the multitalented actress during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “I’ve always had a lot of it since I was little and thankfully never had any issues whatsoever.”

At the age of ten, the ingenue landed the coveted lead role in Broadway’s Annie, and handled the extremely taxing job with the maturity of someone twice as old. Replacing Sarah Jessica Parker, Smith went on to play the character in over 1,000 shows, from 1980 through 1982, and garnered a well-deserved reputation as reliable, proficient, and astute beyond her years. “We did eight shows per week,” she recalled. “It was a holistic experience – mind, body, and soul. Especially with musicals, singing all the songs, you’re basically a living, breathing instrument. I think doing that many shows each week as an adult would take much more of a toll on your body than on a young person. Some awesome film and TV stars are not so great on stage. If I had to choose, I’d say I’m more of a theater person. I love live theater more than anything.”

In addition to starring in Annie, Smith has appeared on stage in a host of other roles, including the original Broadway production of Evita, with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, David Mamet’s Oleanna in Los Angeles, Peter Parnell’s QED, opposite Alan Alda, and The Education of Randy Newman, in which she portrayed Newman’s first wife. But while she has undeniably made quite a name for herself in the live arts category, Smith’s proclivity for the small screen has proven to be just as strong.

Kate & Allie, an Emmy Award-winning mainstay on CBS, initially premiered as a mid-season replacement in 1984, with only six episodes commissioned. But the favorable response from both critics and viewers (its pilot ranked fourth out of all shows that aired that week) prompted the network to commit to a full freshman season. Starring as Jennie Lowell, the daughter of Jane Curtain’s Allie, for the entirety of the series’ six season tenure, the popular sitcom dealt with two divorced mothers (Curtain and Susan Saint James, as Kate McArdle) who share a New York City brownstone in Greenwich Village, mutually raising their families together.

For Smith, who grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, the reality of working on a weekly television program that was filmed on the East Coast, only a half hour from home, was a dream come true. “I’d done Annie for almost three years but had only done one other TV show, which was a guest spot on Silver Spoons, with Ricky Schroder,” she shared. “But that was in California, and I had to miss Annie to do it. The Kate & Allie audition was for a show that was going to be filmed in New York, which was unheard of at the time, except for The Cosby Show. That was a real anomaly, and I wouldn’t have even been at the audition if it wasn’t for that.”

Known for its witty writing, led by creator Sherry Coben, and its clever cold opening dialogue sequences with no laugh track between Curtin and Saint James, Kate & Allie’s nearly all-female cast, rounded out by Ari Meyers, as Kate’s daughter Emma and Frederick Koehler as Jennie’s younger brother, was ahead of its time in many ways. “It certainly was one of the only shows of its kind back then,” Smith exclaimed. “But, in a way, it wasn’t as big of a deal that society has made it out to be over time. I feel like Kate & Allie slid in there at the right time and then somewhere along the way, it became a big deal to cast only women or women of a certain age. It was written by a woman but there didn’t need to be fanfare about it. Men weren’t threatened by it.”

Its lasting impact is still felt by fans today, over 35 years since its finale. “People still tell me how important it was for them to see a different kind of family on TV when they were growing up,” Smith remarked. “Especially those who had divorce in their family. All the kids on Kate & Allie came from broken families and Susan had a few marriages.”

The revered comedy wasn’t the only regular television role for the performer. Smith also secured a meaty part in another Emmy-Award winning series, Aaron Sorkin’s venerable NBC political drama The West Wing, in 1999. “I’d been doing a lot of television when The West Wing came along,” she remembered. “Aaron’s writing had a distinct tone to it. So, when I auditioned for it, I focused mainly on knowing it really well and letting it fly in a way that his language deserves to be flown. I realized its potential and I wanted to be part of it badly. Luckily for me, it all worked out. Those early years were really exciting with such a buzz. It was a thrilling part of my career, for sure.”

Smith has even participated in her share of films throughout the years, including the Dennis Quaid/Danny Glover crime thriller Switchback and the independent drama A Reason to Believe. One appearance, however, is notable for its genre as well as being part of one of the movie industry’s most beloved franchises. “It was kind of campy,” joked Smith, about her role in 1993’s Friday the 13^th sequel, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. “I will say that I’m not a horror person, I don’t like to be scared, and I don’t like blood and gore. But I had such a great time filming it and loved working with Adam Marcus, who directed it, and the rest of the cast.”

In a trivia note, Smith was offered both Jason Goes to Hell and another Broadway musical part in The Who’s iconic Tommy at the same time. Always having the desire to try new things and never having starred in a motion picture before, she opted for the former. “I was in my early twenties at the time, and I talked to my mom about it, who basically left it up to me. Looking back, if my daughter had called me and asked me if I thought it was the best choice, I’m not sure I would’ve done the same thing,” she laughed. But moving into a new medium and doing something different was good for me.”

The notion of expanding one’s horizons was also true for Meyers, Smith’s former co-star on Kate & Allie. Meyers retired from acting over twenty years ago and has since went on to become a postpartum nurse and lactation consultant. The friendship the duo fostered that began decades ago still exists today. “I’m in New York again and she’s in California so sadly, we don’t get to see each other that often. Ari was always brilliant. She went to Yale, she was always studying in her dressing room, she read books feverishly, she wrote papers galore – she really was a very curious academic,” Smith recounted. Yet despite being so intelligent and book smart, Meyers still managed to transcend her acting career. “She did a production of The Miracle Worker while she was at Yale that was incredible but beyond that, she’s a beautiful hearted person and she fell in love with medicine. It’s very hard to change your identity in life and you have to be really brave to do that,” she continued. “It’s easy to stay safe and to have fear of the unknown. I commend her for finding her passion. She makes the world a better place on a daily basis.”

While Meyers succeeded at a vastly different vocation, Smith’s focus the last few years is largely a contrast as well. The renaissance woman has undertaken the lengthy process of penning her first novel. “I’m currently finishing up my final edits. It’s actually really exciting for me,” she beamed. “I give writers so much credit for locking themselves away from the world, which can be so distracting. Writing this book has probably been the best journey of my life.”

As for following in the footsteps of other prominent 80s sitcoms like Full House, Roseanne, and Punky Brewster, which all received reboots, Smith would totally be on board with partaking. “I think there would be an immediate built-in audience,” she believed. “If done well, it sure would be fun. Jane could probably get John Lithgow to show up every once in a while, so who wouldn’t want to see that,” she added with a smile.