Bio: Mary McCool is an actress, performer/creator of new plays, writer, and director whose work occasionally extends to video, sound, and costume design. She trained as a dancer for 16 years, received a Bachelorʼs Degree in Theatre Arts and English Literature from VA Tech, and co-founded the Obie Award-winning theatre company New Paradise Laboratories, in Philadelphia. Her work as a performer/creator in ensemble-based, devised theatre has been presented at the Andy Warhol Museum, Beppu Project, the Brooklyn Lyceum, FringeArts, the Humana Festival of New Plays, Les Kourbas Theatre, the Ontological-Hysteric, the PIFA festival with Ballet X and the Wilma Theater, P.S. 122, the Public Theater, Ringling International Arts Festival, Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting, and the Walker Art Center. Ms. McCool has acted with companies including 1812 Productions, the Arden Theatre, Peopleʼs Light and Theatre Company, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Theatre Exile, the Wilma Theater, and off-broadway with the Play Company. Her short play CORP MTNG received a staged reading at InterAct Theatreʼs Supported Artists Series, and her developing solo work has been seen at Scratch Nights and workshop residencies at FringeArts. As a director, her work has been seen at independent theatre venues around Philadelphia, as well as Brat Productions, Arcadia University, and the University of the Arts. She has designed for companies including Brat Productions, InterAct Theatre, New Paradise Laboratories, and also for turns onstage as a regular co-host of the Philly Fringe Late Nite Cabaret. Ms. McCool has continued her studies with the Atlantic Acting School, Attis Theatre Company, Siti Company, Shakespeare and Company, and Upright Citizens Brigade, among others. She is the recipient of an Independence Foundation Fellowship, a Live Arts Brewery Fellowship, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship grant for new performance forms with New Paradise Laboratories, and a Philadelphia Theatre Initiative professional development grant. She resides in a 150-year-old house in Philadelphia, and occasionally Brooklyn.
Residency Public Sharing: 12/13/13