About the Artiste
M. Reilly O’Neill is a New York based actor, singer, writer, and human.
Growing up in the whimsical Pennsylvania backwoods made it easy for her to believe she was a character in one of stories she would read with a flashlight long after she was supposed to be asleep. She fell in love with the art of language and storytelling at a young age; illicit affairs that instilled in her a thirst for knowledge, compassion, and authenticity that color her creative work today. Her first taste of the spotlight occurred when she was featured nationwide as one of Wegmans “Babies of the Year” at age one (Miss. July! #bookedandblessed), however it wasn’t until years later at age five when she brazenly informed her mother she had signed up to compete in her K-8 Talent Show that she really fell in love. She got up on stage, her chewed up Lamb stuffed animal (eloquently named “Lamby”) in hand, and gave the best rendition of “The First Noel” that auditorium ever saw.
And what do you know; she became me. And while she may have enjoyed such narration, I am not particularly fond of third person. So hey!
Growing up in Central PA meant that I had access to a wide theatrical menu, giving me the opportunity to perform at and patronize venues such as The Fulton Theatre, The Ephrata Performing Arts Center, The Walnut Street Theatre, and The Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre. Our close proximity to major performance hubs gave me the opportunity to train with professionals such as Jonathon Reinhold, Joanne Abrom, Sandra Turner, Acting Up Management, and the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Company; each significantly unique experiences equipped me with a wide skill set to support my later training.
I moved to New York City in 2017 to attend Marymount Manhattan College, pursuing a double major in BFA Musical Theatre and BFA Acting (something MMC does NOT encourage or offer). I was told it would be too much work, too stressful, and nearly impossible to graduate on-time; but my strong work ethic and artistic drive kept me in both programs of study until my junior year when I decided to focus on musical theater in order to best serve my contemporary theatrical goals. My status as a double-BFA-performance major allowed me to take full advantage of learning from MMC’s accredited faculty, giving me the opportunity to study underneath the likes of Bethany Christine Elkin, Antonio Edwards Suarez, Ellen Orenstein, Barbara Adrian, Dana Moore, Tommy Scrivens, and Grant Anderson. My training enabled me to explore a wide range of techniques however I have a particular interest in Laban and Lucid Body methodology, something which I have fervently continued my studies in.
I made my off-Broadway debut at The Tank during LadyFest 2019, a 7x7 festival that celebrates emerging female artists. I am enthusiastic about developing projects, particularly those that utilize blues or folk music as influence, and have had the opportunity to originate several roles thus far; most notably having worked with Prix du Premier award-winning author Gwen Edelman and Drama Desk Award directing nominee David Schweizer on Edelman’s stage adaptation of her 2014 novel “Train to Warsaw”.
When offstage I can usually be found practicing yoga inversions, kickboxing, reading Russian literature (or lately, the complete works of Simone du Beauvoir), geeking out on history, watching true crime documentaries, or writing. I am in the process of researching and writing my first novel, a historical-horror novel on the Haunting of Bon Air Mansion. I am the proud mama of many plants, a soon-to-be-popular blog, and an EP Grandeur slated to be released in January of 2022. But more than anything she is a human and is simply trying to learn how to do better each day.
Don’t ask for permission, don’t ask for forgiveness; ask for understanding.
