As the name Meryl Streep became more prominent in the New York theatre circles, the work kept coming in. Streep worked simultaneously on three projects – she filmed both Woody Allen’s „Manhattan“ and Robert Benton’s „Kramer vs. Kramer“ during the day in New York and played Isabella in Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park production of „The Taming of the Shrew“ at night. In April of 1978, NBC aired the four-part miniseries „Holocaust“, which made Meryl a household name overnight and can be considered as the first important breakthrough on the screen. „Holocaust“ recieved a record-breaking 15 nominations at that time, winning 8 awards, including one for Meryl Streep as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. She also received the National Society of Film Critics for Best Supporting Actress. The second breakthrough followed in December with the release of Michael Cimino’s much debated – and much acclaimed – „The Deer Hunter“, in which Meryl co-starred opposite Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken. For her performance, Meryl Streep received her first nominations for the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and the British Academy Award. The film itself won five Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

1977 marked Meryl’s professional debuts on television and film. In January, a taped version of the Phoenix Theatre production of „Secret Service“ was broadcast on PBS. Later that year, she was seen opposite Michael Moriarty in the television crime drama „The Deadliest Season“. She also added to more prestigious theatre performances to her resumé – as Dunjasha the maid in „The Cherry Orchard“ opposite Raul Julia and Irene Worth, and as Lt. Lilian Holiday in the Broadway production of „Happy End“ opposite Christopher Lloyd. Meryl Streep spent the Summer of 1977 in Austria, again with Moriarty, to film the NBC miniseries „Holocaust“. In October, she was seen on the big screen for the first time, in a bit part in Fred Zinneman’s „Julia“, opposite Jane Fonda.

In late 1975, Meryl Streep had auditioned for Phoenix Theatre in New York and made her debut with roles in two one-act plays, which were performed on the same evenings – Tennessee Williams‘ „27 Wagons Full of Cotton“ and Atrhur Miller’s „A Memory of Two Mondays“. John Lithgow, who was one of Phoenix’s four directors, had already heard of „the young Yale Drama School girl who had fared so well in „Trelawny of the Wells“ at Lincoln Center“ and considers their first meeting at the Phoenix Theatre as the last audition of her career. She received glowing reviews for both plays, received an Outer Critics Circle Award, World Theatre Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress for „27 Wagons Full of Cotton“. Together with Lithgow, she co-starred ina production of William Gillette’s „Secret Service“. In the Summer of 1976, Meryl Streep was swept away by the Public Theatre. Joseph Papp cast her in the female leads in both „Henry V.“, which was performed in Central Park, as well as Isabella in „Measure for Measure“ opposite John Cazale. Meryl also narrated a voiceover for the first time, in the animated feature „Everybody Rides The Carousel“.

In the resuming months of Yale’s 1974/1975 season upon her graduation – Meryl Streep played Bertha in „The Father“ opposite Rip Torn and Helena in a production of William Shakespeare’s „A Midsummer Night’s Dream“, her final production at Yale. She spent the summer of 1975 with the National Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and performed in a string of newly produced plays. In New York, she got her first professional engagement in a Lincoln Center Theater production of Arthur Wing Pinero’s „Trelawny of the Wells“, starring Mary Beth Hurt. For her performance of Imogen Parrot, Meryl Streep received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Starting her final year at Yale, the drama department put Meryl Streep in a staggering 13 productions at the Yale Rep and the Yale Cabaret. In the season’s first half, her performances ranged from Irish drama – Sean O’Casey’s “Cock-a-doodle-Dandy” – a French brothel fantasy – Genet’s „The Balcony“ to Shakespeare’s classic „Much Ado About Nothing“ as Beatrice.

During her second year at Yale, Meryl was featured in four more plays. She participated in the Yale Children’s Theatre production of „The Royal Pardon“, was seen in two plays by the school‘s playwrighting students – William Hauptman’s „Shearwater“ and Christopher Durang’s „The Marriage of Bette and Boo“ and played the titular character of „Major Barbara“ by George Bernard Shaw.

After resuming her time with the Green Mountain Guild, Meryl Streep made good use of her drama experience during her freshman year at the Yale Drama School. She was a steady presence at Yale’s Experimental Theatre and the Yale Cabaret. Her first performance at Yale was as Vassilissa in Maxim Gorky’s „The Lower Depths“.

In her final year at Vassar, Meryl played Sarah Millwood in „The London Merchant“ and, with the support of Drama director Clinton Atkinson, made her professional debut off-Broadway in „The Playboy of Seville“ at New York‘s Cubiculo Theatre, playing Tisbea opposite Michael Moriarty’s Don Juan. After graduating from Vassar in the spring of 1971, Streep returned to the Upper Valley to be with her boyfriend at the time, who was starting at the Dartmouth Medical School. She lived in Norwich, Vt. for the next year, waited tables at the Hanover Inn and joined the small Vermont theater group Green Mountain Guild, which was founded as a Summer stock repertory, but took its performances into the cold Vermont winter. “We went around to ski resorts and put on Chekhov. You could hear the snoring in the bar and the snowmobiles outside.“ The following summer, Streep applied to the Yale University School of Drama. She received a scholarship to attend and enrolled that fall.

Still in her sophomore year at Vassar, Meryl Streep played Frosine in Moliere’s „The Miser“ and took a deep dive into all aspects of performing in the theatre – she designed costumes for Tennessee Williams’s play, „Camino Real,“ and designed lights for several medieval mystery plays. Her interest in costume design led to an exchange program for a term at Dartmouth College, studying costume design, play writing with legendary drama professor Errol Hill, and dance. And while she did audition for the lead role in one of Dartmouth’s theatrical productions and lost out, Streep participated in the Frost Playwrighting competition and performed in two student-written plays before returning to Vassar.

I remembered thinking, at Vassar, people would sit quietly and answer questions with judicial, thoughtful, ruminative answers. But, at Dartmouth, it was different. Before the professor finished the question, there were five people standing up, words coming out of their mouths but they had no idea what the answer was. It was very inspiring; it was something I didn’t have in me. The climate and the expectation were playing to the proactive. My teachers [back at Vassar] would start questions and I would get up before they were done and say, ‘I don’t even think that question is valid!’ even though I really had no idea what the question was. (Meryl Streep in conversation at Dartmouth College, May 2000)

Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman James Corden, and Andrew Rannells are prepared to be “the biggest thing to happen in Indiana” in the star-studded trailer for Ryan Murphy’s Netflix film, The Prom. Murphy released the first full trailer for the movie musical on Thursday, announcing that “everyone is invited to the celebration of a lifetime!” The movie follows the story of high school student Emma Nolan, played by Jo Ellen Pellman, who’s been banned from attending the prom with her girlfriend Alyssa (Ariana DeBose). Once Emma shares her story on Twitter, stars from Broadway (Streep, Corden, Rannells and Kidman) head to small-town Indiana to help Emma find a solution – in an attempt to gain good press following their Broadway show flop. The Netflix film also includes a supportive high school principal, played by Keegan-Michael Key and the PTA head, played by Kerry Washington. “The Prom” arrives on Netflix on Dec. 11.