John McGivern

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

John McGivern has won numerous Midwest Emmy Awards as a nationally syndicated public TV host. He's a gifted storyteller, actor and comedian with whom I've collaborated for years as a director, sometime set designer and editorial ear for his original work. Many of our productions have been a blend of old and new material and many have been mounted in different venues with different titles. Our most recent shows have been 2024 and 2023 at the Oak Creek Performing Arts Center.

PRODUCTIONS

Winter Wonderland

Up Close (But Not Too Close!)

A Midsummer Night McGivern

Summer Stories

Winter Tales

Home for the Holidays

A Very Merry McGivern

Fully Committed

Santaland Diaries

REVIEWS

On A Midsummer McGivern

“...the best of his best..."Midsummer" takes an unexpected dark turn in the second half the show. Chilling reality pays the McGivern family a visit. The audience barely breathes until that segment concludes.”

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Savvy collaborator/director Edward Morgan knows McGivern doesn't need many props to sell his anecdotes. McGivern has lived these stories himself, and he recalls his Our Town tales with winning wit.”

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On Winter Tales

“Working with director Edward Morgan, McGivern skillfully sculpts these monologues. Warm and fuzzy is the prevailing tone, but they have dramatic peaks and unexpected conflict. The entire package is wrapped in humor.”

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On Summer Stories

“Yet Summer Stories, in which he has the luxury of a director (Edward Morgan, a frequent collaborator) all to himself and a one-man tech crew, feels a little different for McGivern, who is used to working a room with just a microphone and an outline in his head. “I usually don’t get so much help,” he laughs. “Here’s a stool and a kneeler and I’m done.””

– Backstage

On Santaland Diaries

“Based on audience response to McGivern's performance, "The Santaland Diaries" is also destined to become Madison's pre-season holiday adult favorite. On a stage littered with partially clad department store mannequins, a 6-foot-tall Christmas tree and other small set pieces, McGivern prances, sometimes literally, through Sedaris' tale of one special holiday season when the author learned the true meanings of Christmas: greed, avarice, humiliation and despair.”

– The Capital Times

VENUES

The Pabst Theatre, The Marcus Center

Milwaukee Rep, Next Act Theatre

Madison Rep, Milwaukee Public TV

Northern Lights Theatre (Potawatomi Casino)

J.M. Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan)

Cedarburg Performing Arts Center

Oak Creek Performing Arts Center

Schauer Arts Center (Hartford)

Jefferson Performing Arts Center

Third Ave. Playhouse (Sturgeon Bay)