 In January 1958 , at age nine , she obtained her Actors Equity Card in the name Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic stereotyping , with the stage name taken from her father 's first name . She made her professional stage debut the same month in This is Goggle , a comedy directed by Otto Preminger that closed during out @-@ of @-@ town tryouts before reaching New York . She then appeared on NBC television as Anna <unk> in A Boy Called <unk> , a Kraft Mystery Theatre production , in May 1958 , and in a vignette entitled " Miracle in the Orphanage " , part of " The Christmas Tree " , a Hallmark Hall of Fame production , in December 1958 with fellow child actor Richard Thomas and veteran actors Jessica Tandy and Margaret Hamilton . She first appeared on the New York stage at age 10 as Tessie in the New York City Center revival of The Most Happy Fella ( 1959 ) . In her teen years , she attended the <unk> 's School for Young Professionals , a now defunct private school that several famous people , such as Steven Tyler , attended . 
