title: Mark Rhea
text: # Mark Rhea
  
  Mark Rhea is an American director, actor, and arts leader. He is the founder and producing artistic director of Keegan Theatre, a small professional American theater based in Washington, D.C. A Texan of Irish heritage, Rhea founded Keegan Theatre in 1996, staging Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as its first production in 1997.
  
  ## Personal
  
  Rhea is married to fellow artist Susan Marie Rhea, an actor, director, and artistic director of Keegan Theatre. They were married in 2003 in Galway, Ireland, while touring Ireland with Keegan Theatre's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
  
  ## Awards and recognition
  
  A four-time Helen Hayes Awards nominee, Rhea was honored for Outstanding Direction, Musical-Helen Production in 2017 for Keegan's production of Next to Normal.
  
  ## Theatre Credits
  
  Rhea has produced, directed or co-directed more than 60 productions at Keegan Theatre since 1997, including annual productions of An Irish Carol and multiple touring productions to Ireland. His directing credits include Keegan productions of Chicago, Big Fish, The Lonesome West, Next to Normal, and American Idiot.
  
  He has also acted in more than 40 Keegan Theatre productions. His notable acting roles have included Teach in American Buffalo, Lt. Col. Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men, Howie in Rabbit Hole, Carmichael in A Beheading in Spokane, John Proctor in The Crucible, Biff Loman in The Death of a Salesman, and Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.
  
  