MFA, Acting, Southern Methodist University (2008)
BFA, Theatre, Texas Wesleyan University Summa Cum Laude (1999)
Acting — Intro
Acting III — Period and Styles
Acting IV — Non-Realism
Acting for the Camera
Acting Shakespeare
Auditioning
Professional Seminar
Stage Movement I
Stage Combat
Survey of Theatre
Performance: Acting, Movement, Stage Combat, Voice Over, Business Aspects of Theatre
Lydia Mackay is a proud Fort Worth native and has been a successful Theatre Artist for 20+ years. She received her BFA with an emphasis in Acting from Texas Wesleyan University and holds an MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University. Her training includes Puppetry, Mime, and Dance from the Le Subsistances International Creative Laboratory in Lyon, France; and Mask, with the Laboratorio de la Máscara (Mexico City) in partnership with Cara Mia Theater Co. (Dallas, Texas).
She’s been seen onstage at Dallas Theater Center, Shakespeare Dallas, The Trinity Shakespeare Festival, Amphibian Stage Productions, WaterTower Theatre, Theatre Three, Casa Manãna, Second Thought Theatre, Circle Theatre, and Stage West to name a few. Lydia received ‘Best Actress’ nods from both the Dallas Observer and the DFW Critics Forum. As a Performance and Theatre Arts Teacher, she’s received the Live Theatre Leagues’ Theatre Arts Educator of the Year Award and has taught for many schools and arts organizations such as SMU, Junior Players, The FACE Project, The Dallas Theater Center, Casa Mañana, Stage West, WaterTower Theatre, Theatre Arlington, and now as an Assistant Professor of performance at Texas Christian University.
Lydia is a Certified Yoga Teacher through the Namah Shivaya/Satya International Yoga School in Dallas, which is a Yoga Alliance Registered School. As a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, she’s a certified Actor-Combatant in Unarmed Hand-to-Hand combat, and in 2019 received certifications in Single Sword, Rapier & Dagger, Small Sword, Knife, and Theatrical Firearms. She was a Teaching Artist for the inaugural year of the Tony Award Winning Dallas Theater Center’s ‘Public Works Dallas’ initiative, in partnership with The Public Theater in NYC. She’s a regular performance artist and reader for the Dallas Museum of Art, and for the last seven years has served as the DMA’s casting coordinator, recently having employed all TCU students for the first and second annual Family Mystery Event. Lydia served as the Trinity Shakespeare Festival’s Voice and Text Coach in its inaugural year, and she tread the boards there as an actress for three seasons. She’s also served as a Dialect Coach for Theatre Three, The Dallas Opera, and The Santa Fe Opera, which includes two world premieres. Lydia’s appeared in several independent films such as The Playroom, which got its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC, and she has appeared on the TV shows Dallas and Longmire. Her work as a voice-over artist spans two decades, including commercial, industrial, narration, audio book, anime, and video games. Most recognized for her work in anime and the gaming world, she currently voices a character for the nationally syndicated television series Black Clover on Cartoon Network. If you’re a fan of video games, she’s a playable character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Athena) and Battleborn (Ambra).
As an active member of the DFW Arts community, Lydia served on the Season Selection Committee for the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s 2018-2019 ‘Elevator Series’ and served as a committee member for the DFW #NotInOurHouse movement, which is tasked with adopting and adapting the Chicago Theatre Standards in an effort to create harassment free work environments in the world of professional theatre. She is a member of the Actor’s Equity Association and is represented by the Mary Collins Agency of Dallas. Lydia is the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Drama Club, a non-profit theatre company based in Dallas, that is driven by fantastical stories and inspired design.
As a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association, I perform under several contracts a year, and regularly work as a voice actor doing anime, video games, audio books, and radio narration. I’ve also participated in or produced several new play readings over the years, in an effort to cultivate new work in the DFW theatre community.
SAFD Certified in Unarmed Combat, Single Sword, Rapier & Dagger, Small Sword, Knife, and Theatrical Firearms.
Registered Yoga Alliance Teacher
Member of Actors’ Equity Association
Co-Founder & Producing Artistic Director of The Drama Club (501(c)3 non-profit theatre)
Represented by The Mary Collins Talent Agency
Mentor for the DFW Chapter of StateraArts, whose mission is to UPLIFT. AMPLIFY. ADVANCE. Statera creates pathways that bring women into full and equal participation in the arts. Statera, deriving its name from the Latin word for balance, normalizes a humane and holistic creative environment that nourishes innovation.
