top of page

DNA Doesn't Lie But My Mother Did!
A solo show...
Written & Performed by Christine McBurney                                  Directed & Dramaturged by Lenny Pinna

An interrupted childhood in Brooklyn sends Christine to her grandparents in Ohio. She moves back to NYC, traipses around Europe, and lands back in Ohio, married with child. Deciding to become an actress, a surprising DNA test leads her back to New York to claim the role of her life.

Click for full images.
Photography: Richard Termine
 

Christine McBurney Edit 2 Final.jpg

An Official Selection of The Spark Theatre Festival, NYC

Lenny Pinna

Director & Dramaturg

Lenny Pinna is an eclectic creative artist.  He has an extensive background in theatre, holding an MFA in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University. He served 15 years as Resident Dramaturg for the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, CT. In the mid 90’s he taught acting and directing at Kent State University where he directed Christine McBurney in the 25th anniversary production of Van Italie’s The Serpent and his own adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. He directed several productions in the Cleveland area, including Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Mart Crowley’s For Reasons That Remain Unclear and Doug Holsclaw’s The Baddest of Boys. He founded Ecclesia Theater at Lake Erie College where he directed Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Tennessee Williams’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear. As an actor his favorite roles were John Merrick in The Elephant Man and Peter/Rebecca in the solo show, Making Faces, changing genders from male to female. As a filmmaker, his docu-drama, LETTERS TO URANUS: THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TEDD BURR was shown at the 2001 Cleveland International Film Festival and the 2002 NY Independent Film and Video Festival. Subsequently, he edited and published the book, “A Face From Uranus; Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellamann 1943-1945” and based on the book, he wrote the proposed the Limited TV series, In the Name of Jamie Wakefield, “Too Pretty For a Boy” which can be viewed along with the 2001 docu-drama at www.inthenameofjamiewakefield.com.


 

Christine McBurney is a multihyphenate. Acting credits include the films THE ALTO KNIGHTS (dir. Barry Levinson) and TUTTO (writer/actor) and her sold out solo show, DNA Doesn’t Lie But My Mother Did!; TV: Lazarus (Apple TV), FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), Fleishman is in Trouble (Hulu); Selected Stage: The Metropolitan Opera, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre. Christine was a co-founding, producing co-artistic director of Cleveland's critically-acclaimed classical theatre, Mamaí Theatre Company. Selected directing credits include: the short film, FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD (staring Catherine Curtin), the NYSCA/NYFA funded opera, Moon in the Mirror, Arcadia, Boston Marriage, lots of Shakespeare, and the world premiere of Fanny Burney’s The Woman Hater. Her remount of Cathleen O’Malley’s Milkdrunk goes to the Edinburgh Fringe in August ‘26. She wrote, produced and starred in the upcoming short film, TUTTO (everything). Honors: 2024 finalist for the inaugural Tina Packer Women of Will Directing Fellowship at Shakespeare & Co., 2017 Cleveland Critics' Circle Superior Achievement Award for both Mamaí and her production of A Doll's House, National Endowment for the Humanities recipient and other grants to study Shakespeare at The Juilliard School, Shakespeare & Company, and The Globe Theatre in London. She was an adjunct instructor at Baldwin Wallace University’s Department of Theatre & Dance, Cleveland State University's School of Film and Media, and Dept. Chair of Shaker Heights High School’s Theatre Arts Department. She is the Executive Director of Bluestocking Productions, LLC, a teaching artist for Hudson Valley Shakespeare, and a private acting coach. Member: Stage Directors & Choreographers Observership Class 2019-21, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Directors Lab West, Directors Lab North, SDC, SAG-AFTRA, AEA & WIFTOH & NYWIFT. BA Columbia University, MFA Kent State University. www.christinemcburney.com. 


 

© 2013 by Christine McBurney. All Rights Reserved. Proudly made by Wix.com 

bottom of page