Ethan McSweeny
{{Short description|American theatre director}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_date =
| birth_place = Washington, D.C., United States
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| education = Columbia University (BA)
| occupation = Director, Artistic Director
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| employer = American Shakespeare Center
| spouse = Nancy Anderson
| relatives = Terrell McSweeny (sister)
}}
Ethan McSweeny is an American theatre director. He served as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center from 2018 to 2021.{{Cite news |last=Paulson |first=Michael |date=2021-02-19 |title=Shakespeare Troupe to Go Without an Artistic Director |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/theater/ethan-mcsweeny-american-shakespeare-center.html |access-date=2022-07-17 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Marks |first=Peter |date=February 19, 2021 |title=Ethan McSweeny resigns as head of American Shakespeare Center amid financial peril and staff complaints |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/mcsweeny-resignation-asc-shakespeare/2021/02/19/36f5c522-7219-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
Early life and education
McSweeny is a native of Washington, D.C., the son of political journalists Dorothy and William F. McSweeney,{{Cite news |last=Conroy |first=Sarah Booth |date=June 11, 2001 |title=For This Point of Light, a Torch |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/06/11/for-this-point-of-light-a-torch/e82616d6-db20-401c-b42c-79fd483eb80b/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} who served as Lyndon B. Johnson's deputy chief of staff and later an executive vice president of Occidental Petroleum, heading its international division.{{Cite web |title=College's first theatre and dramatic art major directs Gore Vidal's The Best Man |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/dec00/dec00_feature_broadway.html |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.college.columbia.edu}}{{Cite web |last=MARTINEZ |first=GEBE |date=2006-03-12 |title=TEXANS IN WASHINGTON: Work for arts picture-perfect |url=https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/TEXANS-IN-WASHINGTON-Work-for-arts-1895430.php |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Chron |language=en-US}} His mother served as chairwoman of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.{{Cite web |title=Dorothy McSweeny |url=https://www.americansforthearts.org/about-americans-for-the-arts/board-of-directors/dorothy-mcsweeny |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Americans for the Arts|date=15 May 2019 }} His siblings include former Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Terrell McSweeny.{{Cite news |last=Pressley |first=Nelson |date=July 8, 2011 |title=Director Ethan McSweeny, growing up on the way to 'Venice' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater-dance/director-ethan-mcsweeny-growing-up-on-the-way-to-venice/2011/07/01/gIQAy4C73H_story.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
McSweeny graduated from St. Albans School and received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1993 as the first graduate of the theater and dramatic art major of Columbia College. At Columbia, he studied theatre under Austin E. Quigley and directed two student productions, Look Back in Anger and The Tempest.
Career
McSweeny returned to Washington after college and spent four years working as assistant director of The Shakespeare Theatre under Michael Kahn. In 1997, he landed his first engagement as a director of John Logan's Never the Sinner at the Signature Theatre in Arlington County, Virginia, then at Rep Stage in Howard County, Maryland, American Jewish Theatre, and the John Houseman Theatre in New York City. He has also worked as a freelance director at the Guthrie Theater, Old Globe Theatre, Studio Theatre, and The Alley Theater and was hailed as a "wunderkind" by American Theatre magazine in 2006.{{Cite web |last=Kleiman |first=Jaime |date=2006-07-01 |title=The Irresistible Rise of Ethan McSweeny |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2006/07/01/the-irresistible-rise-of-ethan-mcsweeny/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=AMERICAN THEATRE |language=en-US}} His Broadway credits included The Best Man and A Time To Kill.{{Cite news |last=Pressley |first=Nelson |date=June 26, 2018 |title=Ethan McSweeny to head American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/06/26/ethan-mcsweeny-to-head-american-shakespeare-center-in-staunton-va/?arc404=true |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
McSweeney joined the American Shakespeare Center as artistic director in 2018, succeeding Jim Warren, who co-founded ASC and stepped down at the end of 2017.{{Cite web |last=Clement |first=Olivia |date=June 29, 2018 |title=Ethan McSweeny Named New Artistic Director of The American Shakespeare Center |url=https://www.playbill.com/article/ethan-mcsweeny-named-new-artistic-director-of-the-american-shakespeare-center |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Playbill}} He previously co-directed Chautauqua Theater Company in Upstate New York for eight years with Vivienne Benesch. He won a Helen Hayes Award in 2018 for Outstanding direction in a play.{{Cite news |date=May 14, 2018 |title=The 2018 Helen Hayes Awards recipients |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/the-2018-helen-hayes-awards-recipients/2018/05/14/3bc70a2c-5785-11e8-858f-12becb4d6067_story.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
McSweeney stepped down in 2021 amidst budget cuts and complaints about the workplace climate from former employees.
Personal life
McSweeney is married to stage actor Nancy Anderson, who received multiple Drama Desk Award, Laurence Olivier Award, and Helen Hayes Award nominations.{{Cite news |last=Floyd |first=Thomas |date=November 28, 2018 |title='Billy Elliot' actor Nancy Anderson gets coffee with Adam Schiff to kick off her D.C. dream day |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/2018/11/28/billy-elliot-actor-nancy-anderson-gets-coffee-with-adam-schiff-kick-start-her-dc-dream-day/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}