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Sheila McKenna, M.F.A.

Professor 

Associate Artistic Director, Conservatory Theatre Company
Bridges Theatre Company Coordinator

Pictured is Sheila McKenna.

Contact Information

Education

  • M.F.A., Performance Pedagogy, University of Pittsburgh
  • B.F.A., Acting, Point Park University

Courses Taught

  • Directing
  • Acting
  • Improvisation for Actors
  • Experimental Theatre
  • Senior Capstone
  • Dialects and Accents

Background

Sheila McKenna is a theatre director and actor frequently working with new plays and their development. She has originated roles in plays by Christopher Durang (Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge), Michele Lowe (String of Pearls, Mezzulah, 1946) and Tammy Ryan (In the Shape of a Woman), among others. McKenna's acting performances span multiple theatrical genres and styles, including classical, improvised and devised texts, musicals, radio plays and voiceovers, and experimental theatre. 

McKenna’s directing work for the Conservatory of Performing Arts includes The Winter's Tale, The Children's Hour, The History Boys, You On the Moors Now, Warrior, Top Girls, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Cloud 9. Her artistic teams with Conservatory shows typically include student collaborators. For The Rep, the university’s former professional theatre company, she directed Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods (cited by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the 'Best' of Pittsburgh theatre directors in 2011), The Queens (with André Koslowski), the world premieres of playwright Tammy Ryan’s F.B.I. Girl and Baby’s Blues, as well as Anton in Show Business (named one of the Best Plays in 2003 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and Ryan’s play Pig.

For Quantum Theatre, McKenna's performances include “Anne Hathaway” in Shakespeare’s Will, director Melanie Dreyer’s stunning production which included original music by and with violinist Dawn Posey, and “Vermandero,” the guitar-strumming father in Dog Face, directed by Dan Jemmett (McKenna composed Vermandero’s lament); that acclaimed production toured to Madrid’s Festival de Otoño. Also for the company, McKenna has directed The Gun Show, Madagascar and El Paso Blue.

McKenna has been honored to perform regularly with the City Theatre Company, often sharing her comedic talents in such productions as Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and The Underpants, or playing multiple characters, as in The Monster in the Hall and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sheila's direction work with City includes several of the Young Playwright's Festivals; for their Momentum new play development series she has worked as both an actor and director. Sheila recently directed Opus for their "City Rewinds 50 Years of New Plays" reading series. 

McKenna’s directing work with Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre includes memorably powerful and poetic productions of John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea, Harold Pinter's The Room and the world premiere of Bruce Dow’s musical Wilde Tales. Several productions McKenna directed for the company are cited among the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's 'Best of Theatre' honors. Her performances with the company include "Mistress Quickly" in Henry IV Parts I and II, "Mrs. Candour" in The School for Scandal and "May" in Footfalls.

McKenna is a member of Tanztheater André Koslowski, performing experimental dance-theatre; she serves as a contributing collaborator under the direction of Mr. Koslowski. In 2009 they co-directed The Queens for The REP, and Mr. Koslowski choreographed her original-practices inspired production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the Conservatory Theatre Company (cited by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for "Best Student Duos" of 2004 and "Best Ensemble).

Among memorable collaborations, she has played opposite Fred Rogers (Mr. Roger's Neighborhood), Tyne Daly (Stuck With Each Other), a mailbox (Kimberly Akimbo), and her fictional upright-bass slapping brother Earl (writer Elena Passarello) in their drag music-comedy act, The Muthers Brothers. Her film work includes director Fredrick Johnson's After Hours Trading, Homemakers (director Colin Kane Healy), Alone in the Neon Jungle (director Georg Stanford Brown) and Director Meredith Cole's Achilles' Love. She has written two short plays, Wanted and Hum, both produced by the Women's Work Festival.

Professional Memberships

  • Actor's Equity Association
  • SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors' Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists)

Selected Performances

  • Misery, barebones productions
  • Shakespeare's Will, Quantum Theatre Company
  • The Rivals, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, PlayTime
  • Pipeline, City Theatre Company
  • Midnight Radio, Bricolage Production Company
  • por la blanda arena, TanzTheater André Koslowski
  • Monster in the Hall, City Theatre Company
  • Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, City Theatre Company
  • Twelfth Night, Quantum Theatre Company
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream, Quantum Theatre Company
  • Dog Face, Quantum Theatre Company/Festival D'Otono, Madrid
  • Footfalls, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, BeckettFest
  • King Lear, The REP
  • Kimberly Akimbo, The REP
  • The Third Lie, The REP

Selected Artistic Works

  • Die Hard N'At, Performer/Foley Artist, Bricolage Production Company
  • The History Boys, Director, Conservatory of Performing Arts
  • South Side Stories, Dialect Coach, City Theatre
  • The Coffin Maker, Dialect Coach, Pittsburgh Public Theatre
  • The Gun Show, Director, Quantum Theatre
  • Lost Boy Found at Whole Foods, Director, The REP
  • Dry Bones by James McManus, Director, City Theatre Momentum Festival
  • Pig, Director, The REP
  • Anton in Show Business, Director, The REP
  • Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Director:
    • The Room, Pinter Celebration
    • Riders to the Sea, The Shadow of the Glen, Synge Festival
    • Wilde Tales (world premiere)
    • Come and Go, What Where, Happy Days (reading), BeckettFest 
  • Top Girls, Director, Conservatory Theatre Company
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Director, Conservatory Theatre Company
  • Cloud Nine, Director, Conservatory Theatre Company

Research Interests

  • Shakespeare: performance, directing, history, language/poetry, verse, physical and experimental acting approaches.
  • Dialects, accents, language and speech; expert in the local dialect 'Pittsburghese.'
  • Stage directing, including experimental and devised work.

Selected Awards

  • Outstanding Alumni Award, Point Park University
  • Performer of the Year, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette