Seana McKenna CM (born 15 August 1956) is a Canadian actress primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
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]
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]
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]
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)
She married director Miles Potter, and they have one son, Callan, born in 1998.
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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.
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson, was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969.
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.
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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.
This page describes the production history of the Stratford Festival.
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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.
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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.
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