Sarah Paulson names actor who sent her six pages of notes after stage performance: ‘It was outrageous’

‘It was really outrageous,’ the ‘American Horror Story’ star recalled

Sarah Paulson has called out the actor, who she said emailed her six pages of extensive notes critiquing her performance in an off-Broadway play.

The 49-year-old Ratched star, who recently landed her first Tony nomination, recalled the “outrageous” moment on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast, hosted by fellow actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.

“I did do a play once. The last time I was on stage, I did a play called Talley’s Folly at the Roundabout, and the actress – and I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don’t f***ing care – this actress came to the play. Her name is Trish Hawkins – Hi, Trish! Hi, Trisha!” Paulson said.

“Trish Hawkins came to the play – am I going to get sued? I don’t care, because I think this is outrageous,” she continued. “She came to the play, proceeded to say – she looked at me up and down and then she went, ‘Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.’ And I thought, ‘What?’”

Hawkins, now 78, originated the role of the titular Salley Halley in both Talley’s Folly’s off-Broadway 1979 run and its Broadway debut in 1980. Decades later, Paulson starred in the lead role in the New York Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2013 revival of the play.

Paulson explained that her mother had invited Hawkins to the performance because they were “in some kind of writing group together”.

“Cut to two days later, I got an email that was six pages long of notes and a communication to me about what she had done when she had done the play, what she recommended I do,” the American Horror Story alum added. “It was outrageous. It was really outrageous. Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it, and I hope to see you never.”

Sarah Paulson attends The 2024 Met Gala (Getty Images)

The Emmy-winning actor revealed that she still has the notes. “I just put it back in the file of things my mother has done,” she said.

Last month, Paulson received her first Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in Appropriate, which is currently midway through its extended run at the Belasco Theatre.

Appropriate follows the estranged members of the Layfette family as they return to their old plantation home in Arkansas to deal with the estate of their recently deceased father. Paulson stars as Toni, the eldest daughter.

Paulson made her Broadway debut in 1993’s The Sisters Rosensweig. She later featured in The Glass Menagerie in 2005 and Collected Stories in 2010.