Ethan McSweeny /Selected Press (chronologically) 06.16

“Ethan McSweeny seems to have a Midas touch. It’s not that the plays he directs turn into

gold but they do sail across the footlights with a vibrant, magnetic sheen… The wunderkind

director who made his Broadway debut before some directors finish graduate school, is earning

plaudits for a flurry of new productions…Throughout his career, McSweeny has moved from

classics to contemporary dramas to premieres with ease…His scrupulous attention to the

melding of design, pacing, and performance and facility with which he presents them, feels

crisp, vibrant, and cinematic.”

Jaime Kleiman, American Theatre

“McSweeny is revealing himself to be the kind of directorial prodigy we read about in

biographies of such auteurs as Robert Wilson and Peter Sellers. Except that he does not

impose a vision or conceit on a play; he amplifies themes in the work.”

Rohan Preston, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“McSweeny is not only one of our most successful theatre directors, but equally one of

our most important, and for a man who zoomed a few years ago past 40, he continues to

sport the aura of a modern Boy Wonder — an Orson Welles with much more in his future

than commercials for Paul Masson … It’s not just that he is — as Peter Marks characterized him

in his Washington Post review of The Tempest — a “classical imagist,” although he does possess

that rare mixture of deep affinity for text and a fanciful eye. He has proven to be fluid in his

choices, negotiating between the classical and the edgy-new. For every classic, in other words,

he can stage an edgy (Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should Know), or something highly edgy

(Jason Grote’s 1001), or else versions of plays so edgy they’re standing almost on a ledge (Noah

Haidle’s Mr. Marmalade).”

The Clyde Fitch Report

“McSweeny…has pursued such an eclectic career as a director that he himself is hard to

figure out…Creating his own path seems characteristic of the man. “I don’t tend to do well with

well-trod systems,” he agrees…McSweeny has maintained a peripatetic and inquisitive career...

[which] seems to illustrate the creative potential of being unsettled…he can always be an

outside eye.”

Peter Crawley, The Irish Times

MOMENT

by Deidre Kinahan

The Studio Theater • March – May 2016

Sets: Debora Booth • Costumes: Philip Whitcomb • Lights: Scott Bolman • Sound: Palmer

Hefferen

“The acting in Deirdre Kinahan’s Moment at Studio Theatre is so sharp it’s like seeing a

play in a live equivalent of high-def … Director Ethan McSweeny, better known in

Washington for his bigger shows with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, handles “Moment”

with a delicate touch in Studio’s coziest venue, the Milton Theatre. The result is acting that

never hits a wrong note and is as absorbingly detailed as [the] humble and functional-

looking kitchen set … The evening’s heat comes from Emily Landham’s resentment as Niamh,

who works in a local publishing house and enters with a hopeful beau named Fin trailing her (a

wonky and solicitous Avery Clark). As Ruth, Hannah Yelland is superb as the outsider trying to

charm her way in, and she and Albrink — who creates a nuanced portrait of a damaged man

trying to move on — have a lovely fragile rapport. Caroline Bootle Pendergast and Ciaran Byrne

supply spirited turns as the good-time couple Ciara (sister of Niamh and Nial) and her husband,

the simple-spirited Dave … The most profound instance of vanishing inside a character is

Dearbhla Molloy’s utterly natural performance as Teresa, the addled matriarch of the

clan. There is nothing flashy about Teresa, yet Molloy is subtly, authoritatively gripping. The

believability is absolute as this long-suffering mother waves away attention yet fusses to keep

her almost disintegrated family together just for an afternoon.

Nelson Pressley, The Washington Post

“One of the strongest theatrical experiences I've had this season … in his Studio Theatre

debut, Ethan McSweeny (best known to Washington audiences for his work at Shakespeare

Theatre Company) directs a group of uniformly talented actors who give life to the story in a

way that allows the underlying tension build slowly, but deliberately and realistically … This is

a production that will stay with you long after the performance ends.”

Jennifer Perry, Broadway World

“A master class in complicated characterization …what follows is an examination of the

tricky nature of memory, the long-term effects of tragedy, and the complicated notion of being a

family.

Jessica Pearson, DC Theatre Scene

“At the explosive end of Moment’s first act … Studio Theatre’s penetrating production of

Deirdre Kinahan’s lacerating Moment – a knife-edged night of reopened old wounds – the

audience I watched the play with sat a long moment in shell-shocked silence. I doubt any of

us knew what hit us … To say this family drama is fascinating is an understatement!”

John Stoltenberg, DC Metro Theatre Arts

“Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan’s Moment offers us, without hyperbole or melodrama,

the family forever marked by the wound of anger and hostility; and as those wounds open

in the play so they open across our violent landscape … Intimate, funny, and insightful,

Moment takes us into the psychological terrain, not of the perpetrator nor the victim of that

aggression, but of the familial bystanders who, though invisible, nonetheless suffer lifelong

consequences … Ethan McSweeny directed Moment, finding within it an exquisitely natural

pacing, punctuated by sharp, clarifying “moments”.

Robert Michael Oliver, DCMTA

BETTER GODS

Music by Luna Pearl Woolf, Libretto by Caitlin Vincent

Washington National Opera • January 2016

Conductor: Timothy Myers • Sets: Daniel Conway • Costumes: Lynly Saunders • Lights: AJ

Guban • Choreography: Vicki Holt Takamine

“With this work, Washington National Opera proves conclusively that finding new stories about

the American experience and presenting them with the highest caliber of young singers is a core

mission of the company … Better Gods brings a mostly unknown chapter in Hawaiian history

onto the stage at the Kennedy Center, telling the story of Queen Lili’uokalani, the island nation’s

last monarch, with dignity and high artistic values … Director Ethan McSweeny gets it just

right for the work and where it is … I imagine the Hawaiian “better gods” are happy.”

Susan Galbraith, DC Theatre Scene

“This fascinating and heart wrenching story of Better Gods is a production worth seeing …

The touches of Hawaiian authenticity, and the tremendous strength of the performers, make [for]

a powerful experience … Woolf’s new and original composition uses Hawaiian instruments to

add an audible authenticity to the story.”

Kendall Mostafavi, DC Metro Theater Arts

“Composed with ethnical truth by Luna Pearl Woolf, Better Gods is a stirring portrait of a

determined Queen who must decide whether she should give up her crown or her soul … The

story, as told with brutal honest through Caitlin Vincent’s stirring libretto, is a bold choice to be

told at the Kennedy Center ... Ms. Woolf’s gorgeous score is underlined by the use of traditional

Hawaiian chants and her score utilized authentic instruments like the nose flute, Kala’au

(percussive sticks), and Ili’ili (castanets), that are native to the island. The Washington National

Opera has always been a champion for young artists, both on stage and off. The WNO’s

American Opera Initiative’s premier production of Better Gods is a testimony to that.”

Keith Tittermary, Opera World

FULFILLMENT

by Thomas Bradshaw

The Flea Theatre/American Theatre Company co-world premiere • September – December 2015

Sets & Lights: Brian Sidney Bembridge • Costumes: Andrea Lauer • Sound: Mikhail Fikshel

and Miles Polaski

“Engaging and Unsettling … it provides a sharply legible index to the mind and method of an

original playwright who refuses to embrace easy or consoling answers to the puzzles called

human beings.”

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

“An urban dramedy slathered in Bradshaw sauce, Fulfillment gets a handsome and swift-

moving production from Ethan McSweeny … the cast is likable and very game, with Flood

and Akinnagbe showing genuine chemistry (and heat) and Jeff Biehl coolly creepy as the

neighbor from hell.”

David Cote, TimeOut

"A thought-provoking and powerful evening at the theater … With direction by Ethan

McSweeny, Thomas Bradshaw's world premiere play Fulfillment, examines the theme of agency

and the quest to live a "successful" life. This compelling construct makes for an intense, often

uncomfortable, and extremely provocative 90 minutes on the stage.

Rachel Weinberg, Broadway World

“In Thomas Bradshaw's acerbic new play Fulfillment — now at the Flea in a crisp production

by Ethan McSweeny — a successful lawyer struggles to find inner peace and external rewards

… Bradshaw's modern-day Job story illustrates the covert racism endemic in elite circles."

Jacob Gallagher-Ross, The Village Voice

“Playwright Thomas Bradshaw is an equal opportunity misanthrope with a tabloid

mentality. In one way or another his principal subjects are race and morality (or immorality) in

America … Not surprisingly, the play’s best scene finds a couple in ferocious fornication

(“choreographed” by Yehuda Duenyas – talk about a “specialty”), only to be hilariously undone

by a psychopathic neighbor’s purposeful and continual attempts to torment his new African

American neighbor with a barrage of industrial strength noise. Mikhil Fiskel’s musical scoring,

and his sound design collaboration with Miles Polaski, could not be more inspired.”

Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

“An excellent play by one of America's most audacious scribes … the latest in Bradshaw's

highly provocative series of dramas about the perils of intimacy; the complexity of being an

African-American in the allegedly modern, allegedly enlightened world; and the ubiquity of self-

loathing, loneliness and desperation among affluent, amply educated urban professionals …

McSweeny's production is dynamic, visually imaginative and never dull for so much as a

second … and it does have its moments of enlightenment (Mikhail Fiksel and Miles

Polaski's sound design is a sensual feast). Go see it by all means — it is a most stimulating

new play.”

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY

by Brian Friel, after Turgenev

The Gate Theatre • July – September 2015

Sets: Francis O’Connor • Costumes: Peter O’Brien • Lights: Sinead McKenna • Sound: Denis

Clohessy

“Mesmerizing … it's rare you leave a theatre unsure whether to laugh or cry - or both.

From raucous laughter to tears, comedy to tragedy, passion to toxic jealousy and deception, the

entertaining play also somehow manages to be an in-depth study of the complexity of

relationships and the roller coaster ride of emotion that is love … The standout performance of

the show is Aislin McGuckin as the demanding, passionate, selfish, cunning and deeply

unhappy Natalya. She is spell-binding as she acts out the part of a dissatisfied, self-obsessed

and jealous woman on the brink of a breakdown …Friel squeezes A Month in the Country

into just over two hours of superb theatre and each and every member of this stellar cast

plays a blinder. “

Alana Fearon, Daily Mirror

“Love is a game with uncertain rules and ruinous consequences in Brian Friel’s delicately

amusing and elegiac version of Turgenev’s play. Passions run high on the Islayev estate …

they brood, multiply, and finally erupt. To this end, Francis O’Connor’s intriguing set collapses

the interior and exterior spaces, multiplying the proscenium of the Gate into a series of retreating

frames, he turns the theatre into a hall of mirrors, allowing trees to break up through the

floorboards … this wilderness is ready to reclaim us. Director Ethan McSweeny maintains a

stately pace for a drama a romantic and linguistic entanglements, one that smuggles the

radical energy of passion into a distinctly Irish wordplay. All around … love is a form of

madness: a “catastrophe” that makes “the unreasonable perfectly reasonable.” It even sends

both Natalya and Michel skittering into tormented, split-psyche monologues, unable to reconcile

their public and private selves.”

Peter Crawley, The Irish Times

“Turgenev’s play preceded Chekhov’s great works by half a century, but in Friel’s hands the two

become contemporaries … The play is, in a sense, daringly superficial, its very superficiality a

comment on the milieu we are watching. It hints at a terrifying void beneath the rigid social

hierarchies and customs … Director Ethan McSweeny keeps Friel’s sense of unbearable

lightness … Francis O’Connor’s set, mixing trees with interior settings, hints at the

breakdown of the system that has preserved the estate, ensuring its return to wilderness.”

Alan O’Riordan, Irish Examiner

“★★★★… A memorable production … Mark O’Regan adds another fine understated

performance to his list of recent comic work, getting the tone just right for the dodgy doctor

with the bad jokes, almost making Shpigelsky likeable, especially in his wooing of the family

friend Lizaveta … The most powerful dramatic moments of the evening were provided by

Nick Dunning as Natalya’s husband in the scene in which his eyes are opened to the emotionally

dead world he has provided for his wife. His transformation from a well-meaning man unaware

of his situation to one faced with the truth about his life and family is a formidable piece of

acting.”

Michael Moffatt, The Irish Mail on Sunday

“Perfect Gate material … Mark O’Regan does a brilliant job as the joker Doctor Schigelsky …

Caiomhe O’Malley as young Vera goes on a wonderful journey from giggly kid to mature

young woman after the smack of betrayal. She becomes the centre of the play. Francis

O’Connor’s set is a triumph … Costumes by Peter O’Brien are supremely elegant.”

Katy Hayes, The Irish Independent

“Enchanting … While Turgenev’s play is usually described as a comedy of manners, Friel has

focused on passion as obsession. It is Natalya’s (a striking Aislin McGuckin) love for the

younger man that drives the play’s emotion. An arresting cast is bolstered by beautiful

costumes, and set and Ethan McSweeny’s calm direction.”

Eithne Shortall, The Sunday Times

THE TEMPEST

Shakespeare Theatre Company • December 2014 - January 2015

Sets: Lee Savage • Costumes: Jennifer Moeller • Lights: Christopher Akerlind •

Original Music: Jennifer Geiring • Sound: Nevin Steinberg • Puppets: James Ortiz

"Ethan McSweeny, whose strength as a classical imagist has been on display in the past ...

here offers a wise and alluring take on Shakespeare, a Tempest of white-sand beaches under a

haze-shrouded sun, of gods as monumental puppets manipulated by billowy sprites."

