SAVOUR
The script is a whimsical mix of the contemporary and mythical, and the grounded Irwin and the delightful impulsive McKenna have great chemistry.
Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
nowtoronto.com/stage/theatre/fringe-review-kitchen-sink-drama/
Kelly Marie McKenna and Mladen Obradovic were positively winsome as a pair of fairy cooks attempting to whisk some risotto — and a bored, rich recent divorcee — off to fairy land. Andrea Irwin played the archetype of the rich bitch with warmth and complexity. I was rooting for her and McKenna all the way.
-Keira Grant, Mooney on Theatre
www.mooneyontheatre.com/2018/07/04/kitchen-sink-drama-kitchen-sink-productions-2018-toronto-fringe-review/
...and a Selkie assistant (Kelly Marie McKenna). The fairies aren’t just there to cook and serve the food—and the evening takes an unexpected turn. Touching, funny and tender.
Cate McKim, life with more cowbell
lifewithmorecowbell.com/2018/07/08/toronto-fringe-bitterness-revenge-romance-in-four-delicious-courses-in-kitchen-sink-drama/
The script is a whimsical mix of the contemporary and mythical, and the grounded Irwin and the delightful impulsive McKenna have great chemistry.
Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
nowtoronto.com/stage/theatre/fringe-review-kitchen-sink-drama/
Kelly Marie McKenna and Mladen Obradovic were positively winsome as a pair of fairy cooks attempting to whisk some risotto — and a bored, rich recent divorcee — off to fairy land. Andrea Irwin played the archetype of the rich bitch with warmth and complexity. I was rooting for her and McKenna all the way.
-Keira Grant, Mooney on Theatre
www.mooneyontheatre.com/2018/07/04/kitchen-sink-drama-kitchen-sink-productions-2018-toronto-fringe-review/
...and a Selkie assistant (Kelly Marie McKenna). The fairies aren’t just there to cook and serve the food—and the evening takes an unexpected turn. Touching, funny and tender.
Cate McKim, life with more cowbell
lifewithmorecowbell.com/2018/07/08/toronto-fringe-bitterness-revenge-romance-in-four-delicious-courses-in-kitchen-sink-drama/
MONOLOGUE MADNESS 2014
This year, the cold read consisted of the words by Fraulein Schneider who rents rooms in the musical, “Cabaret.” Kelly Marie McKenna seemed somewhat war weary yet wise and set to persevere as she had done for years. The judges then scrutinized the talent further by asking the very last 2 finalists — the women — to perform something unique. Directions were to take that “Cabaret” cold read and present it as if it were an Oscar acceptance speech. Kelly Marie McKenna, displayed an actress clearly overcome by her Oscar win but was subtly mature and calmer in delivery as she expressed surprise and gratitude. It was Ms. McKenna who ultimately became the Monologue champion, a character actress in NYC whose friend encouraged her to compete, by showing what a “natural” actor can do in a variety of forms and roles.
-Diane Carroad, DC Metro Theatre Arts www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/04/07/monologue-madness-champion-final-four/
This year, the cold read consisted of the words by Fraulein Schneider who rents rooms in the musical, “Cabaret.” Kelly Marie McKenna seemed somewhat war weary yet wise and set to persevere as she had done for years. The judges then scrutinized the talent further by asking the very last 2 finalists — the women — to perform something unique. Directions were to take that “Cabaret” cold read and present it as if it were an Oscar acceptance speech. Kelly Marie McKenna, displayed an actress clearly overcome by her Oscar win but was subtly mature and calmer in delivery as she expressed surprise and gratitude. It was Ms. McKenna who ultimately became the Monologue champion, a character actress in NYC whose friend encouraged her to compete, by showing what a “natural” actor can do in a variety of forms and roles.
-Diane Carroad, DC Metro Theatre Arts www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/04/07/monologue-madness-champion-final-four/
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
Director Holland Renton has staged an incredibly powerful production that adds new life to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic thriller. Jeffrey Hatcher's script offers everyone in the cast some great moments to shine -- Elliott Robinson, Tal Aviezer, Jennifer Lefsky, Sandra Ehrlich, Julia Rust, Kelly Marie McKenna, Zoe Panagopoulos, and Michelle Brandt.
-Nick Leshi, City of Kik
nickleshi.blogspot.com/2012/04/pictures-from-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde.html
The production opens with all the typical visual accoutrements of the era—a backdrop of the foggy London skyline, actors in top hats, bowlers, and waistcoats speaking in a variety of British accents—a deliciously rich and heavy gaslight-vibe, Steampunk-style, nicely stimulating all the appropriate genre-loving pleasure-centers of your brain. Then, things get weird…and the weirder it gets, the more real it gets
.-David Surface, Poe's Doorknob
dsurface.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/know-you-like-the-sun-jekyll-and-hyde-get-real/
Director Holland Renton has staged an incredibly powerful production that adds new life to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic thriller. Jeffrey Hatcher's script offers everyone in the cast some great moments to shine -- Elliott Robinson, Tal Aviezer, Jennifer Lefsky, Sandra Ehrlich, Julia Rust, Kelly Marie McKenna, Zoe Panagopoulos, and Michelle Brandt.
