Sydney Ellen Lucas (born July 11, 2003) [1] is an American child actress with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known for her portrayal of Small Alison Bechdel in both the original Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's musical Fun Home ; she won an Obie Award and Theater World Award and received nominations for a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance. She most recently starred in the main cast of AMC's western drama television series The Son as Jeannie McCullough.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Sydney moved with her parents and two older brothers to New York City when she was two years old. Her parents run a software consulting company. [2] In 2009, at age 6, Lucas underwent heart surgery to treat an atrial septal defect. Her older brother Jake Lucas is also a professional actor, and the two have appeared together in a commercial for Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, and alongside Jennifer Aniston in the movie She's Funny That Way , which was released in 2015. [3] She has studied acting with Diane Hardin and singing with Badiene Magaziner. [2] She has also studied singing with her mother, Karri Lucas, who has a degree in vocal performance from DePauw University. [4] She currently is a student in Manhattan.
In 2014, at the age of 10, Lucas became the youngest individual to win an Obie Award for her portrayal of Small Alison in the original Off-Broadway cast of Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's musical Fun Home . [5] That same year, she was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award, among other prestigious prizes. Lucas continued with the show when it moved to Broadway, winning a Theatre World Award, [6] and receiving a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2015 at the age of 11. [7] Lucas left the company of Fun Home on October 4, 2015. [8] [9]
Lucas played Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden with Manhattan Concert Productions on February 21 and 22, 2016 at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. [10]
Lucas has portrayed the younger version of two different characters played by Kristen Wiig in the films Girl Most Likely (2012) and The Skeleton Twins (2014). [11] Her television credits include guest roles on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , Royal Pains , Saturday Night Live , and Team Umizoomi . [2] She has also appeared as Malcolm's Daughter in Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012. [4]
Year | Show | Role | Dates | Theatre |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Macbeth | Malcolm's Daughter | Metropolitan Opera | |
2013–14 | Fun Home | Small Alison | September 12, 2013 – January 12, 2014 | Public Theater |
2015 | April 19 – October 4, 2015 | Circle in the Square Theatre | ||
2016 | The Secret Garden | Mary Lennox | February 21–22, 2016 | David Geffen Hall |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Girl Most Likely | Little Imogene | |
2013 | Fool's Day | Jamie | Short |
2014 | The Skeleton Twins | Young Maggie | |
She's Funny That Way | Josie Albertson | ||
2015 | Broadway Draft 2015 | Sideline Reporter | Short |
2018 | Dude | Olivia | |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Team Umizoomi | Voice | 1 episode |
2012 | Lalaloopsy Land | 1 episode | |
Sesame Street | Kid | 1 episode | |
2013 | Late Show With David Letterman | Screaming Kid | Pakistan Theme Park Segment |
Saturday Night Live | Jeremy Renner's daughter | Segment: "The Standoff" | |
2014 | Royal Pains | Larkin | 1 episode |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Ryann Catalano | 1 episode | |
How and Why | Kitty | TV Pilot | |
The Sonnet Project | Actor | 1 episode | |
2015 | 69th Tony Awards | Performer | TV special |
2017–2019 | The Son | Jeannie McCullough | Series regular |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical | Fun Home | Nominated |
Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | ||
Obie Award | Performance | Won | ||
Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance Award | Nominated | ||
Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | ||
2015 | Tony Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | |
Broadway.com Audience Choice Award | Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Female) [12] | Nominated | ||
Theatre World Award | Won | |||
2016 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Nominated |
Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir Fun Home, which was subsequently adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015. In 2012, she released her second graphic memoir Are You My Mother? She was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. She is also known for originating the Bechdel test.
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the American Theatre Wing. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the Obie Awards cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions.
Judy Kuhn is an American actress and singer, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical or play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be eligible, a score must be written specifically for the theatre and must be original; compilations of non-theatrical music or compilations of earlier theatrical music are not eligible for consideration.
Jeanine Tesori is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and five Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, and the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, making them the first female writing team to win that award. She was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.
Victoria Clark is an American actress, musical theatre singer and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her soprano voice can also be heard on innumerable cast albums and several animated films. In 2008, she released her first solo album titled Fifteen Seconds of Grace. In 2005, she won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in The Light in the Piazza. She also won the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for her performances in the same show.
Katherine Renee Shindle is an American actress, singer, dancer, and AIDS activist. She is currently serving as the President of the Actors' Equity Association. She was Miss America 1998 in 1998 and Miss Illinois in 1997.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, United States, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and one's family.
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation, with additional support from the Theatre Development Fund.
Elizabeth S. "Lisa" Kron is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for writing the lyrics and book to the musical Fun Home for which she won both the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Fun Home was also awarded the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015 and the 2014 Obie Award for writing for musical theater.
Jayne Houdyshell is an American, Tony-winning actress known for her performances on stage and screen.
Alexandra Socha is an American actress who made her Broadway debut in the rock musical Spring Awakening in May 2008. Other notable stage appearances include Nora in the brief 2009 revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Daisy Fenton in the Off-Broadway run of Death Takes a Holiday, as Philoclea in Head Over Heels. She was featured in a supporting role in the Amazon comedy TV series Red Oaks.
Fun Home is a musical theatre adaptation of Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name, with music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The story concerns Bechdel's discovery of her own sexuality, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. It is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. It is told in a series of non-linear vignettes connected by narration provided by the adult Alison character.
Leigh Silverman is an American director for the stage, both off-Broadway and on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical for the musical Violet and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Director of a Play for the play From Up Here.
Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Malone is an American actress and singer known for her work in Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre. She originated the role of Alison Bechdel in the musical Fun Home, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Emily D. Skeggs is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2015 for playing the role of Medium Alison in Fun Home.
Jake Lucas is an American child actor with credits in musical theatre, film and television. After appearances in the children's chorus of the Metropolitan Opera and in other musicals on and off-Broadway, he appeared as Louis Leonowens in the 2015 Broadway revival of The King and I, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Sam Gold is an American theater director and actor. He has directed both musicals and plays, on Broadway and Off-Broadway. He won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Fun Home.
Joel Perez is an American actor, singer, and dancer known for his work in several theatrical performances and television appearances.
Kimberly Akimbo is a 2021 musical with music by Jeanine Tesori, and lyrics and book by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on Lindsay-Abaire's 2001 comedy of the same name.