Seana McKenna

Last updated

Seana McKenna CM (born 15 August 1956) is a Canadian actress primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Contents

Seana McKenna in 2016 Seana McKenna in 2016.jpg
Seana McKenna in 2016

Background

Seana McKenna was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, [1] [2] where as a student she played Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest and Isabella in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton. [3]

Stratford Shakespeare Festival

McKenna has played over 40 stage roles over the course of 36 years at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and major ones from very early on, specializing since the 2000s in strong-willed women but also mesmerizing as an actress looking very different from one role to another. [4] [5] 2013 was her 26th season: She played Queen Elizabeth I in Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart directed by Antoni Cimolino and Madame Arcati in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit directed by Brian Bedford. She is directing Twelfth Night for the 2024 season. [6]

Roles in other companies

She has also played leading roles in many other major houses across Canada, including the title role in Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (Centaur Theatre), Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (Grand Theatre, London), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner (Belfry Theatre, Neptune Theatre, National Arts Centre, Manitoba Theatre Centre/MTC), Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (Theatre New Brunswick), Eliza Dollitle in Pygmalion and the title role in Candida by George Bernard Shaw (Shaw Festival), Medea by Euripides and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (MTC), Blanche Dubois again at MTC, Wit by Margaret Edson at the Canadian Stage Company, [7] Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams at the Manitoba Theatre Centre and Royal Alexandra Theatre, Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley at the Canadian Stage Company, Phèdre by Jean Racine (American Conservatory Theater), and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Belfry Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, and National Arts Centre). [8] [9] [10] [11]

Films and TV

Mckenna has also acted in a few films and television, including the 1997 film The Hanging Garden , in which she won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well at filmed Stratford productions: Twelfth Night (1986, King John (2015), and Hamlet (2016)

Personal life

She married director Miles Potter, and they have one son, Callan, born in 1998.

Stratford Shakespeare Festival credits

DVDs, CDs, Audiobooks, Video clips

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic Theatre Festival</span>

The Atlantic Theatre Festival (ATF) was a professional theatre company located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Theatre Festival presented a "broad range of critically acclaimed theatre classics" during the summer in Wolfville's Festival Theatre, the former town hockey arena that was converted into a 504 seat, thrust stage theatre and professional production facility by the Atlantic Theatre Festival Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noël Coward Theatre</span> West End theatre in St. Martins Lane in London, formerly the Albery Theatre

The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre in St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by the architect W. G. R. Sprague with an exterior in the classical style and an interior in the Rococo style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sybil Thorndike</span> English actress (1882–1976)

Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson, was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Bedford</span> English actor (1935–2016)

Brian Bedford was an English actor. He appeared in film and on stage, and was an actor-director of Shakespeare productions. Bedford was nominated for seven Tony Awards for his theatrical work, winning once.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theatre Intime</span>

Theatre Intime is an entirely student-run dramatic arts not-for-profit organization operating out of the Hamilton Murray Theater at Princeton University. Intime receives no direct support from the university, and is entirely acted, produced, directed, teched and managed by a board of students that is elected once a semester. "Students manage every aspect of Theatre Intime, from choosing the plays to setting the ticket prices."

Zoe Ada Caldwell was an Australian actress. She was a four-time Tony Award winner, winning Best Featured Actress in a Play for Slapstick Tragedy (1966), and Best Actress in a Play for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968), Medea (1982), and Master Class (1996). Her film appearances include The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Birth (2004), and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). She was also known for providing the voice of the Grand Councilwoman in the Lilo & Stitch franchise and in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratford Shakespeare Festival production history</span>

This page describes the production history of the Stratford Festival.

Thelma Holt is a British theatre producer and former actress.

Graham Abbey is a Canadian film, television and stage actor, who is best known for his role as Gray Jackson in TV drama The Border.

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (RMTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. It was founded in 1958 by John Hirsch and Tom Hendry as an amalgamation of the Winnipeg Little Theatre and Theatre 77. The following is a chronological list of the Mainstage, Warehouse, and Regional Tour productions that have been staged since its inception.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company in Washington, D.C., United States. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Henrik Ibsen and Oscar Wilde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Rawlings</span> English actress

Margaret Rawlings, Lady Barlow was an English stage actress, born in Osaka, Japan, daughter of the Rev. George William Rawlings and his wife Lilian Rawlings.

Nicholas Ronald Ormerod OBE is a British theatre designer and co-founder of the international theatre company Cheek by Jowl. In 1981 he founded Cheek by Jowl with Declan Donnellan, and they are the company's co-artistic directors. In addition to his Cheek by Jowl productions, Ormerod has made theatre, opera and ballet with companies across the world. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge before studying for BA in theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Fleetwood</span> English actress (b. 1972)

Kate Fleetwood is an English actress. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, at Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End and Broadway and an Olivier Award nomination in 2012 for her performance as Julie in London Road at the National Theatre. Her film and television credits include Vanity Fair (2004), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), Macbeth (2010), Philomena (2013), London Road (2015), Harlots (2017–2019), and The Wheel of Time (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Giroux</span> Canadian actress

Michelle Giroux is a Canadian stage, television and film actress whose credits include numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival over fourteen seasons.

Goldie Semple was a Canadian actress.

The Asolo Repertory Theatre is located in Sarasota, Florida. It was originally a summers-only operation called The Asolo Comedy Festival. In 1963 it began to be referred to as The Asolo Theatre Festival. Starting in the fall of 1966, when it went into year-round operation, the name was changed to The Asolo Theater Company. Starting in 2006, it became The Asolo Repertory Theater, familiarly known as The Asolo Rep.

Sara Topham is a Canadian actress. She is primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada.

Lucy Peacock is a Canadian actress best known for major stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada during the course of 30 years.

Austin Shakespeare is a professional, classical theater production and education company located in Austin, Texas, USA. Multiple annual productions are cast by audition from a mix of Actor's Equity or Non-Equity, visiting or local, and company alumni or new actors. Performers of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Austin Shakespeare is a Resident Company of the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

References

  1. http://www.ent-nts.ca/en/programs/acting/alumni.aspx NTS acting alumni
  2. http://www.ent-nts.ca/journal/j23p06_alumni.htm NTS alumni outreach
  3. Women beware women. Program notes: Montreal, Quebec, National Theatre School of Canada, 1979
  4. Stratford Shakespeare Festival Visitors' Guides from 1982 to 2012. Stratford, Ontario, Canada
  5. "Stratford Festival".
  6. "Twelfth Night | Stratford Festival Official Site". Stratford Festival. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  7. Regarded as one of the best acting performances of 2001: Glenn Sumi, Wit star Seana McKenna makes a good play great. NOW , March 1, 2001. Retrieved 2016-07-15. McKenna received a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for her performance.
  8. http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=McKenna%2C%20Seana Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
  9. http://www.act-sf.org/0910/phedre/ American Conservatory Theater production of Phèdre
  10. http://www.tarragontheatre.com/season/1011/magicalthinking/ Tarragon Theatre production of The Year of Magical Thinking
  11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQhCi85Oew Video excerpt of Tarragon Theatre production of The Year of Magical Thinking