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

"A brilliant new vision of the play ... director Ethan McSweeny masterfully blends the plot

lines together ... this Tempest locates the drama in a stunning verbal and visual simplicity ...

[in] a refreshingly new way."

Barbara Mackay, Theatermania

"McSweeny's productions at Shakespeare Theatre Company have become must-see events.

From The Persians, through The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer

Night's Dream, and now The Tempest [his] work is by turns ambitious, showy, electrifying

and spectacular. His attentive wonderworks refresh the appeal of Shakespeare's work while

retaining the fidelity and beauty of the language."

Roy Maurer, DC Theatre Scene

"McSweeny offers audiences a visually rich, complex Tempest that has its share of magical

moments, but which at its core is unvarnished by sentiment ... [his] gift as a director is to leave

room for those of us who see Shakespeare's world (like our own) as a great deal more

complex."

Andrew White, Broadway World

"A high-water mark ... beautifully realized by Ethan McSweeny, the show is a powerful

reminder of the reasons to go to the theatre in the first place."

Landon Randolph, DCist

AN IDEAL HUSBAND

by Oscar Wilde

The Gate Theatre • March – May 2014

Sets: Francis O’Connor • Costumes: Peter O’Brien • Lights: Sinead McKenna • Sound: Denis

Clohessy

Irish Times Award nomination for Best Costumes

“★★★★”

Irish Times on Sunday

“In Ethan McSweeny’s wonderfully vivacious production, the sparkle never flags and

there’s an almost perfect balance between the play’s lightness of tone and its serious import

… There are brilliantly observed performances throughout, even as minor a character as Phipps –

the ‘ideal butler’ – played with delightful comic precision by Simon Coury … Peter O’Brien’s

costumes offer material equivalents to the production’s scintillating wit. In tandem with Francis

O’Connor’s deftly designed and beautifully versatile set, a kind of reflective glasshouse

suggestive of a hall of mirrors, we have an ideal production of Wilde’s thought-provoking

comedy”

John McKeown, The Irish Independent

“Appearances are deceptive in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 melodrama … it follows that director

Ethan McSweeny’s new production for the Gate should open with ironic blast of Rule

Brittania! before recognizing a more fragile world of surfaces … Francis O’Connor’s

encircling mirrored walls (an appropriate showroom for Peter O’Brien’s sumptuous costumes)

suggest a society high on self-regard and somehow perilously short on reflection … [Rea’s] Lord

Goring is allowed a nimble physicality where others are mired in Victorian stiffness. When

Wilde’s mechanical plotting begins to creak under incriminating letters, fortuitous

discoveries and unmasking contrivances, McSweeny and Rea decide to match that

artificiality with slapstick. It works surprisingly well, as befits a ‘thoroughly modern

intellect.’”

Peter Crawley, Irish Times

“★★★★, Wilde’s 1895 play may have a faint whiff of the passé about it, yet it remains

doggedly modern. Its dissection of public morality … is hugely relevant to our own age of

political corruption while its interrogation of the illusory nature of ‘character’ is mercilessly

amusing … All four leads put in keen and nuanced turns, with Rea unearthing a pleasant

vulnerability in Goring.”

Padraic Killeen, Irish Examiner

“Like a precursor to ‘House of Cards’ … director Ethan McSweeny mines the text for its

comic potential and, in ably exploring the ways in which the Victorian world shies away

from its own reflection, he also holds a mirror up to our own.”

Daragh Reddin, Metro Herald

A TIME TO KILL

Golden Theatre, Broadway • September – November 2013

Produced by Daryl Roth & Eva Price

By John Grisham • adapt by Rupert Holmes • Sets: James Noone • Costumes: David Woolard •

Lights: Jeff Croiter • Sound: Lindsay Jones • Video: Jeff Sugg

“A sturdy ensemble production helmed by Ethan McSweeny, this courtroom drama feels

as if it were made for an earlier, less cynical era … James Noone’s expressive set, made

almost entirely of polished wood and sensuously curved like the staves of a barrel, has the

mellow glow (provided by lighting designer Jeff Croiter) you’d expect to find in an old country

courthouse in the Deep South … McSweeny and his first-rate design team have gone for a

timeless quality — no doubt to suggest that racism, in one ugly form or another, is always with

us….If that sounds exactly like the irrational fury that makes Tea Party extremists resist

anything and everything proposed by a black president … well, so it is.”

Marilyn Stasio, Variety

“A thriller of the sort rarely seen on Broadway these days, John Grisham’s A Time to Kill

brings a satisfying, if unsettling, courtroom drama to the Golden Theatre with an engaging cast

playing juicy dramatic characters in a lurid tale spiked with a mild frisson of sex.”

Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg.com

“McSweeny keeps the plot wheels turning…aided by the versatility of Noone’s elegant design

and Jeff Croiter’s textured lighting, lending a cinematic fluidity to the scene transitions.”

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“The focus is squarely on the courtroom, which director Ethan McSweeny and scenic

designer James Noone have accommodated with a turntable set that pulls us into the action

…We watch the defendant, Carl Lee Hailey, as a jury would; and since he is played by the

magnificent John Douglas Thomson — who delivers the most fully realized performance here —

we are moved by his anguish, rage, obstinance and dignity … [Patrick Page] wraps himself in

Southern smarm, wielding an oily smile and lowering his voice to a fiendish basso croak … a

droll Tom Skerritt pops up as Jake's booze-addled mentor, while Law & Order alum and real-

life counselor Fred Dalton Thompson has a drily engaging turn as a no-nonsense judge. The

wonderful Tonya Pinkins and Chike Johnson bring as much as humanity as possible to the

roles of, respectively, Carl Lee's devastated wife and a black sheriff whose function is to embody

reason and decency … the crowd-pleasing A Time to Kill is more than justly served.

Elysa Gardner USA today

‘‘[John Douglas] Thompson lends a palpable weight and gravity to his performance as Carl

Lee, whose belief that his actions were justified makes him squirm with anguish at the idea

that he’ll hang for his crimes … Mr. Holmes … infuses the play with crisp humor … Much

of it concerns the antics of Lucien Wilbanks, the disbarred lawyer who is a mentor to Jake, and

who is played with appealingly laid-back good spirits by Tom Skerritt, nimbly engaging in a

little actorly petty thievery. Lucien’s horror at discovering he’s taken a big gulp of iced tea, when

he thought it was whiskey, earns one of the evening’s most robust laughs.”

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“the atmosphere in director Ethan McSweeny’s crisp, polished production is consistently

electric.”

Paul Burchall, Stage and Cinema

‘‘Perfectly cast … [Tom] Skerritt nicely pulls off a charming disgraced and drunken lawyer and

[Fred Dalton] Thompson is a sure-footed judge”

Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

by Tennessee Williams

Gate Theatre • July – September 2013

Sets: Lee Savage • Lights: Paul Keogan • Costumes: Joan O’Clery • Sound: Denis Clohessy

Winner of the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Director

Best Leading Actress (Lia Williams)

Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Walker)

Nominated for three additional awards including Best Production, Best Scenic Design, and Best

Supporting Actor

“★★★★” Sunday Times

“★★★★” Evening Herald

“★★★★” Irish Mail on Sunday

“★★★★” Metro Herald

“★★★★” Sunday Business Post

“★★★★” Irish Daily Mail

“Ethan McSweeny’s gripping production at the Gate Theatre, however, is a model of

effective restraint … what is really at stake in McSweeny’s production is not just desire but two

different ways of seeing the world, as Blanche’s idealism is gradually eroded by Stanley’s

realism ... there isn’t a moment when it is less than compelling. In this fine production “an

hour isn’t just an hour, but a little piece of eternity”. !

Sara Keating, The Irish Times!

“No detail is too small in this excellent production directed by Ethan McSweeny, making his

directorial debut at The Gate, and what a way to begin…You will be hard pressed to find a

piece of theatre as good as this anywhere, anyplace … To use that old cliché, if you only see

one play this year, make sure it's this one. You will not be disappointed, as you realize that

this is the stuff of theatrical excellence. You will want to see it again. I do.”

Red Curtain Review

“It’s easy to make the mistake that Blanche is nothing but a pathetic, man-eating, manipulative,

soulless siren, yet despite all that, and more — her childish horror of ageing, and her ready

acknowledgment that more often than not, she plays fast and loose with the truth —the depth of

her decline is pure abjection, and is correctly put centre stage in this production, beautifully

orchestrated by director Ethan McSweeny. ‘Orchestrated’ because here, Williams’ dangerous

text is approached as a symphony…That first silence is a revelation: the mark of a director

who knows how to pace the beats of a play, and since we are in for the long haul – three hours

and a bit – we are, thankfully, in calm, confident, creative hands. This idea of playing on the

musicality of the text, of emphasising its rhythms and movements, is further extrapolated

through the use of live songs performed by vocalist Esosa Ighodaro and Conor Sheil on clarinet.

Nominally employed to cover what could have been pace-destroying scene changes, the music

enlivens and underscores the atmosphere. We are in a very specific place…comprised of the

mournfully hopeful elegies of gospel and soul.”

Susan Conley, Irish Theatre Magazine

“American director Ethan McSweeny, whose début at the Gate the play is, manages to

beautifully orchestrate the classic play without losing any of its depth and fascination. … A

Streetcar Named Desire is without a doubt one of the highlights, if not the most spectacular

play, of this year’s theatre season in Dublin. Ethan McSweeny’s reputation as one of

theatre’s brightest stars is founded as he created a must-see play.”

Claire Fastner, The Journalist

“American director Ethan McSweeny subtly rebalances its characterizations and shifting

sympathies: instead of extreme polarization between the lead characters of Stanley Kowalski, his

pregnant wife, Stella, and her visiting sister, Blanche DuBois, we are shown a more complex and

affecting picture. “!

Helen Meany, The Guardian

“The Gate production is intriguing chiefly for the way in which Walker and Williams complicate

the received images and soften the contrasts. The drama they create is not one of stark

opposites but one of intertwined and interdependent personalities … Indeed, one of the

many admirable things about Ethan McSweeny’s excellent current production at the Gate

Theatre in Dublin is the intelligent manner in which Garrett Lombard as Stanley stays out of the

way. He is, as Stanley must be, a powerful physical presence and a domineering bully. But his

performance sets its own proper limits. Lombard does not seek to occupy too much

psychological or emotional space. Stanley is what he is: an almost parodic expression of

primitive maleness.”

Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

The Shakespeare Theater • November 2012 – January 2013

Sets: Lee Savage • Costumes: Jennifer Moeller • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Sound: Fitz Patton •

Movement: Peter Pucci

5 Helen Hayes Award Nominations including Best Production, Best Direction, Best Scenic

Design

“McSweeny, who has become artistic director Michael Kahn’s go-to guy for visual panache

(a beautiful The Persians) … stages the initial beckoning of the fairies…with breathtaking

cleverness: the flickering on of a ghost light on a bare stage … the entrance of Oberon is just as

enchanting: A door slides open, revealing Campbell in matinee-idol profile, set off by the whiteout of

a blizzard.”

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“What elevates the show above so many others, however, is McSweeny’s boundless creativity

in dealing with the fairies and his deft hand with the rude mechanicals. Lee Savage’s set is

deceptively simple, [allowing] Puck and company to appear, disappear, and leap in the air, as if

by, well, magic…But this thoughtful, relatively risky take on a familiar classic is well worth

experiencing.”

Sophie Gilbert, Washingtonian

“Director Ethan McSweeny uses a decrepit theater as the setting for his scintillating production

of A Midsummer Night's Dream for Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company, with the twist

that the fairies are just as enamored with stagecraft as the mortals are with theater…McSweeny

demonstrates an easy confidence with the play on many levels, proving himself just as

adept with the pageantry of the fairies' court as he is with the slapstick during the play-

within-a-play.”

Susan Berlin, Talkin’Broadway

“The Shakespeare Theatre Company has turned McSweeny loose to traffic in the magic of the

theatre that weaves its potent spell in Sidney Harman Hall. From the opening scene in the

court of Athens – circa late 1940s – to the final tableau’s fairy farewell, McSweeny’s

production evokes fantasy and wonder …When we see the world of the supernatural meld

with the world of the ruined playhouse, the magic of Shakespeare’s contrived world and

McSweeny’s production find welcome companions … there is no leftover prop or tattered

costume the fairies won’t take on as a found treasure … In a production with many delights,

director McSweeny’s finest achievement was his casting of the mechanicals.”

Jeffrey Walker, DC Theatre Scene!

“Whether you are a seasoned expert to Shakespeare or fresh newbie to his works,

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is divinely

entertaining and a magnificent show to see.”

Grace Kim, DC Metro Theatre Arts

“What the production really seems to remind you of is a circus, a carnival, a sideshow, and

bits of the most excessive parts of operas that don’t involve music … it’s theater and show

business in all of its guises. It is, too, a dream we can swim in … Puck suggests that “we have

but slumbered here, while these visions did appear.” Fat chance of that. This Midsummer may

feel like a dream, but it’s a vivid dream we won’t soon forget.

