Her foster mother Elizaveta Ivanovna was an amateur actress and singer who worked at the popular Shepelev Theatre, and from an early age Polina made up her mind that she'd follow her footsteps.

Total lack of education at that stage apparently did not bother Strepetova: she was learning fast, from her better-known colleagues, mostly Lyubov Nikulina-Kositskaya and Alexandra Schubert, as well as Modest Pisarev, her future husband.

Her nine year stay at the leading Imperial theatre was marred by conflicts with her more successful and versatile rival Maria Savina, petty scandals regarding wages and much intrigue on the parts of both her detractors and followers.

She had more than thirty parts in Alexandrinka between 1881 and 1890, but of the 22 new ones only three were later recognized as consistent with the level of her scenic gift: Kruchinina (Guilty Without Fault, Ostrovsky), Stepanida (Close to the Money, Viktor Krylov) and Sarra (Ivanov, Anton Chekhov).

[1] Strepetova spent the last years of her life in Petersburg, where in 1896-1897 she played at the Maly Suvorinsky Theatre and later worked on a book of memoirs called Minuvshiye dni (Минувшие дни, Days Long Gone), which remained unfinished.