GREENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Hit sitcom Malcolm in the Middle is making a comeback next month (April 10th on Hulu), which means hometown star Jane Kaczmarek is getting another moment in the spotlight.

For seven seasons, Kaczmarek played Lois, the Mom on Malcolm. She earned seven Emmy nominations for her work on that show and has had many starring, recurring, and guest roles in other projects since then. A successful Hollywood career that started on the stage at Greendale High School in suburban Milwaukee.

CBS 58 spent some time with Kaczmarek while she reminisced about early 70s productions at GHS with the cast of this year's spring musical, Chicago.

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"That energy you have when you're together." she told the students gathered on the stage. "There's nothing like it. And for the rest of your life, you'll never forget it."

Kaczmarek graduated Greendale High in 1974. She was in productions of The Miracle Worker, Antigone, and The Apple Tree among many others.

Jane Kaczmarek in 'Antigone' at GHS. Greendale High School

"My God, this theatre was the beginning of..." Kaczmarek said, looking around the auditorium. "I was 15-years-old and I was cast as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker. The Helen Keller story."

Jane Kaczmarek in 'The Miracle Worker' at GHS. Greendale High School

She remembered not being able to sing well and having the perfect role in 'The Apple Tree.'

"It was a chimney sweep named Ella who lives in a chimney." said Kaczmarek. "And she wants to be Marilyn Monroe. And she can't sing."

A photo in the yearbook also reminded her of an earlier act in that production which featured a live mountain lion on the high school stage.

The mountain lion on stage in 'The Apple Tree' at GHS. Greendale High School

"They got a mountain lion on stage!" she said. "Those were the days. That would bring people in. 'Let's go see the musical, they say they have a mountain lion on stage."

Malcolm in the Middle aired on Fox from 2000 to 2006. During that time, she had her second and third children with then husband, fellow Wisconsin-native Bradley Whitford who was starring in NBC's The West Wing.

"After 7 years of these shows being on the air, our lives did change." she said. "We divorced shortly after. I just wanted to be a mom, put my career on the back burner and raise the kids."

A decision she says led to decades of joy raising her kids and some of her best times as an actor in a children's play in Pasadena, CA.

"It's a play called Peter and the Starcatcher." Kaczmarek said. "I had this black beard and I was a pirate. It was in a church basement and it may be the happiest time I've ever been on stage."

Jane Kaczmarek in 'Peter and the Starcatcher' in Pasadena. Theatre 360

The new 4-episode season of Malcolm debuts on Hulu on April 10th. Trailers show it is for Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois' 40th wedding anniversary. It'll be 25-years since they shot the pilot episode.

"When we all got together," Jane said of shooting the reboot. "Those boys are all fathers. And Bryan said, 'they're the age we were 25 years ago when we did this."

Since attending her own 50th high school reunion two years ago, Kaczmarek is spending a lot more time in Wisconsin these days.

 "That's Rusty, this one." said Kaczmarek, pointing out a Greendale student council group photo in the 1972 GHS yearbook. "This is my best friend Connie Coughlin and that's me."

Rusty (top), Connie (left), and Jane (right), posing for a student council yearbook photo. Greendale High School

The 'Rusty' she points out is Mequon lawyer Rusty Long. Jane's high school boyfriend and, as of last summer, her husband.

"50 years went by until we saw each other at this reunion." said Jane. "Connie and Mike had now been married for 46 years. Connie said, would you like to see Rusty again? I thought, I would love to see Rusty again."

Jane says they started talking on the phone. Her in California. Him in Wisconsin.

"I could not have made up a better man for me." said Jane. "Then he proposed and we got married this summer."

They were married in a barn in Saukville, with some famous faces from California in attendance.

"We had cheese curds. I wanted people who came up from California, we wanted them to see summer in Wisconsin." said Jane. "We had walleyed pike and cheese curds and a big keg of Spotted Cow along with good champagne."

Rusty Long and Jane Kaczmarek tie the knot in Saukville, WI in 2025. Jane Kaczmarek

Looking back on her journey from Wisconsin to Hollywood and now coming back to both Malcom and her high school love again, she recalls a line from TS Eliot's The Four Quartets.

"The final stanza is 'On the ending of all our exploring is to arrive at the place we started and know it for the first time.'

Side note: She definitely still calls 'water fountains' bubblers.

"Somebody said, why do you call it a bubbler?" she explained after seeing a photo of a bubbler in the yearbook. "I said if you were a caveman and language was being developed and you saw water coming up through a little spigot, wouldn't you say 'bub-bla? Bub-bla.' You wouldn't say 'water fountain.' Of course it's a bubbler."