Gary Tischler, The Georgetowner

TALES FROM HOLLYWOOD

by Christopher Hampton

The Guthrie Theatre • September – November 2012

Sets: Lee Savage • Costumes: Andrea Lauer • Lights: Robert Wierzel • Sound: Robert Kaplowitz

• Video: Jason Thompson

“The Guthrie’s 50

season opens with a winner! Tales from Hollywood is a rock-solid

experience, buoyed by a talented cast and driven by a handsome production aesthetic that does a

magnificent job of using the Wurtele Thrust space and the Guthrie’s technical capabilities. It’s a

solid kickoff for the theater’s Christopher Hampton celebration”

Ed Huyck, City Pages

"The production is staged fluidly by Ethan McSweeny, who has directed some daringly

affecting shows at the Guthrie, including John Guare's ‘Six Degrees of Separation' and

Arthur Miller's ‘A View from the Bridge.' ... Here he and projection designer Jason H.

Thompson use cinematic elements -- even a Foley-style sound-effects person -- to make this

talky, occasionally static work more engaging and intimate. The live projections of the actors

augment the performers without stealing attention from them … Leading a first-rate cast,

charismatic Lee Sellars invests Ödön with inviting wit and warmth. He is a study in versatility,

popping effortlessly in and out of accents and scenes."

Rohan Preston, Star Tribune

“Kicking off its 50th season [is] Christopher Hampton's Tales from Hollywood, a dizzyingly

dark and absurdist comedy of the lives and work of Bertolt Brecht, Heinrich and Thomas

Mann, and their émigré (or more appropriately-exiled) novelists and screen-writers. Fascism,

capitalism and the role of the writer are at odds as director, Ethan McSweeny, cleverly

weaves historical insight into this 'film within a play' staging style, taking audiences on a

whirlwind of philosophical discourse and witty banter … All the while, the cast is silently

filmed with their images and dialogue projected on the screen in black and white, creating an

'Old Hollywood' feel and intimately involving the audience in the lives and experiences of the

characters. While the screen would seem to distract from the stage, quite the opposite

occurs. Character emotions appear amplified, and the subtle cues in facial expressions

make the unspoken, at times, more powerful than the dialogue.”

BroadwayWorld.com

“If the rest of the season proves to be as intellect-tickling and toothsome as this first offering ...

this golden anniversary promises to be a strong one.”

Dominic Papatola, Pioneer Press

“Thought-provoking and layered ... Much kudos must be paid to the behind-the-scenes team

and director Ethan McSweeny … throughout the entire performance, a visible camera

crew captures video of the actors which plays live behind the cast on giant screens. The

scene is precisely how one would imagine a 1940s movie set to feel, and the ambiance adds a

crucial extra element of depth and tone to the production.”

Ellen Burkhardt, Minnesota Monthly

“Very cool. The idea of Bertolt Brecht trying to scratch out a living writing Hollywood movie

scripts is a golden sit-com premise all its own, and Hampton knows a good comic set-up when he

sees one … not that Tales from Hollywood is particularly high-brow; in fact, it goes high and low

in equal measure, offering up something for everyone . . . Throughout the play, video cameras

project the action onstage on the back wall in black-and-white, making it look like art

instantaneously imitating life; one as a reflection of the other.”

MSP Magazine

“Under Ethan McSweeny’s direction and Lee Savage’s stunning design the entire set is a

ballad to one of America’s most dynamic and influential institutions: 1930’s Hollywood.

Individual scenes are shot onstage and screened on a prodigious screen, blurring the lines

between personal dramas and cinematic productions, between artists and industry,

between theater and film … The dialogue is poignant where it captures the tension between the

émigrés’ appreciation of the fortuitous circumstances that granted them refuge in this country,

and their frustration at their exploitation by the film industry … it is the tragic lot of Heinrich

Mann and his wife Nelly – played movingly by Keir Dullea and Allison Daugherty – that

draws the playwright’s compassion … Perhaps this production is best in its orchestration of

the subdued subtleties of the script: of the untold calamities that displaced the writers from

their homes, the belittlement they endured from publishers and producers, and the portending

practices of Congress toward their suspect Communist engagement. On rare occasions does the

pain unravel forcefully, but it is throbbing all along the production.”

Mira Reinberg, Aisle Say

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

by Gilbert & Sullivan

Stratford Shakespeare Festival • May – October 2012

Sets: Anna Louizos • Costumes: Paul Tazwell • Lights: Howell Binkley • Sound: ??

Choreography: Marcos Santos • Music Direction: Franklin Brasz

“Raise a glass of pirate sherry in celebration … director Ethan McSweeny brings a

respectful, yet fresh approach [with] enough delicious ridiculousness that it should win

over the hearts of all Stratford Shakespeare Festival patrons … it looks and sounds

marvelous. The opening songs are given a catchy Celtic orchestration, while Paul Tazewell’s

costumes for them are inspired by the retro-futurist fantasy style known as steam punk.

McSweeny, refreshingly, trusts WS Gilbert’s words to be funny without updating them. With

Kyle Blair as the funniest Frederic you’re ever likely to see, this pirate ship is worth climbing

aboard.”

J Kelly Nestruck, Toronto Globe and Mail

“With all the telescopes, police batons, women toting steampunk gunnery, cannons, steely blades

& wooden swords, bombs, frilly & leggy bridal gowns & under kilt espionage, there is plenty of

repressed/not-so-repressed Victorian Sexiana … This Pirates is a delightful excursion, with

top-sail leadership by Kyle Blair and Amy Wallis.”

James Reaney, London Free Press

by Kate Fodor

Primary Stages • January – March 2012

Sets: Lee Savage • Costumes: Andrea Lauer • Lights: Matthew Richards • Sound: Lindsay Jones

"A sprightly, engaging comedy by Kate Fodor … A winning combination of light satire and

romance, the play pokes gentle fun at our overprescribed culture … “Rx” evenly balances

its satirical thrusts at Big Pharma and its depiction of the ups and downs of the little people

looking to it for daily relief … Marin Hinkle gives a winsome performance. Elizabeth

Rich plays Phil’s rapacious boss, Allison, with hilarious verve. The wonderful actress

Marylouise Burke, an expert at creating appealingly unsentimental portraits of dotty older

women, provides wry comic relief. Under the crisply paced direction of Ethan McSweeny,

“Rx” zips along the curves of its plot with brisk conviction. A smart, sweet play.”

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“A prescription for laughter … watching Kate Fodor's sharp, tenderly sardonic new comedy,

Rx, I kept thinking of Ernst Lubitsch. Aficionados of the great German American filmmaker's

masterpieces, with their enchanting mixture of sweetness and sting, will know what I mean when

I say that they might describe Fodor's charming play as The Clinical Trial Around the Corner …

[Fodor turns] a classic boy-meets-girl romantic structure into a thornily funny image of today's

screwed-up world. She's got the extra advantage, too, of a smart, precise, zestily dry

production by Ethan McSweeny: every lunacy in its place, neatly labeled, and irresistible

… McSweeny's production moves at a rollicking clip while still allowing his actors full time

for tenderness. As a result of this neat balancing act, Fodor's silly, hapless, misguided characters

start to become dear to us. We laugh at them as an index of the contemporary world's foolishness

while still loving them as people.”

Michael Feingold, The Village Voice

“Ideal entertainment for neurotic people living in anxious times. Kate Fodor’s comic tone is

well-balanced. Directors and designers rarely receive kudos for their sense of proportion.

But it’s worth noting how comfortably this production, helmed by Ethan McSweeny fits

both the scope of the play and the stage dimensions of its 198-seat off-Broadway house.

(Something to keep in mind for future productions.) … Lee Savage’s compact set makes the

case. Clad in shades of grey, the Chinese-box design of a generic office interior is cleverly

outfitted with camouflaged doors, drawers, cupboards, and drop-downs. Frequent scene

changes are not only efficiently executed, they’re also fun to watch. Fodor has a way with

flawed characters, and her lovers here are so warmly drawn that we feel we have a stake in their

fate. Scribe’s comic tone is well-balanced — light enough to rescue Meena and Phil from their

own demons, but sharp enough to stick it to a pharmaceutical industry that makes its billions by

convincing people that being human is a disease.”

Marilyn, Stasio, Variety

“A fast-acting short-term mood-brightener. The show works like a multi-symptom med: As it

sends up our cultural obsession with pills to cure everything (plop, plop), it skewers self-serving

drug companies (fizz, fizz). The acting by the ensemble and direction by Ethan McSweeny

are fleet-footed.”

Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News

“ A stylish, clever satire of drug companies … A snappy new comedy by Kate Fodor. A good

dose of intelligent fun. Presented by Primary Stages, the fast and witty 100-minute

production is smoothly directed by Ethan McSweeny … a stylish, clever satire of drug

trials, medical marketing tricks, and our over-dependence on pills to solve

problems. Elizabeth Rich gives a ferociously funny performance. Paul Niebanck brings

slapstick charm to his portrayal of Ed”

Associated Press

“Kate Fodor's piercing new comedy ‘Rx’ contains equally strong dosages of satire and

insight. Fodor strikingly portrays our overmedicated society. A solid cast and keen direction

from Ethan McSweeny perfectly balance the wickedly funny social barbs with compassionate

portraiture. The show is an effective prescription from Primary Stages for an anemic theater

season. The resourceful Marin Hinkle and Stephen Kunken paint a paletteful of subtle shades

when depicting the unlikely lovers. Hinkle finds the heartbreaking humor. Kunken is goofily

endearing. Elizabeth Rich is voraciously sharp-toothed. The reliable Marylouise Burke hits

Frances from an unexpected angle, finding joy in this lonely lady's discoveries. Paul Niebanck

pulls double duty, making the most of his scene as the alternatively hyper and melancholy

Richard and endowing the foggy-minded Ed with an adorable shaggy-dog quality. Michael

Bakkensen as Meena's insensitive superior handles it with aplomb.”

David Sheward, Backstage

"Part satire and part romantic comedy -- is brought to life by a strong cast under the

direction of Ethan McSweeny. Hinkle strikes just the right note … both funny and

heartfelt. Kunken has a wry, understated manner … but also provides an enormous depth of

emotion that roils just under the surface. Marylouise Burke does an outstanding job. Elizabeth

Rich impresses. Paul Niebanck is effective in two rather different roles. Set designer Lee

Savage has fun with the visualization of certain scenes -- particularly the locale where Meena

and Frances first meet. Lindsay Jones' original music/sound design is also particularly spot-on

whenever the change to this particular environment occurs.”

Dan Bacalzo, Theatremania

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare Theatre Company • December 2011 – January 2012

Sets: Lee Savage • Costumes: Clint Ramos • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Sound: Steven Cahill •

Choreography: Marcos Santos

Winner of 2 Helen Hayes Awards: Best Scenic Design and Best Supporting Actor

“Under Ethan McSweeny's assured direction, the Beatrice and Benedick of Kathryn Meisle

and Derek Smith achieve the goal that eludes some incarnations of this oft-seen work: the

notion that this couple, Elizabethan forerunners of Noel Coward's Amanda and Elyot... are

predestined mates of the wits as well as the soul … With the polish of this high-end comic

couple — and at the play’s opposite end, the surefire lunacy of its low-comedy pairing of the

addle-pated watchmen Dogberry (Ted van Griethuysen) and Verges (that rascally scene-stealer,

Floyd King) — the company’s new “Much Ado” has lots of good things going for it …

McSweeny’s handling of this comedy’s buoyant plotting is visually and even conceptually

superior … the very specific location and time is Cuba in the 1930s, a setting that retains the

sun-baked sensuality of Shakespeare’s Messina gives the director, composer Steven Cahill

and choreographer Marcos Santana opportunities for a few conga-drumming, hip-

bouncing fiestas. It also provides set designer Lee Savage with the inspiration for a

gorgeous set — the central, open space of Leonato’s hacienda, complete with a weather-

worn garden statue of Cupid.”

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“Ethan McSweeny’s current production is set in 1930s Cuba, which adds all the warmth of an

exotic locale to a suitably religious and complex social hierarchy. Given what happens to poor

Hero, one almost expects the female characters in Much Ado to be wearing burqas by act four,

but since a production set in Kabul might be excessive, McSweeny’s choice is a clever one.

Given that this is feel-good holiday fare, McSweeny’s success in balancing the play’s

romantic comedy with its less-sunny elements is even more commendable. This production’s

appeal undeniably stems from its performances, which are almost universally strong,

although Clint Ramos’s costumes and Savage’s set make it a visual treat, too (Ramos frequently

dresses all the women in pink, in a not-too-subtle jab at the battle of the sexes). But as the wire-

crossed lovers, Meisle and Smith deserve credit for conjuring an utterly believable romance.

Their chemistry, even as enemies, is obvious, and it’s the sense of optimism their relationship

offers that really makes Much Ado such a pleasing spectacle. Given how poorly the idealized

romances fare, it’s heartening to believe in lovers who were frenemies first.”

