She portrayed the title character in 1988's Pulitzer prize-winning drama "Driving Miss Daisy", which was originated by Dana Ivey at Playwrights Horizons in New York. Sternhagen took over the role after the show moved to the John Houseman Theatre and played it for more than two years.Her off-Broadway awards include two nominations for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play in 1998, for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" at the Irish Repertory Theatre and in 2005, for the World War I drama "Echoes of the War". She also won Distinguished Performance Obie Awards for "The Room" and "A Slight Ache" (1964–65). In 1998, she won the Dramatists Guild Fund's Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Award for Excellence in Theater.