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Christine McBurney
Actor|Director|Coach|Writer
SAG-AFTRA * AEA * SDC
NYC * CLE * MTL
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I began my career as a stage actor and director and educator. Just before the pandemic, I immersed myself in on-camera acting and I have not looked back. I'm also active in voice overs, podcasts, modeling, and print. Critics have described my stage performances as “delicious” and “wonderful.”​
Emotionally astute...gripping...stellar...inventive...stalwart" is how critics have described my directing. I'm a member of the 2019-21 Stage Directors & Choreographers Society Foundation Observership Class, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab (NYC), Directors Lab West (LA), Directors Lab North (Toronto), and Cleveland Play House Directors Gym.
I have worked with everyone from students to Grammy-winners and was a co-founding, producing co-artistic director of the critically-acclaimed classical theatre company, Mamaí Theatre (2010-2017). In 2017, The Cleveland Critics' Circle honored Mamaí and my production of A DOLL’S HOUSE at Playhouse Square with two Superior Achievement Awards.
I coach actors at various studios from LA to NY and also privately with my production company, Bluestocking Productions.
Before committing full time to acting and directing, I taught theatre and film for 16 years and served a stint as chair of Shaker Heights High School’s nationally-recognized and award-winning theatre arts department. I received grants and fellowships to study Shakespeare in performance at The Globe Theatre in London, the National Endowment for the Humanities’ National Institute on Teaching Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Company, and The Juilliard School. I was named a U.S. Presidential Scholars Program’s Distinguished Teacher and a Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. I have been on the acting faculty at Cleveland State University's School of Film & Media Arts and Baldwin Wallace University’s Department of Theatre & Dance. I taught dialects at Houde School of Acting.
I hold a BA in Comparative Literature and Writing from Columbia University and an MFA in Acting from Kent State University.
A perpetual student, I have continued my training, studying with Shakespeare & Company, Bedlam, Red Bull, Cleveland Play House, Houde School of Acting, Dream Lab, James Ciccone, and Anthony Grasso.
Member SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and SDC (Stage Directors & Choreographers Society).​​​ I am represented by Eris Talent (NY/LA/ATL), Dream Maker Talent (NYC), BAC Talent (LA) Docherty Talent (CLE), Heyman Talent (OH), and The iGroup (MI).
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