Sophie Gilbert, Washingtonian Magazine

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Shakespeare Theater Company • June – August, 2011

Sets: Andrew Lieberman • Costumes: Jennifer Moeller • Lights: Marcus Doshi • Sound: Steven

Cahill • Choreography: Karma Camp

“Technically brilliant, well-acted, full of small insights and pleasures both large and small …

[Merchant is} a visual feast; every corner of Harman Hall’s capacious stage is alive with

information, and sumptuously rich.”

Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene

“McSweeny highlights those divisions by moving the action from 16th-century Venice to 1920s

New York City, a place where there was a neighborhood for every ethnicity, cultural lines

reflected in geographical boundaries…the transfer works wonderfully. The jazz-age

trappings, noir-ish lighting and street level smoke and fog, and a backdrop of speakeasies

and organized crime give the proceedings an undercurrent of menace that gives a dark

edge to the humor.”

Ian Buckwalter, The DCist

“The approach makes Portia pretty unattractive, and it’s a credit to Coffey and her

director that they don’t try to soften her edges by making her flighty or offhand …

With so many characters ranging from insensitive to reprehensible, comedy’s no more or less

appropriate than it is in, say, South Park … [which] is a workable if not a particularly

ingratiating approach at Sidney Harman Hall, where designer Andrew Lieberman centers a

massive industrial-steel setting on a stage-dominating staircase that suggests upward mobility.”

Bob Mondello, Washington City Paper

“McSweeny nails the big picture, but gives equal weight to the quiet moments. There’s so

much rich interplay in this production it’s hard to know where to look … One of the chief

joys of director Ethan McSweeny’s sprawling production now playing at the Shakespeare

Theatre Company is the restoration of Antonio as the merchant of Venice. Derek Smith’s

economical portrayal, containing the character’s melancholy and self-loathing within the

cool veneer of commerce and charisma, is revelatory … the second exposure of the soul

beneath that touched me most was Shylock’s reaction to friend Tubal’s recounting of Jessica’s

betrayal, the selling of her mother’s ring to gain a monkey. Nelson’s anguish is so simple yet

searing it reminds one that these are lines most potent in Shakespeare, the prose that goes right to

the heart of it – “I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a

wilderness of monkeys.” There are things one does not part with for gain, and here McSweeny

punctuates the humanity of Shylock.”

Jenn Larsen, We Love DC

“Mark Nelson's Shylock is quite unlike any I have ever seen. Better, perhaps, than the

others because he makes this complex character so human … his demeanor is more than

sympathetic. And yet, as he sharpens his knife, to get his "pound of flesh" in the manner of a

barber, he is to be feared greatly.”

Susan Davidson, Curtain Up

“This production succeeds in laying out the casual cruelty among all the characters. “

Susan Berlin, Talkin’ Broadway

ARMS AND THE MAN

By George Bernard Shaw

Guthrie Theatre • March-April 2011

Sets: Walt Spangler • Costumes: Murell Horton • Lights:Robert Wierzel • Sound: Richard

Woodbury

“The comedic firepower onstage at the Guthrie Theater in Arms and the Man could blow

the roof off the big blue building: Peter Michael Goetz, Jim Lichtscheidl, Michael Shantz—all

ridiculously draped with period military costuming and armed with the wit of George Bernard

Shaw … Director Ethan McSweeny, who led a memorably modern take on Romeo & Juliet at

the Guthrie a few years back, is the guy to call when you’ve unearthed an artifact you need

updated. Here, he injects contemporary expressions and hilarious interlude the way a jazz

drummer works around the edges of phrasing (the clever faux intermission between the

first and second acts, in which the actors break the fourth wall to dance and clown for the

audience, is particularly inspired).”

Tim Gihring, Minnesota Monthly

“Ethan McSweeny’s production stretches the natural farce in Shaw’s spoof of war and

social class [but] holds the proper tension between Lichtscheidl’s well-articulated

Bluntschli and the whole Bulgarian gaggle of softheaded bourgeoisie … the exaggeration is

just right, as when Nakasone’s Raina swoons onto a fainting couch after being forced to tell a lie.

McSweeny and set designer Walt Spangler have created an appealing container. The proscenium

is turned into a Tyrolean jewel box with miniature toy soldiers arrayed along the stage front. As

the curtain rises, Raina Petkoff's bedroom sits in the midst of a starry night and snowcapped

mountains.”

Graydon Royce, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This production, directed by Ethan McSweeny, hits the script's cartoonishness hard, building

elaborate bits of business around foolish actions …and so it is that the whole cast has fun. “

Max Sparber, Minn Post

“Director Ethan McSweeny ups the “fun” quotient … the slapstick serves the play nicely and

in the hands of the as-always first rate Guthrie cast, it works … The design is marvelous. Walt

Spangler‘s set bursts with color, fractured walls, enormous paper flowers, angry bulls heads.

Even more color is provided by Murell Horton‘s excellent costumes, Robert Wierzel‘s lighting

and Richard Woodbury‘s sound … the designers provide a feast for the eyes.”

John Olive, How Was the Show

THE TRINITY RIVER PLAYS

by Regina Taylor

Goodman Theatre/Dallas Theatre Center • October 2010 – February 2011

Sets: Todd Rosenthal • Costumes: Karen Perry • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Sound: Steven Cahill •

Music: Daryl Waters

“The Trinity River Plays are like the garden in which much of their action is set –

sprawling, florid, earthy and abundantly alive … A great deal of the credit for the show's

entertaining surface must go to director Ethan McSweeny, his design team and his cast …

All four women are beyond praise. Aldridge pushes things right to the brink of too much, but

never quite goes overboard. Jerald reveals a hidden warmth under her austerity. Williams and

Clark are simply perfect.”

Lawson Taite, Dallas Morning News

“Brilliantly written, directed and performed … a must see. It possesses the perfect balance of

humanity, humor, superb acting and gut wrenching dramatic scenes seamlessly flowing into each

other. Taylor and director Ethan McSweeny deftly take her characters on a journey

through some of life’s darkest moments, while allowing emotionally satisfying

transformations. It is a touching portrait of growing up, motherhood and family

relationships…about going home to move forward.”

Marilee Vergati, Dallas Examiner

“The kind of show that gets the attention of the Pulitzer committee. Brilliant American

playwright: check. Regional authenticity: check. Drama of significance: check, check. The

trilogy is still in development, but it’s likely headed for the promised land … its director, Ethan

McSweeny, has staged more than 60 productions around the country, and made his Broadway

debut in 2000 with the revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. In other words, he’s the kind of

experienced guy producers and playwrights love… So it’s not a shock that the acting in The

Trinity River Plays is stellar [and] the staging is inspired.”

Christine Allison, D Magazine

“Director and Broadway veteran Ethan McSweeny deftly navigates the production,

balancing the many impressive talents to create a symbiotic whole … In particular, the scenic

design, by Tony Award-winner Todd Rosenthal, is deceptively simple as the audience looks in

on Rose’s home, via a cross-section of the interior, through the backyard. The rain effect on

stage is impressive, but the overall use of space is just as exceptional.”

Kris Noteboom, TheatreJones

“Exceptionally well cast and extremely well acted … From teenage French kissing lessons to

the aftermath of sexual indiscretion, and with Soul Train dance moves alongside unrequited love

and bitter grief, the world premiere of Regina Taylor’s new trilogy is a soul piercing account

of one woman’s struggle to come to terms with her past as it continues to affect her future.”

The Flash List.com

“With The Trinity River Plays, Golden Globe-winning actress and playwright Regina Taylor

has planted poetic seeds in fertile ground. Namely, the Dallas Theater Center, where the

trilogy of one-act plays is having its world premiere … Director Ethan McSweeny's cast

members, notably Clark, give powerhouse performances, and Todd Rosenthal's sprawling set

of the prairie-style home and the back yard is among the best work on a local stage in ages.”

Mark Lowry, DFW.com

“The Trinity River Plays are a must see! [It] goes back to the fundamentals of writing a solid

story … the one thing that separates the average play from the phenomenal one. In the new

trilogy from TV, Film and theater star Regina Taylor we get a healthy dose of emotion, and

depth of character. Regina writes what people breathe; joy, suffering, pain, and gladness. She

touches you through her characters and at times transports you back to a time in your life when

you experienced something life changing. It might be a quick moment or conscious flash, but

you feel it.”

Neighborsgo.com

DANGEROUS LIAISONS

by Christopher Hampton

Stratford Shakespeare Festival • August-October, 2010

Sets & Costumes: Santo Loquasto • Lights: Robert Thomson • Sound: Michael Roth

“★★★★… Stylish, intelligent and funny …Sex has never been a big commodity at Stratford,

but that situation definitely changed on Thursday night when Dangerous Liaisons opened at the

Festival Theatre…Ethan McSweeny’s production of this slice of late 18th century French

sensual intrigue is not only impeccably stylish, acerbically intelligent and mordantly funny,

but it packs a truly erotic kick that is very welcome indeed … Technically, the show is

Stratford at its best. Santo Loquasto creates a chilling world of metallic elegance, which

respects the original period, but still gives everything a soulless modern edge. His costumes

make everyone look eminently seduceable and the lighting of Robert Thomson knows when to

blast us with cold white light, or dazzle us with rock ‘n’ roll primary colours…McSweeny, for

someone who has never directed on the Festival stage before, shows an astonishing command

of how to make that mystic space work. His direction is clear, precise, pointed, always

showing us what we need to see, or – in the case of his detailed scene changes that involve the

servants – showing us things we never expected to see as well. This is world-class theatre and

we should be thrilled to have it on our doorstep.”

Richard Ouzounian, The Toronto Star

“Deliciously engaging … to say the festival season goes out with a luxurious and seductive

bang is an understatement. And it’s all deliciously depraved enjoyment for cast and

audience alike. Directed by Ethan McSweeny in an impressive Stratford debut, [Dangerous

Liaisons] assembles some of the festival’s stars in Seana McKenna, Tom McCamus and Martha

Henry…witnessing McKenna and McCamus verbally joust on stage brings the script to life

before our very eyes — language transformed into action, literature transformed into life in all its

sordid glory. McSweeny adds a touch of contemporary musical theatre flair with refrains from a

harpsichord giving way to driving electric guitar riffs – it works in marvelously jarring way..the

juxtaposition of 18th century opulence and modern theatrical artifice is [further] achieved

through the contrast between a magnificent crystal chandelier, complete with real candles, and

banks of stage lights and a monumental stainless steel door as a backdrop. The production is not

only stylish, thanks in large part to designer Santo Loquasto, but is one of the most

unabashedly sexy productions ever staged at Stratford.”

Robert Reid, The Record

“Dangerously irresistible…In an impressive Stratford debut, director Ethan McSweeny

stages these wicked games on a chessboard set designed by Santo Loquasto. In between the

scenes, he’s choreographed what seems like a whole second shadow play between the

various maids and servants who roll the sets on and off. It shows who’s really in charge –

soon, it’ll be the ancien régime’s heads they’ll be rolling off. The scene changes take place to a

soundtrack of harpsichord mixed with squealing electric guitar and are lit by Robert Thomson

like a rock concert, linking this sexually licentious world to the decadence of more recent

decades. As the tightly wound Tourvel, Topham loosens her corseted conscience only inch by

inch – and the slow seduction only makes it all the hotter. It’s indeed impressive that she stays

upright as long as she does, because she and McCamus have some truly sensational

chemistry…Michael Therriault gets the second biggest laughs of the night as an inexperienced

suitor, sheepishly caught with his pants down. The biggest one goes to Martha Henry as

Valmont’s eccentric older aunt sharing her hairstyle and a communion wafer with her lapdog.”

J Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail

“★★★★★ … Impressively directed by Ethan McSweeny and lavishly designed by Santo

Loquasto, this is a compelling production [with] impressive performances throughout from a

blue-blooded supporting cast — the venerable Martha Henry, the always impressive Yanna

McIntosh and the evergreen Michael Therriault joining Jillard and Topham in an all but flawless

ensemble — it belongs, in the end, to McCamus and McKenna … And well it should, for

rarely have these two worked better, either separately or as a team. “

John Coulborn, The Toronto Sun

“Sexual evil stalks Stratford stage…This final production of Stratford's 2010 season is also

one of its best…director Ethan McSweeny has seen the exciting possibilities of the Festival

Theatre's famous thrust stage for exploiting the hothouse intimacy of the play and of drawing the

audience into its embrace…McSweeny, obviously excited by this space, makes outstanding

use of it in mounting his exquisitely detailed dissection of the manners, mores and

monstrousness of a culture soon to be felled by the revolution.”

