White Heron Theatre Names Mark Shanahan Resident Director

The White Heron Theatre Company announced Tuesday that director, writer, and actor Mark Shanahan has expanded his relationship with the company by stepping into a new role as resident director.

“Mark has been a collaborator and director here at White Heron since 2017,” said White Heron's Artistic Director Lynne Bolton. “His writing and direction are very much in line with our mission — to create new work and imaginatively staged classics. We are very fortunate to have Mark join the creative team as resident director during our 10th Anniversary season. It sets the stage for our next ten years of creative and innovative work.”

In his new position, Shanahan will have a more involved role in season planning, casting, and creative team recruitment. In addition, Shanahan will continue to direct productions.

This summer, he is directing the World Premiere of See Monsters of the Deep (for which he is also the playwright) and Dial M for Murder (featuring Celia Keenan-Bolger and Isabel Keating). White Heron will also revive his adaptation of A Nantucket Christmas Carol this holiday season.

“I am proud to call White Heron an artistic home,” Shanahan said. “It is a joy to work with the many celebrated theatre artists who come to White Heron to share their talents with this vibrant community. Nantucket has been a part of my family’s life since I was a small child, and it is a true thrill to be asked by Lynne, Michael, Josh and the board to return to the island regularly to create the kind of theatre about which I am so passionate.”

Previously at White Heron, Mark directed Private Lives (featuring Jeremy Shamos, Nina Hellman, Celia Keenan-Bolger, John Conlee and Jan Neuberger) and The Hound Of The Baskervilles (with Mark Price, Dan Domingues and Joe Delafield). Additionally, he performed in The Weir and is the author of White Heron's annual production of A Nantucket Christmas Carol. Mark is the creator/writer of White Heron's Ghost Light Radio Series (which aired on NPR), featuring original Nantucket ghost stories starring Christopher Plummer, Judy Ivey, Rhonda Ross and many more.

Mark is the curator of the Script-In-Hand and Radio Theatre Series for The Westport Country Playhouse and is a graduate of Brown University (BA) and Fordham (MA).