For this Holiday Season, I will be understudying two roles in 'Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins' with Strawdog Theatre. This will be a big challenge because one of the roles I understudy plays clarinet! I used to play clarinet/bass clarinet/ contrabass clarinet during grade school and high school so it's been a little while. I'm so used to being on the low end of the clarinet range as a bass clarinetist so I've really got my work cut out for me. So far rehearsals have been fantastic and really flexing the creativity to make this show unique!

I am so excited to have been accepted into the coached ensembles program at Second City! We will be performing for four Friday shows with a variety of other groups. I did not expect improv to become a big part of my life so quickly! I used to love going to Second City as a kid so this will be a blast to perform on one of their stages!

We lucked out with this class, although it started... unluckily, lets say. This class trauma bonded so quickly that we have become the comedy troupe, 'Kiss & Touch!' I feel so lucky to be part of this group of talented people. This is the perfect combination of people, with different styles and different vibes on stage but we all come together and support each other.
All that and we have the amazing teacher, David Montgomery. From the beginning he encouraged us to bond, deepening our connection off stage which makes us better performers on stage. He is so supportive and knowledgeable. He not only gives direction of our scenes in the moment but gives us advice and knowledge of the outside world of improv.
We have our showcase coming up! So excited!

In what I have dubbed my "Drunk Shakespeare" summer, I begin my adventures in improv at Second City as well as taking a one play focus on King John. I actually intended to take improv at IO when I moved to Chicago in 2020 but then... 2020 happened. Finally, four years later, I have finally signed up for Improv for Actors at Second City. Improv used to scare me until I took classes in high school. Now, it kinda scares me again!

This fall I will be understudying the role of Marjorie in The Cottage with Citadel Theater in its Chicagoland premiere. This is a show I've followed and loved since hearing of it going to Broadway and I'm excited to be a part of it!

I am so so so excited to be the voice of one of my favorite saints, Saint Therese of Lisieux! This July I had the amazing opportunity to work with The Merry Beggars of Relevant radio and bring to life the voice of Saint Therese. It was a challenge! As the lead role I had almost no breaks and as on my feet for a long time, constantly engaged. All that and in a French accent. I had a fantastic time working with Demetrios Troy, our director. He was a great help for my first time working on this podcast! Big thank you to all at The Merry Beggars and Relevant Radio! You'll be able to hear me soon on The Merry Beggar's website!

This spring I will be playing the lead role of Maura in Towle Theater's production of The Spider or the Fly? This will be an interesting role in such a meta show!

I was asked to share my singing talents for Oil Lamp Theater's first annual fundraising gala! I and four other actors who have graced the stage at Oil Lamp previously, along with the direction of the lovely Daniella Rukin, put together a short little cabaret with just one rehearsal. It was a blast to help make the event extra magical with some special people!

*photos by Gosia Photography

Albert Williams of Chicago Reader calls Night of the Hunter a "Satisfying Dark Yarn." Both Jaqui and I got a wonderful shoutout at the end with: "Particularly impressive are Jacqui Touchet and Mary Margaret McCormack, adult actors who play the endangered John and Pearl with full and convincing commitment."

Reviews are coming in and audiences are loving Night of the Hunter! Mary Wisniewski of New City Stage was highly complimentary of the production. Wisniewski gave the lovely compliment: "Both Touchet and McCormack do a terrific job playing children. McCormack somehow makes us forget her height and accept her as a five-year-old, coy and charming as an Appalachian Shirley Temple, clutching her doll."

Never have I been described as an "Appalachian Shirley Temple" before! I love it! I'm so glad my work to make Pearl as a believable five year old has paid off!

Just as soon as I close one show I'm opening another one! We are working hard on the world premiere adaption of The Night of the Hunter. We are at that magical moment when the set, props, costumes, sound, and lights all come together and it really feels like a show. It's going to be so fun!

I'll be playing Pearl, a five year old! It's been an interesting challenge to find the mannerisms and speech patterns of a little kid as an adult.

Another lovely review this time from Samantha Robinson of Chicago Onstage. My scream seems to definitely frighten people and I love hearing the audience react when that happens. I even heard an audience member remark "Now THAT'S a scream!" right as the first act ended.

