Augusta Marsh Birney (born July 27, 1999), known professionally as Gus Birney, is an American actress. She is known for her television roles in the The Mist (2017), Dickinson (2019–2021), and Shining Vale (2022–2023).[1] On stage, she made her Broadway debut in the 2023 revival of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. She also acted in off-Broadway productions of The Rose Tattoo (2016) and Our Class (2024).
From February to March in 2023 she acted in the off-Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window starring opposite Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[8] She played a young prostitute, Gloria Parodus, the sister of Iris (Brosnahan). The production made its transfer to Broadway with Birney joining making it her Broadway debut.[9] Birney said of the experience, "Doing Sidney Brustein was one of the most transformative experiences of my life, not only as an actor, but as a human being. Anything after feels almost like, "OK, I know I can do this. I just went through something hard, and I have taught my soul how to handle going to a really dark place."[10] David Gordon of TheatreMania described her performance as being "excellent".[11] The production was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play losing to the revival of Topdog/Underdog.[12]
In 2024, she acted in the adaptation of the Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek's play Our Class at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[13] She portrays Dora, a young Jewish mother, one of 10 Polish students in the time leading up to a 1941 pogrom in the village of Jedwabne.[14] Raven Snook of Time Out described her performance as "heartbreaking".[15]