Christine McBurney
Christine was born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in Struthers, Ohio, and spent many a holiday and summer back on the east coast where she fondly remembers entertaining neighbors on the stoop in Brooklyn, singing and dancing for an audience of women who leaned out of their windows. In 2021, she has finally, and happily landed back in NYC after two fruitful decades of theatre making and teaching in Cleveland.
She studied comparative literature and writing at Columbia University's School of General Studies while working at ABC Radio Network News. After a whirlwind solo backpacking adventure across Europe, it was time time for graduate school, so she mustered the courage to pursue a dream she'd put on hold for too long: to study acting. She received her MFA from Kent State University. She is also published author and a U.S. Presidential Scholar Teacher who has won grants, including a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, to study Shakespeare at The Globe Theatre in London, The Juilliard School, and The National Institute on Teaching Shakespeare.
Christine is also an award-winning theatre director and former artistic director and acting and dialect coach. She loves coaching Shakespeare in particular. She is an alum of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Directors Lab West, Directors Lab North, and Cleveland Play House Directors Gym. She continues her acting training with Shakespeare & Company, Dream Lab Studio, and James Ciccone. She has taught at The Film and Media Arts School at Cleveland State University and Baldwin Wallace University Department of Theatre & Dance. She's a coach for Dream Lab and in private practice.
Christine is a member of the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers and AEA-EMC .