Lauren Patten spent the first two months of 2020 fulfilling her lifelong dream of originating a role on Broadway.

The 28-year-old actor was a standout in Jagged Little Pill , which reimagined Alanis Morissettes smash 1995 album as a 21st-century parable about mental health, sexuality, racism and addiction. As the character of Jo, Pattens full-throttle rendition of You Oughta Know was the musicals most buzzed-about moment . That performance landed her atop many critics lists of anticipated Tony Award contenders a nomination she secured in the fall.

Pattens Broadway stint, however, came to a sudden and unexpected halt in March of last year when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered theaters and other performance venues in New York and around the world.

The initial plan was for it to be a month shutdown, and that felt impossible, she told HuffPost in an interview. Now, of course, I look back and laugh at the notion of it being a month, but at that time, it felt like eternity. All of us had put in so much work to get the show to Broadway. We had four months, and then it was gone.