Mary Hodges

Teaches at Primary Stages ESPA

Mary Hodges is an actor, director, *sometime dramaturge, and teacher. Most recently, she was Assistant Director for SLAVE PLAY written by Jeremy O. Harris and directed by Robert O’Hara, which ran on Broadway until January 2020. She has been at the craft of acting for 25+ years, mostly onstage from Berkeley, California to The Berkshires of Massachusetts. Mary has studied a wide variety of acting methodologies and techniques: traditional and not so traditional. For example, Sandy Meisner and Uta Hagen to Ernie McClintock’s “Jazz Acting Technique” or Suzuki Training for Actors. Mary uses ALL of these teachings ALL of the time, regardless if she is acting or directing. Is it confusing to the actor to use more than one technique? No. You take teachings that connect to who you are as a person and an actor and utilize them to the best of your ability and keep it moving. The more ways you can access the depths of who you are inside and out, the better and that means grasping and decoding teachings from different lenses. Mary has a BFA and MFA in Acting: Virginal Commonwealth University and from The University of Connecticut at Storrs. Mary was recently in a production of MACBETH at Here Arts Center where she played five different roles, all men. The show starred internationally acclaimed actor/director/teacher/gender-bend specialist, Lisa Wolpe and Nick Salamone of New York Classical Theatre. Mary has worked extensively with Harlem Shakespeare’s Festival founder and producing artistic director, Debra Ann Byrd for several years in Harlem, taking on challenging roles such as Cassio in OTHELLO, The Fool in KING LEAR, and Ophelia in HAMLET.