Jaimie Portman, The Vancouver Sun

ION

by Euripides, tranlated by David Lan

Shakespeare Theatre Company, March-May 2009

Sets Rachel Hauck • Lights Tyler Micoleau • Costumes Rachel Myers • Music Michael Roth

“Maybe the gods really are crazy. In Shakespeare Theatre Company's sprightly new staging

of Euripides' "Ion," Apollo messes things up but good for a mortal royal family, despoiling the

queen, deceiving her husband and keeping an heir in the dark about his lineage. Director

Ethan McSweeny, who showed in his arresting 2006 production of Aeschylus's "The

Persians" a knack for the visual starkness of Greek tragedy, now takes on a work from

antiquity of lighter spirit…courtesy of canny set designer Rachel Hauck, the stage of Sidney

Harman Hall has been evocatively transformed into the craggy cliff top on which Apollo's

temple rests. Time seems to stand still at this higher altitude. While we're welcomed outside

the giant temple doors by Aubrey Deeker's classically gilded Hermes -- who majestically

descends from the ceiling on a train of red fabric -- the site is invaded by five sassy actresses

playing the chorus. They're dressed not in the sort of outfits you find on Greek statues,

but rather those you might see in the lobby of the Athens Marriott…the cheeky

sensibility offers an appealing postmodern varnish, typified by the appearance at play's

end of winged goddess Athene, who with great panache floats down from the clouds. As

embodied by the delightful Colleen Delany, Athene seems intended to elicit giggles rather than

shivers. At one point, she gazes out at us and offers a tiny shrug, as if to say: "What the heck

do I know? I'm only a deity."

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“★★★★…Fresh. Bright. Fun. Not the words usually associated with Greek tragedy. Yet

the Shakespeare Theatre Company's staging of Euripides' "Ion," under the joyful

direction of Ethan McSweeny, is more sunny than sorrow-struck.

Those who associate Greek drama with much rending of togas and keening over butchered kin

may find themselves caught charmingly off-guard by such light touches as the Chorus

portrayed as a gaggle of nosy and tongue-wagging girl tourists — and a deus ex machina

appearance by the majestically winged goddess Athena, who happily bangs a tambourine like a

Hellenic member of the Partridge Family during the musical finale. "Ion" deals with the

themes of identity and belonging. And for all its nimbleness, it is a mature work that questions

authority as well as the infallibility of the gods we worship …There is something

Obamaesque about Mr. Chappelle's charismatic and poised turn as Ion. Both are men

who came from nowhere to become the leaders of great nations. According to Greek

legend, Ion is the ancestor of all Athenians. Like the new president, he stands at the advent of

something new and asks the people to believe in him. But wait, there's more: a happy ending.

"Ion" concludes not with a pileup of bloodstained bodies, but with the catharsis of laughter,

song and reunited families. This modern staging of a 2,500-year-old play provides a

Parthenon of pleasures in a mere 90 minutes.”

Jayne Blanchard, The Washington Times

“Euripides would love the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of his "Ion," a

passionate drama that finally resolves into a comedy…The success of this production is largely

due to David Lan’s fresh, contemporary adaptation, which retains all the complexity of

Euripides’ original. Director Ethan McSweeny has created a fanciful blend of the ancient

and modern. His chorus is a clutch of tourists, circa 2009, who sing Michael Roth’s delightful

original music … Rachel Hauck’s set is simple and effective: three huge columns on a raised,

circular marble floor. The costumes, by Rachel Myers, are deliciously imaginative, particularly

Hermes’ golden outfits and Athena’s gossamer gown and sturdy silver wings…Washington is

fortunate to have a production of "Ion," which is rarely produced. It is doubly fortunate

to have this first-rate production, which reveals Euripides’ sophistication and wit so

clearly.”

Barbara Mackay, The Washington Examiner

“It is always good news when Ethan McSweeny returns to direct here. He is, after all, the

former Associate Director of the company whose last outings were the sparkling Major

Barbara for which he has been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award and the smashing

production of Aeschylus' The Persians, which lingers in memory even three years later. Just as

with the earlier production of a rarely performed ancient play, his touch is marked by an

effort to make a play from millennia past work as well for a contemporary audience as its

original may have for audiences now long dead. Again with Euripides' tale of possibly

prevaricating deities, McSweeny makes an ancient tale both entertaining and edifying for a

modern audience while using some nifty modern stagecraft to make his points. He has a

fresh adaptation of the 2,500 year old play which studiously avoids stuffiness and once again

uses visually impressive techniques to both provide the background information the audience

needs and wrap it all up at the end - and the absolute final treat - a top-40s style pop song (yes,

doo-wop in a Greek classic!). Drawing from the Shakespeare Theatre Company's treasure

trove of regulars, McSweeny has the likes of Sam Tsoutsouvas for the would-be-father Xuthus,

Floyd King for an old servant and adds newcomers of note in the key roles of Ion and his

mother…The real find, however, is Keith Eric Chappelle. It seemed such a stretch to say

that McSweeny hit on something when he cast a young Barack Obama look-alike as Ion

who has such great things ahead of him, until I noticed that among young Chappelle's credits in

New York was the role of Barack in something called Obama Drama. Whether intentional or

not, as our town is enthused over our new President, there is a resonance to this casting

that imbues the production with a contemporary hopefulness.”

Brad Hathaway, Potomac Stages

“It is easy to understand, in this sprightly adaptation by David Lan so well staged by Ethan

McSweeny, that the stakes are nothing less than the fate of the human soul … It helps that

McSweeny has an all-star cast… [but] the best part of the show is unquestionably the

chorus: Rebecca Baxter, Lise Bruneau, Kate Debelack, Laiona Michelle and Patricia

Santomasso. The traditional Greek chorus speaks the prescribed verses in unison but this

chorus sings those verses, in gorgeous five-part harmony to Michael Roth’s beautiful music,

accompanied principally by a fabulous cellist, Caleb Jones. It is McSweeny’s conceit that the

chorus - handmaidens all to Creusa - come to Delphi as modern tourists, with iPods, suntan oil

and cameras. They each establish their own (strikingly modern) personas, but when they

first raise their voices to sing Euripides’ profoundly moving verses on children and

childlessness, they immediately universalize their characters, and become the human

race.”

Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

by Edward Albee

CenterStage • October-November 2008

Sets: Lee Savage • Lights: Robert Wierzel • Costumes: Murrel Horton • Sound: Michael Bodeen

Baltimore City Paper Best Production of 2008

“Center Stage, which is mounting a superb production of Edward Albee's harrowing drama,

hasn't tackled Virginia Woolf since 1974, when an fire burned the theater to the ground…This

time, all the fire is on stage…The talented director Ethan McSweeny elicits first-rate

performances from his top-notch cas …The marvelous Deborah Hedwall portrays Martha as a

woman who flaunts her sexuality but hides her intelligence…when the moment is right,

[Andrew] Weems hurls an insult through the air like a blade, every syllable honed to maximum

sharpness …Early in the evening, ticketholders at Center Stage reacted almost as if they

were viewing a comedy, responding to every put-down with laughter. By the time the show

had ended, there was nary a cough, a murmur, a rustled program. Audience members

barely dared shift position. It's as though we, and not Albee's characters, were on the hot

seat.”

Mary Carole McCauley, The Baltimore Sun

“When you see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in its magnificent new production at

Center Stage, this 46-year-old play is nothing like its caricature…There's a surprising

number of laugh-out-loud funny moments, especially in the first act, and some heartbreakingly

sad moments as well, especially in the third. Above all, there's the brilliant writing--not only in

the inspired wordplay of puns, allusions, and double meanings, but also in the way artifice, in the

form of both party games and literary fiction, is used to distort and ultimately reveal

reality…and this terrific cast sucks us in during each confidential lull and then knocks us

over with each new climax…As Martha, Hedwall is a force of nature, dominating the stage …

Weems isn't as showy as Hedwall, but he's every bit as good … These are two of the best

performances you will ever see on a Baltimore stage.”

Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

by Arthur Miller

Guthrie Theater • September-October 2008

Sets: John Arnone • Lights: Don Holder • Costumes: Robert Perdziola • Sound: David Maddox

“Gifted actor John Carroll Lynch plays Eddie, the problematic center of Ethan McSweeny's

stunning production of Arthur Miller's psychosexual classic…The volcanic staging -- a

mountain range with eruptions followed by sizzling quiet -- flows like a great inflected

opera…There is more than a touch of the ancient Greek in this tragedy, which is redolent with

issues of lust, justice and immigrant dreams of America…McSweeny's masterful staging,

which makes excellent use of the thrust stage, underscores Miller's primal poetry.”

Rohan Preston, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“From the beginning, you know the thing is going to end badly; it’s just a question of who is

going to kill who, when, and why. Guided by Ethan McSweeney’s unobtrusively intelligent

direction, the noose slowly tightens around Eddie’s neck, until all his good intentions

eventually lead him down the exit ramp to hell. The set, staging, casting, and direction all

feel perfectly suited for this play, which is a testament to McSweeney’s talent for putting

the text and characters first, rather than shellacking it with his own ideas about what the play

“should” be trying to communicate. Miller’s message in A View is as ancient as the Greek

dramas upon which it is based, but seeing it unfold in a contemporary drama, with characters the

audience can relate to, gives the play’s final moments a much more immediate impact. These are

simple people trying to get along in a complex world, which is of course a recipe for disaster—

and, when it’s done well, great drama.”

Tad Simons, Minneapolis.St.Paul Magazine

“Ethan McSweeny directs with a sure hand and has a made-to-measure cast. John Carroll

Lynch plays Eddie in a powerful realization of a big, middle-aged man, kind, but domineering

and blind to himself. Beatrice comes to full life in the hands of accomplished Amy Van Nostrand

… Robyn Rikoon's engaging young Catherine begins as fresh as a morning in spring, but

circumstance forces her to mature before our eyes…[Ron] Menzel infuses Marco, a family man

who has starving children at home, with quiet passion...[Bryce] Pinkham charms as intelligent

Rodolpho. Lovely touches from director McSweeny add to the realism…When Catherine

throws herself into Eddie's arms, he staggers for a second and feels his back; he's a stevedore

who lifts heavy goods for a living. During the dramatically lit dockside loading scenes, ships'

horns sound in the distance in David Maddox's sound design. The lawyer's desk is heaved

on stage by stevedores, unpacked and, voila, Donald Holder's lighting turns a corner of the

stage into an intimate office. McSweeny uses the generous space of the thrust stage to great

affect, and I find it hard to imagine this expansive play being confined by a proscenium stage.

My advice, go and see the Guthrie's muscled production of A View from the Bridge. “

Elizabeth Wier, TalkingBroadway.com

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

by Arthur Miller

The Chautauqua Theater Company • July 2008

Sets: Lee Savage • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Costumes: Tracy Christensen • Sound: Michael Roth

“The Chautauqua production, starring Stuart Margolin as the tortured protagonist Willy Loman

and directed by CTC co-Artistic Director Ethan McSweeny, is incredibly well conceived and

executed by the company’s mix of conservatory members and visiting artists. Revelatory

performances from Margolin and conservatory member Zach Appelman provide the

freight-train force behind the production, and they are helped by a fiercely gifted

supporting cast, along with the well-oiled staging and perfect pacing for which McSweeny

has become known. For Chautauqua Theater Company, McSweeny and especially for Margolin,

this all-too-brief production of Miller’s masterpiece is a truly remarkable thing indeed.”

Colin Dabkowski, Buffalo News

“One of the finest American plays ever written is on the stage of Chautauqua's Bratton Theater

this week, in a production as good as the play itself. If you were one of those slugs who read

the abbreviated notes when your English teacher brought out Arthur Miller's ''Death of a

Salesman,'' this is your opportunity to understand why this play is taught and revered all around

the world. Great directors have found many approaches to playwright Miller's wonderful words.

At Chautauqua, Ethan McSweeny has found threads of fatalism in the play, subtly highlighting

how Willy's own childhood had taught him to live on dreams, and how he has raised his own

sons with exactly the same values which have served him so badly.”

Robert W. Plyler, Jamestown Post-Journal

MAJOR BARBARA

by George Bernard Shaw

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC • February - March 2008

Sets: Jim Noone • Lights: Robert Wierzel • Costumes: Robert Perdziola • Sound: David Maddox

Winner of Helen Hayes Awards for Best Scenic Design (James Noone) and

Best Supporting Actor (Ted van Griethuysen)

“McSweeny guides his meticulously chosen cast through the mazes of Shaw's debates over

the social responsibilities of the privileged vs. the pious as if the actors had been hired for

their skills both in elocution and mischief-making. When Shaw's tenaciously argumentative

works are handled by particular craftsmen who possess a flair for his eyebrow-raising satire as

well as his rhetorical pugilism, Shaw can be an out-and-out "up." That, fortunately, is how Ethan

McSweeny's posh production comes across in the company's Harman Center for the Arts.”

Peter Marks, Washington Post

“George Bernard Shaw liked to skewer 'em now and again, so it's fitting that director

Ethan McSweeny is doing pretty much the same with the opening gambit in his sleek,

smart staging of Major Barbara. Wouldn't do to spoil the effect, so let's just say that with a

single gesture (you'll want to watch those title-card projections), McSweeny deftly, wittily

disarms audiences who might be stressing about a long evening in the company of the old

blowhard's overwrought, overwritten speeches…Minutes later comes the discovery–

delightful surprise–that the drawing room of Lady Britomart Undershaft (sublime Helen Carey)

has been commandeered by a swarm of Oscar Wilde's best and brittle-est Thank god for a

director and a cast who remember that Shaw’s stern sociopolitical lectures come with plenty of

laugh lines. The repartee is rousing, the satire sharp, and really, any director who can get

four separate laughs out of four separate exits, not to mention a belly laugh out of a bit

with a throw pillow—in a Shaw play?—is unmistakably on his game.”

