CRITICS SAY:
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Asolo Rep
“...Winningly characterized performances, especially Mr. Breitbarth and Katie Cunningham and Summer Dawn Wallace, who play to the hilt a pair of brass-voiced bimbos.”
-The Wall Street Journal - Terry Teachout
“Katie Cunningham and Summer Dawn Wallace are often hysterical as two nasal and squeaky voiced actresses who barely have a brain between them.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune (*Sarasota Herald-Tribune “Handy Award” - Compelling Couples)
MACBETH
Utah Shakespeare Festival
“Cunningham shined as Iago’s wife, Emilia, in last year’s “Othello.” Watching her discover her villainous husband’s betrayal was heart-wrenching, and Cunningham brought that same emotional depth to “Macbeth” as Lady Macbeth. She had a commanding, practically hypnotizing stage presence as she went from being the strong one who told Macbeth after King Duncan’s murder that “a little water clears us of this deed” to being overcome with guilt, fretting back and forth and obsessively rubbing at an imaginary spot of blood that seemed etched in her conscience.” –
-Deseret News
“Leading the charge is Cunningham, whose Lady Macbeth is portrayed with an intriguing dichotomy that teeters between cold-hearted craftiness and guilt-ridden insanity. Cunningham commands the stage with fierceness and drama.”
-St. George News
“Cunningham likewise blurs the line between cultural norm and occult practice. She transforms an early soliloquy into an ambitious incantation, even casting a conjuring circle. This choice serves to create a wonderful bit of uncertainty about the driving forces behind the plot. She is most captivating when either invoking or challenging gender roles.”
-Front Row Reviewers Utah
“Utah Shakespeare Festival brings some of the best Shakespearean actors to the stage every year. Katie Cunningham’s Lady Macbeth is chilling. In some ways, her performance is much scarier than the three weird sisters. She is way more manipulative, way easier to love, way more cold-hearted.”
-Iron County Today
“Matched with Carr in every way was Katie Cunningham as Lady Macbeth. Her intense, passionate line deliveries and eagerness to fulfill the witches’ prophecy gave her scenes an urgency that added to the show’s emotional tension. Cunningham’s range of reactions to the play’s events was exquisite, whether it was the near-panic when discovering that Macbeth still carried the weapon used to murder King Duncan (instead of using it to incriminate the king’s guards), or the controlled nervousness when Macbeth seemed to go mad when he saw Banquo’s ghost. The famous Act V sleepwalking scene, which Cunningham used to effectively show Lady Macbeth tortured by her guilt after Duncan’s murder, was simply captivating.”
-Utah Theatre Bloggers
“As Lady Macbeth, Katie Cunningham is stellar. She delivers some of the play’s most famous lines (“Unsex me here …”) with power and authenticity. Her sleepwalking scene is particularly noteworthy as she collapses in sobs that reverberate throughout her body.”
-Southern Utah Independent
“Ms. Anderson’s cast members deliver marvelously nuanced performances across the board…Carr co-stars with the statuesque Katie Cunningham, who embodies what is too often lacking in productions of this tragedy, a Lady Macbeth who could visibly tempt a husband to commit the ultimate crimes of treason and regicide.”
- Utah Public Radio
OTHELLO
Utah Shakespeare Festival
"...the standout performances go to Vaughn's Iago and Katie Cunningham as Iago's wife, Emilia, whose discovery of her husband's betrayal is as heart-wrenching as Othello's demise and Desdemona's tragic death." –
-Deseret News
"The other two standout performances are Cunningham as Emilia and Burris as Cassio. If I could see another play where these two actors were headliners, I'd watch several performances back to back. They are organic in their character building. Cunningham has such a believability, and her voice - there's something about it that made me want to stand up and root for her."
-Front Row Reviewers Utah
"Rounding out a quartet of solid performances is Katie Cunningham, who plays Emilia, Iago's wife. Cunningham brings strength and mischief to the women of Othello and gives Emilia a solid backbone." -
-St. George News
"Katie Cunningham deserves praise for her performance as Emilia..."
-Utah Theatre Bloggers
THE LIAR
Utah Shakespeare Festival
"Much of the play's most fulfilling humor comes from Katie Cunningham, who plays the dual roles of Isabelle and Sabine, twin servants who are 'vivacious' and 'puritanical' respectively...Cunningham injects it with fresh, new life."
-Southern Utah Independent
"Katie Cunningham could win an award for her quick and believable changes in character. She expertly puts on different character voices and airs."
-Front Row Reviewers Utah
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Clarence Brown Theatre
"Ludwig has also given the character of Helen Hubbard a comic, wise-cracking ebullience, material that Katie Cunningham expanded on and finessed, practically capturing every scene she was in with a deliciously cringe-inducing upper-Midwest dialect."
-ArtsKnoxville
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
Clarence Brown Theatre
"Katie Cunningham was Christopher’s mother, Judy, who makes a wonderful character arc from a two-dimensional memory to a flesh and blood example of a caring mother."
