 Witherspoon made her professional stage debut in 1905 with a New Orleans stock company.She first appeared in New York at the Belasco Theatre in the 1910 hit comedy "The Concert", which was Leo Ditrichstein's adaptation of the stage play, in which the 20-year-old actress portrayed the 76-year-old Edith Gordon.Witherspoon appeared with Ditrichstein in September 1913 for a four-month run at the Belasco and briefly the Theatre Republic playing Fanny Lamont in "The Temperamental Journey", from the comedy "Pour Vivre Heureux" by Andre Rivoire and Yves Mirandeis.