We have our first review thanks to Rikki Lee Travolta! Travolta said our show was "very strong." He complimented the cast with "Each actor brings their character to life with attention to adding subtle nuances and depth."
I am delighted to be descried as a "scream queen!" This is my fourth show I've utilized my blood curdling scream skills and I'm so glad it got noticed!

This weekend we opened The Mousetrap! Being part of this production is such a joy. I love this cast, the director, and this show! Scott Westerman, our director, cleverly kept the show fresh with new tech and a slightly different take on the end of the show's tone. It's been a wonderful time really sinking my teeth into this role and balancing the ending of the play with all the possibilities and red herrings. I love this show so much I could scream! (and I do)

(Photo Courtesy of Ralph Durham)

I am so very excited to announce I will be playing Mollie Ralston in Citadel Theatre's production of Agatha Christie's Classic Play, The Mousetrap! In a fun coincidence of events, I saw the production in London this past January! As someone who regularly plays a Brit on stage, I have done a handful of murder mysteries; many of which are spoofs and pastiches of The Mousetrap. It will be a delight to don my British dialect again and delve into a mystery! Unlike the London production, (which has been running for over 70 years!) This production will be running from September 15 through October 15.

Aldi USA on Youtube has released the Mystery Box video featuring me! Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZKa29aPH1U

This past weekend I was invited to perform in a workshop with City Lit theater for an adaption of Night of the Hunter based on the book that inspired the 1955 film of the same name. I played Pearl, the five year old daughter of Willa. We workshopped the play for four hours, reading through and discussing the work, and then performed with spontaneous blocking for a small audience. It was a fun experience to improv blocking with no set or anything and see how everyone stepped up to that challenge.

I got a lovely compliment from one of our audience members on how well I played a child and that my movement and behavior was very accurate to a five year old. I guess those years of substitute teaching preschool and kindergarten paid off! It's fun to let loose and allow your inner child to come out!

I got a lovely shoutout from June Sawyers of 3rd Coast review! She applauded the production for being able to take this "dated" play and make it work. She complimented my performance saying;" Mary Margaret McCormack turned the fast-talking and ostensibly shallow Sally into someone likable and vulnerable." I really appreciate that! Sally in this play makes a lot of unlikable choices. It's easy to judge her and want to change who she is. I'm glad I was able to make her endearing and believably be someone who Christopher Isherwood would want to be around.
I loved this show and dearly miss it since it went so quickly! I'm so happy to get some good confirmation that our hard work payed off as a cast!

I'm really excited to say I'll be seen in April for Aldi's "Mystery Box" series! I shop at Aldi almost every week, so it is a real treat to be working with them! I had a blast and everyone was so kind and delightful! This will be released in April so I will definitely show highlights from that.

Over the last few weeks I've been shooting a short film called "Blind Witness." I'm going a bit against what I typically play. Instead of being someone who *might* be a murderer, I am a murderer! I play a serial killer with a bucket list trying to accomplish a "blind kill." I'm so glad to be getting more time in front of the camera and get more comfortable with film acting!

One company I have wanted to work with for years is Porchlight Music Theatre and I am so excited to say I will be performing as Sally Bowles in Porchlight Revisits' production of I Am A Camera. This is the play that Cabaret is based on! I'm really excited to get started on this project and see where the director wants to take this story.

This Christmas Season I will be back as Mary Hatch in Oil Lamp Theater's 10th and Final live production of It's A Wonderful Life! I am delighted to be back in this role again. I had such a lovely time last year playing the role. This is such a touching and heart-warming show. Seeing the audience being moved by our work and hearing how the story had affected them afterwards reminds me of why I love to perform. There is a reason this story keeps getting told over and over again and I am glad to be a part of that.

For the final weekend of Frankenstein I went on for Captain Walton and Emily! It was stressful at first to be thrust into the role but luckily, I quickly adjusted. The role has a lot of technical aspects for moving props and set pieces around. The principal actor, Emily, however, kindly showed me all of her notes for her track and I made a little chart of what to move and when! It was very fun to act with friends on stage, especially in a different kind of role I don't ususaly play. It was a lovely and exciting change to play a tough captain of a ship instead of musical love-interests or goofy British lasses!