Trey Graham, Washington City Paper

“McSweeny has a keen sense of timing and keeps the production moving, pushing past

stumbling blocks that could easily derail a less experienced and committed director. He

handles all three acts which require three completely different sets with one intermission,

clocking the production in at 2 hours 30 minutes-no easy feat. Furthermore, McSweeny is not

afraid of poking laughter into what could be interminable moments and usually finds a spark of

light-hearted fun in even the most dreadfully deadened situations. Such talents are particularly

useful here because despite Shaw’s wit and repartee, he can still get bogged down hammering his

various points. McSweeny’s light touch helps in those tough spots.”

Debbie Jackson, DC Theatre Scene

“The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington has created a production of Major Barbara

that is sumptuous in both its cast and its staging. The vividly appointed sets, designed by

James Noone, and Robert Perdziola's cleverly detailed costumes are no more dazzling than

the performances marshaled by director Ethan McSweeny…The skillful cast, demonstrating

great ease with speeches that could sound like position papers in lesser hands, bring out the

lasting truth in the arguments.”

Susan Berlin, Talking Broadway

“Director Ethan McSweeny fortunately understands that there is fun to be had with Shaw's

challenging discourse -- and that the most successful sermons do not sound like

sermonizing. As a result, not only is the clash that Shaw creates between idealism and realism

fully explored, but the human story of people who are seeking a path toward reconciliation is

also to be found. Superbly aided by posh sets and elegantly detailed costumes, this production

is both eye candy and brain food rolled into one clever morsel.”

Michael Toscano, Theatermania

IN THIS CORNER

by Steven Drukman

The Old Globe Theatre • January 2008

Sets: Lee Savage • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Costumes: Tracy Christensen •Sound: Lindsay Jones

Winner of San Diego Critics Circle Award for Best New Play

“The production, kinetically directed by Ethan McSweeny, keeps the intellectual bob-and-

weave lively. A prizefight atmosphere dominates even when the only thing happening is an

expository swirl of reporters, managers, announcers and trainers…Drukman treats the slangy

speech of each character as though it were part of a hip-hop poetry slam. McSweeny ingeniously

converts the old-school word-spinning into modern-day theatrical rhythm. McSweeny's

direction finds the energetic soul of Drukman's drama.”

Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times

“…as sheer entertainment Ethan McSweeny's colorful Old Globe world preem wins a decision

on points.”

Bob Verini, Variety

“There's plenty to admire in this production. Director Ethan McSweeny alternates between

breathless speed with rat-a-tat delivery (think "His Girl Friday" as a boxing movie) and scenes of

quiet revelation. “

Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register

“Stephen Drukman’s “In This Corner,” in a superb world premiere on The Old Globe’s ring-

size Cassius Carter stage, lets two legendary heavyweight boxers from the 1930s battle for

personal dignity against the profit-and-propaganda process that turns people into products. In

director Ethan McSweeny’s gritty staging, ‘Corner’ drapes its message loosely over these

real-life champs, allowing us to learn about the men beneath the mantles as we gain

empathy for 'products' then and now, in sports and beyond, whose extended “entourages”

aren’t so much in their corners as in their pockets … In the 1930s, radio added play-by-play

sports coverage to its media arsenal. Families across the country now listened in unison to events

like presidential addresses and heavyweight fights. And, in respect of that powerful presence,

McSweeny stops the action to stage the 1938 fight merely through the power of words

spoken first from the original broadcast, then picked up by Smith’s oracular ringside voice.

The heightened language of the announcer, the sportscaster and the newspaper columnist

give the show its bitter flavor, like a rum-soaked stogy…McSweeny and designers Lee

Savage and Tracy Christensen go for the total realism of a boxing ring, turning the audience into

spectators, with “off-stage” actors “ringside” as much as possible. The “you are there” sensation

begins during pre-show with John Keabler’s sweaty workout as “the boxer.” This detail

accentuates the underlying metaphor of life in the ring.”

TheaterTimes.org

“A raised boxing ring is a directorial challenge, with ring ropes obscuring the sightlines and the

difficulty actors face getting in and out of the ring, but director Ethan McSweeny rises to the

challenge. He moves the play all around the theater, creates a snarky, cynical edge to the story

and lightens and brightens the dialogue with rat-a-tat, screwball line delivery in New Yawk-ese.”

Pam Kragen, North County Times

1001

by Jason Grote

p. 73 Productions • November 2007

Sets: Rachel Hauck • Lights: Tyler Micoleau • Costumes: Murrell Horton •Sound: Lindsay Jones

Ten Best of 2007, TimeOut New York Magazine

“People and their passions fly off the page in Jason Grote’s dynamic, intellectually agile

1001, a postmodern epic about the cultural narratives that shape our lives. In the production’s

opening sequence, an Arab woman detonates a bomb in Times Square by opening an antique

copy of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights; for the next half hour the audience is immersed

in a frisky, tongue-in-cheek take on the story of Scheherazade (Hope) and the infantile emperor

Shahriyar (Rauch). But the play soon hyperlinks out into an Escher world of interlocking time

frames and plots, ranging from modern and future New York—where Rauch and Hope are

reincarnated as a liberal Jewish grad student and his Palestinian girlfriend—to a deserted beach

where Sinbad the Seaman literally meets Jorge Luis Borges…Ethan McSweeny’s in-the-round

staging for Page 73 Productions lays a bright thread through 1001’s labyrinthine twists,

with help from a crackerjack design team and cast.”

Adam Feldman, TimeOut New York

“Director Ethan McSweeny, who helmed the play's world premiere in February for Denver

Center Theater Company, keeps tight control over the narrative. Time and space shift in a

moment, but it's always clear where we are…With his design team, McSweeny also

translates ambitious stage directions into dynamic visuals…As Alan and Dahna dance at a

club, for instance, the other cast members carry on an enormous blue cloth, which they hurl

upwards like a parachute. As the cloth falls, we expect it to drape around bodies, but it settles to

the floor as though nothing were beneath it. Then, in a far corner, we see Alan using the fabric as

a blanket. Only now he's Shahriyar, and we've gone back in time. That image not only surprises,

but also enhances the theme of fluidity. Elsewhere, McSweeny smoothes the script's roughest

edges … as the narrator stands in place, the other actors scurry like mad, changing costumes or

hurling sets into place. The monologues feel vital because we watch how they summon a world

into being.”

Mark Blankenship, Variety

“Ethan McSweeny’s kinetic direction keeps the piece, at the Baruch Performing Arts

Center, moving in a quick and lucid way, as it ranges from Sinbad’s tale to Hitchcock’s

“Vertigo” to Dahna and Alan on a visit to Gaza.”

Caryn James, New York Times

100 SAINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

by Kate Fodor

Playwrights Horizons • September-October 2007

Sets: Rachel Hauck • Lights: Jane Cox • Costumes: Mimi O’Donnell • Sound: Matt Hubbs

Ten Best of 2007, Entertainment Weekly, Theatremania, TimeOut New York Magazines

“Under Ethan McSweeny’s astute guidance, 100 Saints You Should Know’s first-rate cast is

beautifully alert to the recurrent sense of missed opportunity built into Fodor’s writing—

those moments in which tentative gestures of goodwill are overlooked or deflected, and the

ripples of defensiveness that follow. But the scenes that linger most affectingly after the curtain

are those in which some small breakthrough is awkwardly accomplished: Theresa stroking

Matthew’s head in a hospital emergency room, for instance, or Abby lowering her defenses after

a terrifying night. At its best, this gentle, lovely new play leaves you not just touched, but

more sensitive to the value of touch itself.”

Adam Feldman , TimeOut New York

“Ms. Fodor has a fine sense of the forms of emotional aggression, passive and otherwise,

that can infuse even the most banal exchanges between parents and children at

loggerheads, as well as a good ear for the kinks and curls of speech of people of different

generations and education. These gifts are most appealingly on display in the early scenes that

set up these fractious relationships. A Scrabble game between Colleen and Matthew, newly

returned to the home where he grew up, becomes a deft and touching exercise in thwarted

communication. A standard stalemate debate between Abby and Theresa on the usual teenager-

parent subjects (school, sex, bad influences) has a piquant ring of realness that keeps it from

congealing into clichés.”

Ben Brantley, New York Times

“Fodor is blessed with a handsome production. Her play's many short scenes are sensitively

and fluidly staged by Ethan McSweeney. Rachel Hauck's elegant rotating set (gorgeously lit

by Jane Cox) effectively avoids the too many stark blackouts typical of this structure. The five

excellent actors succeed in making the most of their characters' vulnerabilities and downplaying

their essentially standard issue qualities.”

Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp

“Kate Fodor, bless her sympathetic soul, has just the right qualities. Her thoughtful and affecting

100 Saints You Should Know begins with Theresa (Janel Moloney) scrubbing a toilet. There’s

something so direct, so matter-of-fact about showing her on the job—most plays of this kind

would just have her complaining about it to her alienated kid—that Fodor’s story ennobles her,

like a Dutch master immortalizing a laundress at work…All of this might have yielded little

more than a Raymond Carver story if not for an exquisite cast, expertly directed by Ethan

McSweeny. Thanks to some go-for-broke choices, impressive young Zoe Kazan makes the

daughter seem part cherub and part imp—a touchingly vulnerable hellion.”

Jeremy McCarter, New York Magazine

1001

by Jason Grote

Denver Center Theatre Company • January 2007

Denver Post Ovation Award, Rocky Mountain News Best of 2007

“Helmer McSweeny pull out all the stops to carry Grote’s Google-inspired mental hopscotch

onto the stage. He employs one of Denver’s top DJ’s, Sara Thurston, for a live mix that taps into

contemporary emotions latent in the hybrid storyline, a potent lure for the twentysomething

demographic. Building on the extravagant embellishments gathered under the collective literary

umbrella known as “The Arabian Nights” playwright Jason Grote delivers a phantasmagoric take

on the timeless tales in “1001,” explored to visual and emotional perfection by director

Ethan McSweeny and the cast and crew … Thirty-one economical scenes punctuated by

stunning craft work lend a quick-cutting, cinematic texture that suggests possible

adaptability to the bigscreen.”

Bob Bows, Variety

“Innovative spectacle…dazzling staging. McSweeny and his completely winning young

ensemble of six newcomers employ novel staging concepts that would make Julie Taymor

proud.”

John Moore, Denver Post

“Director Ethan McSweeny meets the playwright’s challenge with a production as

inventive as the script: trap doors, luxe costumes, the transformative dance of sex under a

blue parachute and a Cirque de Soleil death plunge increase the comedy and the

otherworldliness, as well as comment on that exoticism. McSweeny provides one more bit of

luxury and energy with DJ Sara Thurston, who mixes contemporary and Eastern strains

throughout the evening. Like everything else in this show, it is both ancient and immediate,

celebratory and mournful, fact and fiction.”

Lisa Borenstein, Rocky Mountain News

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

by Anton Chekhov

The Chautauqua Theater Company • July 2006

“Marvelous!…Director Ethan McSweeny strikes the ideal balance between comedy and

tragedy…[he] finds that curious intermingling of feeling that makes Chekhov seem both funny

and sad at once… Lisa Harrow brilliantly injects into the role several wholly new jolts of irony

that point up the utter purposelessness of this diminished aristocrat…Stuart Margolin’s

ebullience, his antics, his cowed silence – it’s all a joy to watch…The surface of this

production shimmers with well-measured comedy, even as a distant melancholy hums

steadily underneath…I suspect Chekhov himself would find the interpretation endlessly

amusing to watch.”

Richard Huntington, The Buffalo News

“A masterful performance of a dramatic masterpiece…universal and emotionally resonant.”

Dave Zuchowski, The Erie Times

“A gossamer beauty…subtle and delicate and profound.”

Robert Plyler, Jamestown Post-Journal

“A stunning production.”

Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal

THE PERSIANS

by Aeschylus, new version by Ellen McLaughlin

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC• March-May, 2006

“Director Ethan McSweeny cuts a stunning path to this turning point of ‘The Persians.’ At the

back of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s stage, Erin Gann’s Xerxes , the callow king,

materializes. As he begins to walk forward a fine spray of scarlet sand rains down on him … It’s

a potent moment in McSweeny’s acutely theatrical take on this 2,500-year-old play. The

evening that results is elegiac, somber, [and] invigorated by several actors of particular

finesse, vivid turns of phrase, and some inspired bits of staging.”

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“Triumphant! McSweeny packs plenty of spectacle in both the show’s physical aspects and the

forthright potency of Aeschylus’s descriptions of the carnage of war; they contain a harrowing

beauty that grips the senses.”

Jayne Blanchard, The Washington Times

“When a playwright’s message is dire, it’s useful to have a few theatrical miracles to back it

up, and Ethan McSweeny’s breathtaking mounting of The Persians has plenty. There’s the

stagewide cyclorama that lets the director blast Western literature’s oldest surviving play into

orbit, Google Earth–style, just as it’s getting under way; the beach of red sand that morphs from

a lush Persian carpet into a sea of gore; the mirrored wall of lights that seems simply utilitarian

until it’s time to bake the play’s warmongers in disgrace; and the startling, climactic rain of

blood that rattles whatever part of a playgoer’s psyche Aeschylus hasn’t already rattled

with words that echo across more than two millennia of human folly. McSweeny

orchestrates a rush of images that are alternately majestic (the queen’s arrival) and worthy

of a horror film (red sand dripping like blood through her fingers)…Still, the director and

his performers have created one moment of fiercely personal tension at the play’s climax. It

comes when Xerxes kneels in disgrace before his mother and she starts to reach out toward him.