-ArtsKnoxville
BLITHE SPIRIT
Clarence Brown Theatre
"Cunningham is comically ethereal as Elvira in a performance that is a masterpiece of movement and attitude, slowly revealing her own ghostly agenda made possible by her involuntary return to the physical world."
-ArtsKnoxville
THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
Palm Beach Dramaworks
"The unassailable performance belongs to New York-based Katie Cunningham who triumphs over the difficult part of Hannah." –
-Florida Theatre On Stage
"Cunningham has a wonderful understanding of the time period, and a centered, calm elegance in her portrayal of Hannah. There is such beauty and poise in her acting that one begins watching every movement of hand and brow. She conveys every nuance of the character's subtext and conflict with admirable subtlety and exquisite timing. This Night of the Iguana belongs to her, and in her performance the words of Tennessee Williams come alive".
-Talkin' Broadway
"But the true magician of Iguana was Katie Cunningham's devastating Hannah Jelkes. Hannah's development from her first stiff entrance all the way to her final shining moment was the last corner piece in an enormous, solid color jigsaw puzzle of a play. The lengthy scene between the two at the end of Act Two was a show stopping and gut wrenching experience that shouldn't be missed." -
-BroadwayWorld
LUNGS
Urbanite Theatre (Sarasota, FL)
"As delivered by Cunningham, who has the more demanding and voluminous role, McMillan's lines are both credible and often hilarious. She's never less than believable, right down to her hormonally-driven instantaneous reversals of thought and emotion, her ability to summon up tears on command, and her adept delivery of zingers with perfect comic timing."
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
"Katie Cunningham shines as the painfully-neurotic female in the couple. Cunningham, who returned to Asolo for a season with the Rep last year where she gave memorable performances in Our Betters and Both Your Houses, demonstrates tremendous stage presence and delivers the play's most charged dialogue with an almost unsettling authenticity."
– The Bradenton Times
"What makes all the bickering bearable is that Ragan and Cunningham wring the most out of author Duncan Macmillan's best writing and even his banal plotting. Cunningham's facial changes alone, like her breathless bits of rationale early on, make her character real."
– Total Theater
"Cunningham and Ragan have the chops to pull it off. They individualize and humanize M and W—and make their dialectical tennis match seem like actual human speech."
-The Observer
"Cunningham and Ragan, under the direction of Daniel Kelly, are so in tune with each other that their starts and stops, their hesitations, their reactions, keep us in their world, as they move from one setting and moment to another… their performances – Cunningham's more expressive and energetic, Ragan's intentionally more responsive most of the time – and McMillan's ear for the way people really talk keep us following every step of the way on their journey, even as life takes some more somber turns."
-Sarasota Magazine
THE 39 STEPS
Clarence Brown Theatre (LORT)
[Gligor] was even better in the presence of Katie Cunningham. Throughout the show Cunningham was able to convincingly and hilariously play a German brunette, a Scottish redhead and a British blonde who each had their own unique chemistry with Hannay."
-The Daily Beacon
[Gligor's] scenes with Cunningham are particularly fun as the two act, then react. Cunningham nails each of her three very different roles. Theatregoers may recognize her as the "Lady of the Lake" in the 2014 SPAMALOT. It's nice to see her back at the Clarence Brown Theatre."
-Knoxville News-Sentinel
All [three women] are played with appropriate poise, delivery, and dexterity by Katie Cunningham."
-Knoxville Mercury
OUR BETTERS
Asolo Rep
“Katie Cunningham is magnificent as the gregarious Pearl. Her energy and allure carry many of the play’s scenes.”
-The Bradenton Times
“Cunningham delivers on all cylinders as the wily Pearl.”
-Sarasota Magazine
“...the radiant and versatile performance by Katie Cunningham, who practically flows across the stage in her silky pants and colorful evening wear. [Pearl’s] a master manipulator, who knows when to charm, sulk or cajole.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“Pearl, played with finesse, grace, and just the right amount of spunk by the glorious Katie Cunningham, has created an extravagant life for herself full of parties with all the ‘right’ people.”
-Anything Arts Sarasota
“Cunningham’s Pearl is a scene stealer. (But that fits. ‘Pay attention to me!’ is her character’s heart’s cry.)”
-Observer Media Group
“Pearl is using all her cunning and wiles (beautifully demonstrated by Katie Cunningham) to solidify her position as doyenne of London society.”
-TotalTheater.com
BOTH YOUR HOUSES
Asolo Rep
“Frank Galati’s slam-bam staging is as good as anything you’re likely to see on Broadway, or anywhere else, this season...he has at his disposal a redoubtable ensemble cast...”
-The Wall Street Journal
“Katie Cunningham is exquisite as Simeon’s soon to be disenchanted daughter, Marjorie...”
-The Bradenton Times
“Katie Cunningham is terrific as Simeon’s daughter and office manager who has a thing for Alan...”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“Brown and Katie Cunningham are fine as two female assistants; their smart, funny cross-talk has the perfect screwball comedy vibe.”
