Fringe Helps Create a Lasting Career in the Entertainment Industry
- What the Fringe?!
- May 1
- 3 min read
S2 E10 of What the Fringe?!
Penny Peyser’s journey in entertainment is a lesson in adaptability, resilience, and creative reinvention. Best known for her work in television series like Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, Crazy Like a Fox, and Knots Landing, along with films including All the President’s Men and The Frisco Kid, Penny has navigated decades in an industry known for its unpredictability. From off-Broadway to Hollywood to Edinburgh Fringe, Penny's career reflects a simple truth: sustaining a life in entertainment requires both flexibility and the courage to create your own opportunities.
Learning To Pivot When The Need Arises
Penny began her career off-Broadway, earning her first Equity role in Lanford Wilson’s The Hot L Baltimore. But when the New York theater scene slowed, she made the leap to Hollywood. That leap wasn’t glamorous, it required borrowing money from Equity to rent a car and sublet her apartment, but it positioned her for immediate work. Her early years in television brought steady roles and a pension, a benefit she notes is far less common for young performers today. Shorter seasons, smaller paychecks, and fewer long-term contracts mean that today’s actors often lack the financial security that earlier generations could build.
Beyond financial shifts, Penny points to the changing demands of the industry. The proliferation of intimacy scenes and explicit content means that actors must navigate personal boundaries in a way she didn’t face as often in her early career. Her own approach has always favored lighthearted, comedic moments, and if nudity was called for, it was comedic versus the kind of vulnerability that now requires an intimacy coordinator on set.
Cultivating Longevity Through Self-Initiated Projects
Over time, Penny’s career expanded beyond acting into documentary filmmaking. With her husband, Doug McIntyre, she produced Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon, a project born from admiration for the jazz legend. They had no formal documentary experience, and when funding efforts stalled, Penny bought a camera on her credit card and started shooting. The film took five years, included interviews with Clint Eastwood and Billy Crystal, and found success on the festival circuit. This leap into self-initiated work became a turning point, illustrating how creative control can fuel longevity.
“I think being an artist has always been a challenge, but today it’s really crazy. That’s why it’s so important to create your own work instead of waiting for someone to give you permission.”
That same drive led her to her current solo show, Lady Penelope in Quarantine! (formerly known as Sonnets from Suburbia). Adapted from her award-winning Sonnets from Suburbia books, the show combines Shakespearean structure with modern, humorous content, all performed in a full Elizabethan dress paired with red Converse sneakers. Penny not only stars in the show, but also wrote the material and incorporates original music on the ukulele. She credits her collaborators, Matt Levitt and Liza Seneca, with keeping the process from feeling isolating and helping refine the show into a strong, audience-ready piece.
The Values Of Strategic Risk
When Penny embarked on her Fringe journey by taking Lady Penelope in Quarantine! to Edinburgh Fringe, one of the biggest unexpected challenges she faced in the solo show format was nerves. Despite decades on stage and screen, the thought of carrying an entire performance alone brought new pressure. Overcoming that reinforced the value of risk-taking at any career stage.
Penny’s advice, woven through her stories, is clear: don’t wait for permission to work. Whether it’s shifting cities, producing your own film, or writing the role you want to play, self-starting is the surest path to a long career. The industry may change, but the ability to adapt, collaborate, and keep creating will always be the foundation for staying power.
Catch Penny this summer at the 2026 Atlanta Fringe Festival!
This blog post was inspired by S2 E10 of the What the Fringe?! podcast, and was written utilizing AI technology, in conjunction with human oversight and editing.
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