For a long, wrenching moment, it’s not clear whether she’s reaching out in fury at the pain

he’s caused or in compassion for the pain he’s in, and after so much declaimed agony, so

much breath-catching imagery, this private moment catches the audience up short. The

director prolongs the suspense for an extra couple of beats and—as the sheer emotional

rawness expands to fill the auditorium—almost seems to point the way to the more intimate

theater we know today.”

Bob Mondello, Washington City Paper

A BODY OF WATER

by Lee Blessing

The Old Globe Theatre • February-March, 2006

San Diego Critics Circle Award for Best Director, Best Play, and Best Ensemble

“[A] deftly acted, meticulously directed and beautifully designed production…Director

Ethan McSweeny underscores the farcical elements in Blessing’s script, an aspect of tone probed

astutely by Sandy Duncan… Blessing’s play is an all-American family drama…a drawing room

tragic-farce [and] what a drawing room it is…[an] austere platform of dark planks with matching

coffee table and a few white and chrome designer chairs floats on four pools of aquamarine

water which York Kennedy’s lighting set to shimmering. [McSweeny] also creates a rain

shower that is magical. Michael Roth’s original music – for stings, female voices and the

virtuoso Peter Sprague on guitar – creates similar effects … For the playwright, “A Body of

Water” represents a breakthrough toward a more distilled and abstract form of

storytelling.”

Anne Marie Welsh, San Diego Union-Tribune

“McSweeny has elicited exciting portrayals of calm at the edge of reason as well as crack

creative work from his designers … [especially] an unforgettable sequence when, between

two Act II scenes, the windows lower into the pools instead of rising. When the panes are

pulled up to haunting piano accompaniment, the perforated troughs along the bottom

create sheets of rain. It’s a powerful and ominous image …”

Theaterealtor.com

“A nicely shaped and handsomely designed West Coast premiere…Director Ethan McSweeny

coaxes excellent, well-calibrated performances from all three actors, most notably Duncan, who

manages to dispel memories of her perky, plucky stage and screen persona with a nuanced and

wry ensemble turn.“

Jennifer de Poyen, Variety

ALL MY SONS

by Arthur Miller

Chautauqua Theater Company • July 2005

“A shattering performance…brilliantly directed by Ethan McSweeny and superbly

performed by a strong cast of professional and conservatory actors…The production compares

favorably with shows I saw this summer at the Stratford and Shaw festivals in Canada.”

Wilma Salisbury, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer

“A superb production…the cast is excellent…Harrow is spellbinding…Margolin is the perfect

counterpoint…Charles Semine is powerful and memorable…McSweeny’s staging is unfailingly

sharp throughout… [he] gives this first outing a visceral excitement and emotional coherence

that promise great things for the future.”

Richard Huntington, The Buffalo News

“Sucks the audience into an emotionally gripping story [that] holds you in rapt attention, arcing

its way to its devastating conclusion with the momentum of destiny … A powerful debut for

the new artistic team.”

Dave Zuchowski, The Erie Times

“There is stunning, breathtaking theater on stage at Chautauqua this week…If Ethan

McSweeny’s first production as artistic director is typical of what audiences can now expect at

Chautauqua Theater, tickets are going to be sold out months in advance for every performance

they present…See this production, if you possibly can!”

Robert Plyler, Jamestown Post-Journal

A BODY OF WATER

by Lee Blessing

Guthrie Theater • June-July, 2005

Best New Play, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“The Guthrie production, directed by frequent Blessing collaborator Ethan McSweeny,

develops an autumnal chill that nicely complements the plays sorrowful undertow. Dead

leaves swirl outside a giant picture window that overlooks an endless, indistinct expanse of water

[and] falling shadows hint at the primordial fear that night will swallow all memory.”

Peter Ritter, Variety

“Director Ethan McSweeny again teams with Blessing to produce a smooth, seamless

staging. McSweeny finds the mordant humor in the piece and shapes and blends the

performances so that characters and audience alike spend the evening at the brink of

understanding, which is right where the playwright wants us.”

Dominic Papatola, Pioneer Press

SABINA

by Willy Holtzman

Primary Stages • January-February, 2005

“Sex! Madness! Scandal! Horny psychiatrists! Given back her voice in Ethan

McSweeny’s handsome revival, [Sabina Spielrein] makes an eloquent case for

herself…McSweeny milks the pre-coital buildup in the first act [and] Ireland and Slezak go for

the psychosexual gold when Sabina iniates Jung into her seductive theories of the death

instinct…”

Marylin Stasio, Variety

“Engrossing! Ethan McSweeny’s production … provides a provocative window into the

much-studied relationship between Freud and Jung. Peter Strauss gives an admirably

understated performances as a paternalistic Freud and Victor Slezak, as Jung, likewise gives

persuasive dramatic life to a now-mythic figure. Mark Wendland’s cleanly constructed set

depicts human emotion coloring an institutional space. The conflict between scientific and

human necessities expressed in the play is echoed in the contrast between the lush red-velvet

curtains that define the playing area and the gray metal beams and girders that loom above

them.”

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“Director Ethan McSweeny and designer Mark Wendland have created a production that,

despite a smallish stage, has the physical sweep to match Holtzman’s thirty-year spanning

psycho-drama…Marin Ireland gives a riveting performance…McSweeny is a director who

knows how to reinforce and further the action with all sorts of inventive touches. The placement

of violinist Batya MacAdam-Somer at the front side of the balcony, if full view of the audience

to play Michael Roth’s lovely original music enhances what’s happening on the stage but

without distraction. McSweeny’s creative approach to Holtzman’s emotionally charged and

often amusing faction make for two hours of lively theater.”

Curtain Up

“[Willy] Holtzman delivers a subtly provocative and even charmingly funny play which has been

richly realized in this production directed with chic panache by Ethan McSweeny”

Talkin’ Broadway

CHASING NICOLETTE

Music by David Friedman, Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellog

Prince Music Theater • December-January, 2004/5

Ten Barrymore Award Nominations, including Best Director, Best Musical

“HILARIOUS! A Funny Thing and The Producers are fast company to travel in, but this new

show at the Prince Music more than keeps up…the high-quality script and score are

presented in a top-notch production directed by Ethan McSweeny. Led by Bronson Pinchot

in the principal comic role, the cast is uniformly strong, Neil Patel’s settings are colorful and

comically effective, and Constance Hoffman’s costumes evoke the period with flair.”

Douglas J Keating, Philadelphia Inquirer

“’Crime is up employment down and still our taxes soar…’ The year is 1224, the ‘modern

times’ of this appealing musical, and – despite its Big Issues (‘race, religion, color, class, and

money’) – the temptation to make it relevant is cleverly resisted. Performed by a uniformly fine

cast, ‘Chasing Nicolette’ is both melodic and witty – all the dialogue is in couplets and a can-

you-top-this game develops as we wait for the next impossible rhyme – but the show is goofy

too, and likely to appeal to kids as well as adults.”

Toby Zinman, Variety

“This musical has it all…the kind of show they mean when people ask, “why don’t they

make musicals like they used to?” Ethan McSweeny directs with verve, pulling together the

action, pacing, music, and visual components.”

Kathryn Oselund, Curtain Up

SOMEONE WHO’LL WATCH OVER ME

by Frank MacGuinness

Westport Country Playhouse • June-July, 2004

“Those seeking an intense brilliantly presented performance should make the trip to watch the

Westport Country Playhouse’s ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.’

Elizabeth Gerteiny, Weston Forum

“Looming silences are key, perfectly times and injected…It is a sparseness that under the

direction of Ethan McSweeny beautifully focuses attention on the intense and heart-wrenching

voice the actors give to their characters’ respective wisdom, kindness, and strength.”

Camilla Herrera, The Stamford Advocate

MR. MARMALADE

by Noah Haidle

South Coast Repertory Theater • April-May, 2004

OCIE Award for Best Production

“The name ‘Mr. Marmalade’ is the only sweet, tasty, and benign aspect of South Coast

Repertory’s controversial world-premiere play. In the best sequence of this production,

superbly directed by Ethan McSweeny, Adams opens his oversize trench coat (a costume

triumph for Angela Balogh Calin) and pours out mountainous amounts of junk food stolen from

7-Eleven, then proudly organizes a dinner of treats for himself and Lucy”

Joel Hirschorn, Variety

“…All of this might be a bit too horrifying if Haidle, director Ethan McSweeny and the

designers weren’t continually reminding viewers that what’s unfolding onstage is merely make

believe.”

Darryl H. Miller, The Los Angeles Times

“Director Ethan McSweeny has worked hard with Nagel and Adams. Their performances

are childlike, not childish; they don’t resort to the kind of surface brattiness and over-the-

top physicality some adult actors employ when playing kids.”

Paul Hodgins, The Orange County Register

ROMEO AND JULIET

by William Shakespeare

The Guthrie Theatre • March-May, 2004

“A symphony! Director Ethan McSweeny’s Guthrie Theater credits range from the revelatory

(‘Gross Indecency’) to the sublime (last year’s breathtaking ‘Six Degrees of Separation’). With

‘Romeo and Juliet’ the young visionary displays similar imagination and ambition.”

Rohan Preston, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“OUTSTANDING! McSweeny has placed the action in a mysterious place, a simultaneously

dilapidated and glamorous construction site/abandoned movie theater, and he and the designers

have created a hip, temporal salad.”

Dylan Hicks, City Pages

“McSweeny’s ambitious and intelligent production moves seamlessly between low comedy

and high tragedy … [he] creates stage images that illuminate Shakespeare’s language and

open up the text for a contemporary audience … Set and costume designer Mark Wendland’s

visual vocabulary for the show is incredible. The set looks like Ground Zero: a stage of wooden

planking surrounded by ‘ashes;’ three stories of metal scaffolding and plastic sheeting extending

back stage; a gothic cathedral-like tower becomes the balcony, marriage bed, and tomb; old

theater seats live upstage and amongst the ashes. [The] production … brilliantly evokes the

sense of devastation, destruction, and dread that’s become our universal screensaver over

the last few years; it also reminds us that passionate love can transform this bitter

landscape into one of reconciliation and renewal.”

Michelle Pett, Talkin’ Broadway

“McSweeny’s brooding production is perhaps the most daring of recent Shakespearean

ventures at the Guthrie…[he] returns some of the daring that Dowling’s crowd-pleasing

productions too often lack; that he does so with a play that inevitably draws crowds suggests that

we may at last be seeing a successful marriage between box office savvy and theatrical

experimentation. McSweeny’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ calls attention to itself as an act of

theater; it demands that we consider how tragedy is constructed – onstage and off.”

Douglas E. Green, The Shakespeare Quarterly

A WALK IN THE WOODS

by Lee Blessing

George Street Playhouse • November 2003

“One of this season’s most satisfying nights in the theater…Thanks to director Ethan

McSweeny and two astonishing actors it’s now receiving a better production at the George

Street Playhouse than it did on Broadway 15 years ago… A Walk in the Woods is not an easy

play to direct, but McSweeny gets the juice out of the comedy, then switches gears nicely to the

second act when things inevitably get more serious. Who’d think that a play about a treaty could

be such a treat?”

Peter Filicia, The New Jersey Star-Ledger

“Everything that makes the theater absorbing is present in the George Street Playhouse

production of Lee Blessing’s drama ‘A Walk in the Woods.’ Ethan McSweeny directs with

delicacy made necessary by the filo-like layers of interpretations and personality Blessing has

written into the drama. McSweeny makes unusually effective use of several moments in which

silence and stillness communicate as effectively as words … A brilliant play, powerful actors,

skillful direction, evocative design – we can’t ask for more than this.”

Charles Paolino, Home New Tribune

THE PERSIANS

by Aeschylus, a new version by Ellen McLaughlin

National Actors Theater • May-June, 2003

“Excellent! A terrific and rare piece of theater.”

Donald Lyons, The New York Post

“Timely… Relevant… Heart-wrenching … Terrifying … a true classic. We see the present

and the future right there, inside the past. Ellen McLaughlin serves and uses “The Persians” with

true power and grace. She is well served by the lean, stark production. Aeschylus emphasized

that the gods shaped our fates. Ms McLaughlin concentrates on our own actions. Goaded by

pride and greed, we invite the fate and nature to do their worst, the gods are not to blame.

Director Ethan McSweeny makes each detail embody this theme.”

Margo Jefferson, The New York Times

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

by John Guare

The Guthrie Theater • March-April, 2003

Winner Best Director, Best Production, Minneapolis Star-Tribune Award

“What director Ethan McSweeny and his brilliant team of designers and performers have

achieved with Six Degrees of Separation is magnificent. You can wait a long time to

experience something like this – the Guthrie Theater’s most inspired and sublime

production in years. Director McSweeny has chosen to play ‘Six Degrees’ simple, a winning

choice that underscores the dualities of the play…The themes are reflected in the artistic palette

here, with portals that resemble frames, with Christine Jones’ simple, circular set that seems like

a layer cake with a slice cut out, with Jane Cox’s brilliant lighting design… All of this makes

‘Six Degrees’ a harmony of colors and lights that seem like visual music … This ‘Six

Degrees’ is a lot like falling in love – except you never catch yourself as you sit in your chair at

the Guthrie, but keep falling deeper, laughing all the way. Thank you McSweeny, Christine

Jones, Jane Cox and the rest of your terrific team. Thank you to the performers who are

so clearly in the moment and enjoying themselves in this production, which is one for the

theater history books.”