-Observer Media Group
SPAMALOT
Clarence Brown Theatre (LORT)
“The well-done choreography...includes a Vegas-inspired number with Katie Cunningham’s Lady of the Lake as a Cher-inspired singer. Cunningham, who has a beautiful singing voice, is charming as the Lady of the Lake. When she complains to the audience that she’s not been on stage enough, you agree with her.”
-Knoxville News-Sentinel
CLYBOURNE PARK
Arkansas Rep
“These heated debates and laugh-out-loud moments are brought on by superb performances from Jason O'Connell and Katie Cunningham, who play so well off of each other in part two.”
- InArkansas.com
“Katie Cunningham plays an expectant mother in both acts. In the first act her character is deaf, while in the second act her character can hear perfectly (but may wish there things she didn’t hear). Shifting from prim to relaxed in the two acts, Cunningham creates two distinct characterizations on stage.”
-Little Rock Culture Vulture
"All characters but one play two roles, and all do each of theirs compellingly... the performances are uniformly excellent. This small team of actors is composed of proven pros."
-Arkansas Times
NOISES OFF
Clarence Brown Theatre (LORT)
“There are certainly some amazingly talented actors onstage at Clarence Brown Theatre. NOISES OFF was proof of that. Most notably for me, Katie Cunningham, who plays Brooke Ashton (who plays Vicki!) and Gail Rastorfer, who plays Dotty Otley (who plays Mrs. Clackett). Both Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Rastorfer had comedic timing down to an art. Katie Cunningham managed to give Brooke Ashton that perfect mix of airhead and inexperienced actress.”
-Broadwayworld.com (*BroadwayWorld Award Nomination - Best Actress in a Play)
“Cunningham’s a visitor, a Carolina grad who’s done a lot of work in New York; you’ll wish she were a resident.”
-Knoxville MetroPulse
“Katie Cunningham, as the dimwitted but alluring Brooke Ashton, was fun to watch - and not just because she spent much of the evening prancing around in lingerie. Rather, her uninterested gum-smacking, slow fades into daydreams and bewildered returns to the action on stage were the subtlest comedy of the show.”
-Knoxville News-Sentinel
DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
The Night Shift
“Good acting can be as dynamic as a fireworks show, and that’s just what you get with these two actors (Katie Cunningham and Danny Jones) telling the explosive meeting between Danny and Roberta - two lost souls in search of real human interaction...As if this noble feat wasn’t enough, this production is also a wonderful example of what makes theater great - actors deftly executing their craft.”
-Showcase Showup NYC (* Selected to “The List” of recommended AEA Showcases in NYC)
GOD OF CARNAGE
Asolo Rep
“Cunningham plays the seemingly most fragile of the four — beware when she becomes nauseous — but holds her own against Clarke as her bull-headed husband.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune (*Sarasota Herald-Tribune “Handy Award” - Best Ensemble)
“The performances of the four actors, who are onstage and talking virtually nonstop throughout, are finely calibrated...all the performances are sharp and entertaining.”
-Sarasota Magazine
“The strongest part of the production is the acting by the four cast members. Bravo to all four actors.”
-Talkin’ Broadway
HAMLET REDUX
Asolo Repertory Theatre
“The cast is headed by Katie Cunningham, who looks and plays the role as an energetically youthful and tormented young man... Cunningham is a delight to watch. Her femininity adds a strong undercurrent to Hamlet’s budding maturity and she really makes you feel the torment in the prince’s soul after the murder of his father.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“Katie Cunningham had no trouble conveying a sort of troubled masculinity.”
-Sarasota Magazine
THE LADY FROM THE SEA
Asolo Conservatory
“It is fascinating to watch the often mesmerizing Katie Cunningham as Ellida.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“Katie Cunningham is evocative as a woman haunted by her past and frightened by her future. As Ellida, Cunningham is equal to the task of representing the archetypal Ibsen heroine, bringing to life a woman drawn to an unconventional freedom that represents both passion and danger.”
-Pelican Press
SECRET ORDER
Caldwell Theatre Co.
“Nick Duckart and Katie Cunningham are wonderful both separately and together.”
-Talkin’ Broadway
“Nick Duckart and Katie Cunningham... are a dynamic duo, both with their intellectual sparring and their undercurrent of physical attraction.”
-The Boca Raton Tribune
“But the real surprise here is Katie Cunningham... Her portrayal of a 21-year-old medical whiz rips across the stage like a bolt of lightning.”
-Broward-Palm Beach New Times
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
Asolo Conservatory
“Katie Cunningham has a wonderful regal air as Silvia.”
-Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“The gals, played winningly by cute Megan DeLay and striking Katie Cunningham, each win our sympathy.”
-Total Theater
DANCING AT LUGHNASA
Northern Stage
“The Northern Stage production has corralled a bunch of actresses who make these frustrated women real and sympathetic... Chris, the youngest, is played with naturalness and subtlety by Katie Cunningham.”
-Montpelier Times-Argus
BEDROOM FARCE
Oldcastle Theatre Co.
“Cunningham was stunningly cool, flaunting her physique to keep the night’s overtone sensual without becoming bawdy.”
-The Bennington Banner