Pease checked hats and coats at the Copacabana in New York, waited tables, cleaned apartments and lived on a five floor walk up, sharing one bathroom with 20 girls at the famous Rehearsal Club. She landed the role of the country and western Cissie Mitchell for "Search For Tomorrow" in 1978. But dance was in her blood so she left a contract role after two years, to the shock of the producers and her agent, to "shadow" Bob Fosse's entourage and "gypsy" New York's finest jazz and ballet classes until she left with her boyfriend for Los Angeles in 1981.