Rohan Preston Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Great theater is worth revisiting. For proof, see the Guthrie Theater’s engaging production of

‘Six Degrees of Separation,’ a 13-year-old play that already bears the trappings of a superb

period piece. When I first saw the show 12 years ago I was struck by its power as a statement

about black and white, rich and poor. Now, it stands as a moving, almost cautionary tale about

failure and redemption, and how we create genuine meaning in our lives. The layers of

connection, privilege, and lack are still there, of course, mined beautifully in director Ethan

McSweeny’s production. But, like all good theater, the play presents its themes subtly

enough for us to discover them for ourselves and interpret them intimately.”

Carolyn Petrie, St. Paul Pioneer Press

DIRTY BLONDE

by Claudia Shear

George Street Playhouse/Wilma Theatre • September-November, 2002

“Perceptive and deeply moving…Mr. McSweeny, whose insight and flair – theatrical and in

this case cinematic – appear boundless, adorns the star segments with onscreen moments

that are sure to create Mae West converts among the audience. [He] fuses the play’s parallel

plot lines into a seamless whole. More than in the original staging of the Ms. Shear’s play, Mr.

McSweeny explores the depth of what often seems like a clever crowd pleaser. West’s downhill

slide from grandeur to self-parody is unstintingly documented, never for a cheap laugh.

Everything about this “Dirty Blonde” comes as a surprise.

Alvin Klein, The New York Times

THIEF RIVER

by Lee Blessing

The Guthrie Theater • February-March 2002

“Powerful! Their young love ripped apart by violent circumstances, Gil and Ray spend much of

the rest of their lives missing each other in Lee Blessing’s ‘Thief River.’ At the end the young

couple and their older versions share the stage simultaneously in a tremendously moving

tableau, the poignancy of which is heightened by a powerful final effect – pages of letters

falling like snow.”

Claude Peck, Minneapolis Star Tribune

CTRL+ALT+DELETE

by Anthony Clarvoe

George Street Playhouse • March-April, 2002

Best of 2002, New Jersey Star Ledger

“Cinematic… Crafty plot twists…Delightful surprises! From the first sleek second the play is a

whir of fast-forward motion. Mr. McSweeny is an interpretive whiz who knows how to elicit

the best in play and players.

Alvin Klein, The New York Times

“Don’t be surprised if Clarvoe’s serious comedy about serious money becomes another New

Jersey-to-New York Wall Street smash. It’s a much better portrait of the business world and

contains more funny lines than Neil Simon gave his comedies in his prime. Director Ethan

McSweeny has whipped his production into a lightning-fast pace, and sure found the right actors

to perform it. The result is the edgiest, hippest show that George Street has ever attempted.”

Peter Filicia, The Star Ledger

“The subtle fury of the play’s narrative is acutely accented by McSweeny’s crisp staging.”

Robert L. Daniels, Variety

OLD TIMES

by Harold Pinter

George Street Playhouse • March-April, 2001

“Ethan McSweeny has a lucid grasp of the elusive Pinter style, and the George Street

production is remarkably accessible, free of affectations. Mr. McSweeny appears more

interested in the gaze – a word Mr. Pinter emphasizes in his text – than in the pause. Precisely

timed gazes and glances of three excellent actors exude dramatic tension beyond explanation into

the sheerly experiential.”

Alvin Klein, The New York Times

“In Ethan McSweeny’s excellent new production, the characters peel off each other’s

emotions as if they’re layers of skin, ever so slowly. That’s the more thorough and painful

way. McSweeny recently signed on as associate artistic director at he playhouse, where he’ll

stage a play a year. Here’s hoping that each of his productions will be as potent as this one.”

Peter Filicia, The Star-Ledger

WIT

by Margaret Edson

Pittsburgh Public Theatre • November-December, 2000

Winner, Best Production, Pittsburgh Post Gazette Award

“Lisa Harrow [gives] a performance that is towering, impish, growling, and relentlessly no-

holds-barred…[Harrow’s Vivian Bearing] is human granite. But gradually the cancer and its

treatment wear her down. And a marvelous thing happens: Harrow’s hurricane force diminished,

she turns out to be even more effective reduced to solitary weakness, indecision, and human

need. Though Harrow seems a force of self-generating nature, director Ethan McSweeny

must have had a lot to do with sculpting her performance. He orchestrates beautiful

support, both in acting and design.”

Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Director Ethan McSweeny’s staging clarifies the links between Donne’s poetry and Edson’s

clinicians. His steady hand holds the show together, knowing instinctively when to slow the

pace to a near standstill and when to ratchet up the tension and stride. Much credit goes to

set designer Mark Wendland and lighting designer Frances Aronson for their ability to transform

a single playing space into a seamless series of laboratories, classrooms, hospital rooms, and

offices. The clinical setting is enhanced by the best use of the auditorium’s back wall since the

O’Reilly was inaugurated.”

Alice T. Carter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

THE BEST MAN

by Gore Vidal

The Virginia Theatre • September-January, 2000/1

Outer Critics Circle & Drama Desk Awards for Best Revival, Tony Award Nomination

“A sophisticated, elegant, and damnably entertaining play.”

John Lahr, The New Yorker

“This play makes you wish that Vidal were writing the dialogue for the Presidential debates.

You can sense from the audiences laughter that some of the play’s lines are sure to be repeated at

cocktail parties this election season.”

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

“Beautifully acted and fast-paced, with effervescent, sparkling dialogue, The Best Man is fun!

Vote for Vidal!”

Clive Barnes, New York Post

“A superb cast! McSweeny mines the play for all its drama and humor, using effective

theatrical touches to convey the political and journalistic hysteria surrounding the process.

Adding further verisimilitude is the voice of Walter Cronkite as a news commentator; the return

of his reassuring tone is a vivid reminder of what we’ve been missing for several years.”

Frank Bobeck, The Hollywood Reporter

“Wonderful entertainment, smart sexy and compelling, with blistering and fantastically prescient

observations, it couldn’t be more timely.”

Liz Smith, Newsday

SIDE MAN

by Warren Leight

The Guthrie Theater • May, 2000

“The Guthrie’s production of this audience pleaser has almost everything going for it.

Director Ethan McSweeny has staged the show as a tight and melodious jam session,

seamlessly moving from scene to scene…Stripes of neon light dangle over designer John

Arnone’s set like notes in the air…Stephanie Zimbalist’s vivid, warts-and-all performance helps

keep it real…the Guthrie’s triumverate of great male character actors – Stephen Pelinksi,

Stephen Yoakum, and Richard Iglewski – are great to watch.”

Carolyn Petrie, Minneapolis Star-Tribune,

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

by Martin McDonagh

The Alley Theatre • January-February, 1999

“Fiercely effective! Ethan McSweeny has directed the Alley’s production with steady pace

and sensitivity to the play’s shifting moods. [The production] restores – or for those who

never cease believing, re-confirms – faith in theater as a vibrant art form.”

Everett Evans, The Houston Chronicle

“A rich and luscious addition to Houston’s theatrical season! [The play’s] disparate elements

are brought into focus with Ethan McSweeny’s intelligent and seamless direction and with Kevin

Rigdon’s heartbreaking set.”

Lee Williams, Houston Press

GROSS INDECENCY

by Moises Kaufmann

The Guthrie Theater • November, 1998

“There’s a moment in “Gross Indecency” when the famous writer’s glibness betrays him on the

witness stand. Asked by the prosecutor if he had ever kissed a particular young man, Wilde says

no: the fellow was too ugly. Then, in a chillingly effective piece of staging, the eight other men

in the courtroom rise in unison, leaning in silent disbelief and indictment … McSweeny makes

the audience the jury, staging the court-room action between two banks of bleacher-style

seats and using the whole venue, including the aisles, to make the drama immediate.”

Rohan Preston, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

HYDRIOTAPHIA, OR THE DEATH OF DR. BROWNE

by Tony Kushner

Berkeley Repertory Theater • September-October, 1998

“Not quite a major work, but far from a minor one, ‘Hydriotaphia’ shows off its author’s

dazzling intellect, wit, and ambition to richly enjoyable effect. Certainly a better production

couldn’t be asked for than director Ethan McSweeny’s. He does a brilliant job negotiating

so many complex textual demands, and heroically creates a sense of constant activity that

nearly hides the work’s one-set, sickbed-focused physical stasis. The set is excellent, topped

by [Jonathan] Hadary’s conniving yet pitiable Browne.”

Dennis Harvey, Variety

MAD ABOUT THE BARD

conceived by Floyd King and Ethan McSweeny

Folger Theatre • May, 1998

“King and director Ethan McSweeny have strung together Shakespearean parodies,

reminiscences and songs by a variety of authors … McSweeny pulls the evening’s disparate

elements into a graceful whole. And he has worked closely with [set designer Dan] Conway

and lighting designer Howell Binkley to ensure that the show takes place in a wonderful space.”

Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post

THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE

by Pierre Marivaux, translated by Stephen Wadsworth

Washington Shakespeare Company • January-February 1998

“Having chilled spines in ‘Never the Sinner’ director Ethan McSweeny now proceeds to

tickle fancies with a delightful production of Pierre Marivaux’s ‘The Triumph of Love.’

It’s svelte, civilized entertainment, wittily designed and buoyantly acted.”

Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post

“As in McSweeny’s recent staging of the equivalently scattered Leopold and Loeb opus ‘Never

the Sinner’ for Signature Theatre, the directorial emphasis on focus – both visual and

thematic – is remarkable…Though the stage is wide open – a neat mix of modernist design and

classical elements so fractured they appear to have barely survived an earthquake – your eye is

forever being drawn to certain spots just before characters arrive at them…Marivaux may have

been lampooning the rigidity of thought of the Enlightenment, but McSweeny has found

ways for him to so while adhering to all the rules.”

Bob Mondello, Washington City Paper

NEVER THE SINNER

by John Logan

John Houseman Theater • January-May 1998

American Jewish Theater • December - January 1997/98

Signature Theater, Washington, DC • September-October 1997

Winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play

Four additional OCC and Five Drama Desk Nominations including Best Director

Five Helen Hayes Award Nominations including Best Play and Best Director

“In John Logan’s remarkable play, Clarence Darrow tells a judge that Richard Loeb and Nathan

Leopold, who murdered a 14-year-old boy in 1924 were “much like all of us.” The emotion and

intellectual force of the production owes as much to the direction of Ethan McSweeny and his

cast as to the author. The secret of its power in Mr. McSweeny’s handling of it is a rejection

of sensationalism in presenting one of the most sensational crimes of the 1920’s. The cast is

up to the formidable demands Mr. McSweeny makes on it for adroitness.”

D. J. R. Bruckner, The New York Times

“A great evening of theatre…One of the year’s best!…An excellent and compelling

play…The present production could hardly be bettered – Ethan McSweeny’s hair-

triggered staging takes the play and runs with it. Enthralling and exceptional!”

Clive Barnes, The New York Post

“Ethan McSweeny’s crisp, intelligent staging gives the play a resonance that could well

echo today’s headlines…As the destructive neurotics bonded in a purposeless crime, Solomon

and Bowcutt offer a tandem tour de force…The re-enactment of the murder and the disposal

of the boy’s body is chilling, and it is followed by a victorious of death to the strains of

‘After You’ve Gone’ that is positively numbing.”

Robert L. Daniels, Variety

“‘Sinner’ is a winner! Explosive, hypnotic, timely, fascinating. A superb production. On its

own, the play could have a merely documentary feel. But Ethan McSweeny’s superb

production unfolds with a hypnotic rhythm.”

Fintan O’Toole, New York Daily News

“John Logan’s ‘Never the Siner’ is a theatrical whirlwind! Two stunning leading

performances by Jason Bowcutt and Michael Solomon and amazingly inventive direction

by Ethan McSweeny.”

Dennis Cunningham, CBS-TV

“Sexy, Psychologically compelling and visually striking.”

Bill Stevenson, Entertainment Weekly

“Riveting! A taut, passionate psycho-sexual waltz.”

Michael Sommers, Newhouse Newspapers

“McSweeny more or less treats the play as if it were a snake and himself and the audience

the hypnotized rabbits…McSweeny not only gives it theatrical vibrancy with his mannered

but taut direction, he fills it out with his own uneasy, ambivalent reaction to the material.

McSweeny has for several seasons been an assistant director to the Shakespeare Theater’s

Michael Kahn, and no doubt learned some of his impressive visual technique from him. But a

director can’t be taught to how to fuse with a script like this, so that his own reaction becomes

part of the drama. The fashion in today’s theater is to bully an audience, shake it up, or at least,

stare it down. But McSweeny is with the audience, mesmerized by the awful mystery at the

heart of this material.”

Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post