-Nick Leshi, City of Kik
nickleshi.blogspot.com/2012/04/pictures-from-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde.html
The production opens with all the typical visual accoutrements of the era—a backdrop of the foggy London skyline, actors in top hats, bowlers, and waistcoats speaking in a variety of British accents—a deliciously rich and heavy gaslight-vibe, Steampunk-style, nicely stimulating all the appropriate genre-loving pleasure-centers of your brain. Then, things get weird…and the weirder it gets, the more real it gets
.-David Surface, Poe's Doorknob
dsurface.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/know-you-like-the-sun-jekyll-and-hyde-get-real/
THE BOOK OF LIZ
Kelly Marie McKenna does a deliciously trashy Yolanda Foxley.
-Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/11174/1155559-325-0.stm
The same can be said for Kelly Marie McKenna whose hilarious performances as the gossiping Sister Constance Butterworth, the embittered waitress Cecily Cole (whose delivery with talented Jon Feightner in the diner is a sight to see!), and the nightmare enducing, white trash, cheese-ball hauling, Ms. Yolanda Foxley are burned in your brain after only one evening.
-Pittsburgh Underground Blog
www.pu-zine.com/2011/06/artsy-fartsy-review-no-name-players.html
Four actors play the dozen or so secondary characters populating the story, and I really love how DiGiulio has encouraged the comic inventions of Jody O'Donnell, Kelly Marie McKenna, John Feightner and Allison Fatla.
-Ted Hoover, Pittsburgh City Paper
www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/pittsburgh/the-book-of-liz/Content?oid=1397478
Pazerski, however, leads with measured grace and opens the door for a solid cast of character actors playing multiple roles well. The affect reminds one of a Christopher Guest film, a shorter Mighty Wind, perhaps. In the world of comedic performance, I can think of few higher comparisons.
-D. Gilson, Coal Hill Review
www.coalhillreview.com/?p=3051
Kelly Marie McKenna does a deliciously trashy Yolanda Foxley.
-Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/11174/1155559-325-0.stm
The same can be said for Kelly Marie McKenna whose hilarious performances as the gossiping Sister Constance Butterworth, the embittered waitress Cecily Cole (whose delivery with talented Jon Feightner in the diner is a sight to see!), and the nightmare enducing, white trash, cheese-ball hauling, Ms. Yolanda Foxley are burned in your brain after only one evening.
-Pittsburgh Underground Blog
www.pu-zine.com/2011/06/artsy-fartsy-review-no-name-players.html
Four actors play the dozen or so secondary characters populating the story, and I really love how DiGiulio has encouraged the comic inventions of Jody O'Donnell, Kelly Marie McKenna, John Feightner and Allison Fatla.
-Ted Hoover, Pittsburgh City Paper
www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/pittsburgh/the-book-of-liz/Content?oid=1397478
Pazerski, however, leads with measured grace and opens the door for a solid cast of character actors playing multiple roles well. The affect reminds one of a Christopher Guest film, a shorter Mighty Wind, perhaps. In the world of comedic performance, I can think of few higher comparisons.
-D. Gilson, Coal Hill Review
www.coalhillreview.com/?p=3051
VALU-MART
This is an immensely satisfying work of theater, and there's not a second you don't feel trapped in the break room with these richly drawn characters and questioning your own assumptions. Pittsburgh Playwrights' Mark Clayton Southers has done two things: He's designed an amazing set, and he's assembled an amazing cast -- Tommy Lafitte, Kelly Marie McKenna, Rico Parker, Bill Dalzell, Genna Styles and Susan McGregor-Laine -- which he's directed with a sure hand toward the utterly naturalistic playing style absolutely essential for this truly remarkable play.
-Ted Hoover, Pittsburgh City Paper
www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/pittsburgh/valu-mart/Content?oid=1343432
The two young women are equally strong, the charismatic Brandi of Genna Styles and the haplessly uncharismatic Lainie of Kelly Marie McKenna, a whiner who gradually develops spine.
-Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/10077/1043596-325.stm
Lanie Welch (Kelly Marie McKenna) is a rich girl who is left with no self-esteem by a domineering mother. Under the direction of Mark Clayton Southers, the cast does a tremendous job capturing the pathos of these human beings, who are not only trapped in the break room—but are trapped in their dead end jobs.
-FJ Hartland, Out’s Theatre Review
theatrereviews.outonline.com/2010/03/22/
This is an immensely satisfying work of theater, and there's not a second you don't feel trapped in the break room with these richly drawn characters and questioning your own assumptions. Pittsburgh Playwrights' Mark Clayton Southers has done two things: He's designed an amazing set, and he's assembled an amazing cast -- Tommy Lafitte, Kelly Marie McKenna, Rico Parker, Bill Dalzell, Genna Styles and Susan McGregor-Laine -- which he's directed with a sure hand toward the utterly naturalistic playing style absolutely essential for this truly remarkable play.
-Ted Hoover, Pittsburgh City Paper
www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/pittsburgh/valu-mart/Content?oid=1343432
The two young women are equally strong, the charismatic Brandi of Genna Styles and the haplessly uncharismatic Lainie of Kelly Marie McKenna, a whiner who gradually develops spine.
-Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/10077/1043596-325.stm
Lanie Welch (Kelly Marie McKenna) is a rich girl who is left with no self-esteem by a domineering mother. Under the direction of Mark Clayton Southers, the cast does a tremendous job capturing the pathos of these human beings, who are not only trapped in the break room—but are trapped in their dead end jobs.
-FJ Hartland, Out’s Theatre Review
theatrereviews.outonline.com/2010/03/22/
LITTLE WOMEN
Kelly Marie McKenna as a delightfully cranky Aunt March.
-Karen Carlin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/05292/590754-42.stm
Kelly Marie McKenna as a delightfully cranky Aunt March.
-Karen Carlin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com/pg/05292/590754-42.stm