At the end of Season 4 of “Hacks,” there’s a rumor that Debra Vance (played by the incredibly funny, talented Jean Smart) is dead. I’m here to report that she isn’t dead. In fact, Smart is alive and well and has just opened the new theater season with her one - woman show "Call Me Izzy” at Studio 54.

She plays Isabel, a closeted bathroom writer who writes her poetry in secret, hiding it from her husband. She prefers to be called Izzy, a name that represents her independence and creativity. With a southern accent and long blond frizzy hair, Isabel Scutley lives with her husband Ferd in a Louisiana trailer park. She sits in her small bathroom (set design by Mikiko Suzuki Macadams) and shares her story with us.

Married at 17 immediately after high school, she doesn’t love her husband but explains as her momma told her, "it's better to have a broken arm than no arm at all.” Izzy showed promise as a writer in school and even has a recommendation from her teacher to attend college, but Ferd won’t allow it. This is the first sign we see of the control he has over her.

The show, written by Jamie Wax and directed by Sarna Lapine feels a bit claustrophobic, in part due to the setting. The script is replete with cliches and fragments of poetry which don’t advance the story and in some cases interrupt it. Izzy recalls her love of poetry by remembering her recitation in fourth grade of “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. She recalls the experience and, of course, recites the poem for the audience. The scene is supposed to be profound but isn’t at all dramatic.

Smart, making her return to Broadway after 25 years, is impressive. She’s a skilled actress who brings life and strength to a character who easily could be downtrodden and pathetic. She makes Izzy a sympathetic character despite the flaws in the play. "Call Me Izzy" is filled with one-line cliches as Izzy parrots her mother’s phrases and even recites Shakespeare. She apologetically notes that she can’t help herself. When Ferd is angry that he was passed over for a job at work, Izzy jumps up and recites lines from Shakespeare’s King Henry VI, Part One, and, predictably, her husband reacts violently.

Despite her difficult life, Izy shows resilience and strength. We wonder why she stays with Ferd and we see her slight rebellion, especially when she has a quick liaison with her writing teacher. Fortunately, we barely see any physical abuse though we know it’s happening, but the intellectual repression is more obvious. Izzy’s outlet is her writing and when Ferd destroys her hidden journals, she begins to write on toilet paper with an eyebrow pencil and hides them in her tampon box, knowing that her husband won’t look there.

Ferd’s abuse of Izzy finally takes its toll and she reacts, though the ending is ambiguous. She waits at the bus stop, ready to escape but does she leave? I’d like to think she gets on the bus and begins a successful writing career. After all, it’s Jean Smart. Who can keep her down?