We couldn't have asked for a better day to perform out doors! This October, I was asked to be a part of Perennial Theater's back yard performance of new works. We performed four short plays that are works in progress where we had a talk back afterwards with the writers. I performed in a piece by Mary Bonnet called "The Ninth Floor: Blocked Justice," a short play about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire tragedy. It was a very interesting work to be a part of. I learned about the event in school but never knew many details about it! I really appreciated bringing this historical event to life to inform those who didn't know much about it!

I'm back at City Lit this fall as the female swing for Frankenstein! I'm so excited to see this show come to life on stage with magic from puppetry to lighting to immersive sound design. It's been a long time since I've been a full fledged understudy so this will be a nice challenge to approach!

Delighted to be part of this fabulous cast with City Lit's production of Playboy of the Western World! Every night I got to play the very silly character, Nellie McLaughlin. The role doesn't have many lines but we created a very fun, very silly, yet very integral part of the show. She became a conduit for the audience to see the show through. Plus, I got to crawl around on stage under a table every night!

Just two weeks after one staged reading, I go ahead and do another! A friend of mine clued me into the opportunity to play the leading role of Bertha Benz in the new musical, Driving the Dream with Chicago Writer's Bloc Festival and Her Story Theater. We sold out the show! We got great laughs from the audience and gave lots of compliments on how they enjoyed the performance afterwards.

Driving the Dream is a musical about the life of Berta Benz who helped develop the modern automobile with her husband, Karl Benz. She was the first person to do a long distance drive in an automobile, solving problems along the way. (Including inventing brake pads!)The show is written by Chloe Bolan with music by Gerald H. Bailey. The show is masterfully directed by Mary Bonnett of Her Story Theater.

The Chicago Writers' Bloc festival puts on multiple plays, musicals, and short works in staged reading format. This particular production was done in partnership with Her Story Theater who focuses on producing and creating original works shining light on the lives of women and children.

I'm very lucky to be a part of the workshop for "Falling for Make-believe" by multi-Emmy Award Winner, Mark Saltzman! You may know Mr. Saltzman from the classic children's show, Sesame Street, where he wrote the iconic characters, Bert and Ernie. Mark recently opened another one of his musicals, "Romeo & Bernadette," Off-Broadway to rave reviews!

Falling for Make-Believe will be performed at the Skokie Theater this fall. It is a musical about the tragic life of Lorenz Hart, of Rogers and Hart fame. He wrote the lyrics to iconic songs such as: "My Funny Valentine," "Johnny One Note," "Blue Moon," and "Falling for Make-Believe." The show has been performed before but is being re-worked for this new production. We performed privately for Mark Saltzman in a staged reading. I played the role "every woman," who is a multitude of characters, including Richard Rogers' wife, Dorothy.

I'm very lucky and grateful to have been part of this process! I had a blast playing multiple characters and flexing those acting muscles. Thank you so much to Madkap productions for thinking of me for this project! It is up there as one of the highlights of my acting journey!

How lovely to get a shout out! Two reviews are in for Something's Afoot! Mira Temkin with Splash Magazine saying I "sing like an angel" and Alan Bresloff with Around the Town: Chicago calling my performance as Hope "adorable" also complimenting my singing. They both give great reviews of the show and highly recommend everyone see it.

You can say we've been planning this show for... years and years. Another 2020 resurrection musical, Something's Afoot opens this week! It's a crazy show full of mystery and camp. I'm playing Hope Langdon, the ingenue with suspiciously blonde hair... Who done it?
This is my third forray into the murder mystery world. I just tend to play British gals who may or not be murderers! I guess I've found a type!

Check out www.Skokietheatre.org for tickets! We open April 8 and run until April 30! Use My name (Mary) for a discount on tickets!

Over the summer a couple of friends and I worked with the wonderful Randy Bernales of RB Studio Productions and made a short film called "Roshambo." Randy is a wizard and wrote, directed, and filmed the entire piece! It was great to work with him. Acting in a film was a great challenge for me as someone coming from mostly theatre. It's a different sensation to condense your actions and emotions for film, as opposed to sending out your energy to the cheap seats. What made this role even more challenging was the role itself. I found it was rather a departure from the bubbly (or British) roles I typically play. Randy, however, was so helpful. He directed me and let me know I had to go tighter and more distilled. Thanks to him, it was a fun and hilarious experience!

