Island native, Bryde MacLean, was born to play the role of Ruth in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.” Her mother, veteran Charlottetown actor Sharlene MacLean, was pregnant with Bryde when she stage managed a production of the play at The Confederation Centre in 1984. Her father, the well-known Island actor Bill McFadden, starred as Charles Condomine in that same production. (side note: the production was directed by Ron Irving and also starred Cathy Grant, Laurel Smyth, Martha Irving, and Deb Allen)
With this lineage, Bryde was clearly destined for the stage. Encouraged by teachers at Kensington High School, trained at the Summerside School of Dance, Bryde went on to Ryerson University in Toronto, completing the four-year acting program in 2011. Bryde appeared as Anne at Avonlea Village and was invited to bring the Island’s favourite red-head to Barbados, appearing as Anne at the High Commissioner’s Canada Day Celebrations. Island audiences saw Bryde at The Confederation Centre last summer in “Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad”. She recently completed some film and media projects with Island-based Tiny Town Media, and can be seen in season 2 of the television series “Just Passing Through.”
This summer, while Bryde is playing Ruth in “Blithe Spirit,” at the Watermark Theatre, her husband Jeremie Saunders will be playing Owen in “The Melville Boys” at Victoria Playhouse, in Victoria-by-the Sea. Bryde also looks forward to the arrival of her sister, singer-songwriter Tara MacLean, who will open her new musical show “Open Road” (a celebration of Atlantic singer/songwriters) at the Harmony House on July 23rd and 24th.
For Bryde, the summer of 2016 on the Island will definitely be a “family affair.” There is nothing Bryde would rather do than be working in great theatre at home on the Island, and she is absolutely thrilled to be joining the company this summer on the Watermark Theatre stage.
For more information, or to set up an interview with Bryde MacLean please contact Andrea Surich at 902-963-3963 or generalmanager@watermarktheatre.com