You can check out the film under "Media" here on my website!

I'm so excited to say that I'm part of It's A Wonderful Life: The Radio Play at Oil Lamp Theater. Oil Lamp is a great theatre that I've wanted to work with for some time and I'm so glad that this is my first show with them! I will be playing the role of Mary Hatch (Sally Applewhite), Donna Reed's Character from the film. We are already a few weeks into rehearsal and the cast is great! Everyone is so kind and talented. If you want a delightful, feel-good, heart-warming show this holiday season, this is for you!

Check out https://oillamptheater.org for tickets. The theater only seats 60 people so tickets can go fast!

A great review from Regina Belt-Daniels with the Northwest Herald for Something Rotten! She called the production "a pure delight" and "extremely appealing." I even got a shoutout as a "strong, vibrant actress," and "charismatic!" Audiences have been raving about the show, and we are getting bigger and bigger audience's every night! We could not ask for a better return to the stage!

I am so pleased Something Rotten is back! After 18 months of wondering and waiting, we have finally opened! I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to hear the laughs and applause from the audience after weeks of hearing just our director laugh at our jokes. Some of us got emotional backstage when we heard the applause. It was wonderful. This show is so good, so tight, so snappy! It's bound to make you laugh!
https://www.cuttinghall.org/boxoffice/ for tickets!

A few years ago, a friend of mine invited me to a table read for a musical based off a comedic novel from the turn of the century. We listened to midi files of songs he had written or read aloud lyrics to songs. Finally, in August of 2021 we were able to get the show up on its feet in front of a live audience as a staged reading! I realized this was the first time I had performed on stage in front of a live audience since March of 2020! I missed that energy of give and take from the audience. Gauging timing of lines and jokes to make the audience laugh, hearing the beautiful harmonies from the music, and singing along with a cast of people! It was so cool to be a part of this project from its early development and I hope to see it fully put on stage in the future.

After a little break of taking a plethora of classes at the same time, I've decided to... take two classes at once. I can't help myself! Right now, I'm diving deep with Shakespeare. Through Acting Studio Chicago I'm polishing up my Shakespeare with Bob Mason, casting director of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre! I'm also brushing up my technique with Susan Hart. It will be so lovely to have a new Shakespeare monologue to take to auditions!

I'm really excited to announce I am the sting voice for a new podcast network, Audiomint! Audiomint is a podcast collective drawing from a wide array of voices across Chicago. I'm so very grateful to be a part of this network and see where it goes!
You can check out their lineup of podcasts and learn more about Audiomint at their website: audio mint.org

Midway through quarantine a friend clued me in to a fun Facebook group called "Zooming the Movies." Actors and film buffs get together and live read/ reenact film and TV favorites. It is actually a very grand time! People get very into it by dressing up, using props, and doing accents! So far I've participated in Mean Girls, Clue, and Titanic! Recently, I've signed up to hopefully be a part of an episode of The Crown! I'd love to flex my British dialect again. Wish me luck!

In college a new class was offered to students, Voice Over. I decided to take it and found it was much more fascinating than I expected. I decided to take it further and add an independent study to my work on voice over. However, after college I fell headfirst into the theatre world. After consulting with a friend and long time VO artist, I decided to refresh myself on VO. She recommended Acting Studio Chicago. I had a great time working with Brian Plocharczyk. Our class was stellar, full of very talented actors and actresses. We even got a visit from an agent from Grossman & Jack Talent! She gave very useful critiques to all of us and was very impressed.

Over the last few years I've kept a list of random ideas for sketches, stories, or observations. It's filled with the most odd scrawlings from sesame seeds to bad porn-star names to wondering what memes would be like in the 1910s. Now, since I have more free time on the computer, I've decided to force myself to flesh out these ideas. So far I've fleshed out five ideas into full sketches and have written two new ones. Soon, I intend to film some of these with the help of my friends. Because why not?! It would be fun!