McKenna Productions Incorporated

“Donald is an amazing acting coach. I have four daughters in the business that have landed roles in film, tv, music videos and commercials over the past several years, and Donald has been extremely instrumental in helping them get the parts. Donald has such a caring–but professional–way with kids of all ages, and goes above and beyond to make sure the kids feel comfortable with a role, using unique and exciting acting methods that allow the kids to stay focus and achieve the best outcome possible. I would recommend Donald to any serious professional actor….you will not be disappointed.”

Donald is an amazing acting coach and person. He has helped me get so many auditions and roles. Half of the things that I booked last year wouldn’t be on my resume without his help. I love Donald to death, and consider him a close friend. That’s another thing I like. He doesn’t just coach his students, he gets to know them, and that makes the coaching sessions (Skype and in person) a lot more fun and easy.”

“I decided to take some classes in the philly area. One of the first was at Cathy Wickline Casting. The class consisted of 3 parts, commercial, monologues, and improv. Cathy taught the first two aspects of the class and brought in this guy for the improv part. That’s when I first met Donald McKenna. I was hooked!! It was like nothing I had ever done. Two weeks after the class ended I got a call to go to New York for a Amtrak commercial audition. When I walked in they said, There’s no script, the audition is all improv. WHAT THE WHAT ! ……I nailed it !! It almost sounds like a bullshit story , but it’s the absolute truth. I became SAG eligible because of booking it and felt a real feeling of accomplishment because I worked for the eligibility. A couple years after that, Donald got a hold of me because he was starting an Improv class and he called it ” off the page” . I’m telling you man, with all the other classes I had taken, this is the one that really opened me up to a whole new world of acting. Because I had started a family so early in my life and needed a full time employment and paycheck, wasn’t able to pursue acting full time. Through the years I’ve called Donald and met with him to go over some auditions that I had coming up…. in fact, one time I called him from across the street from the casting agent of the show “Homicide” in Baltimore for a few pointers on a part that was literally one line…booked that one two!. Mostly, I seem to get something decent about every 2 years, that’s right, about every 2 years. I’ve had speaking roles on, Homicide, Philly, Hack, Cold Case and The Happening. Recently I’ve had a little better luck and currently have a Verizon commercial and an PSA for the Philadelphia council for anti-smoking. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT. Two weeks ago, on September 13th, I had a callback for the new Bradley Cooper movie, “Silver Linings Playbook”. Dianne Heery had told me that this director was big on improv, Dude, who else could I call. I was able to get a hold of Donald the night before for a quick re-fresher. Today I found out I got the part. It is the father of one of the main characters, my scenes are with Bradley Cooper and it’s a several day shoot at 4 different locations. …..needless to say, Donald, I have to get together with you in the next month, probably a few times right?? Thanks for everything dude. See you soon.”

I wanted my daughter to further develop her acting skills and I asked her agency to recommend an acting coach. They said that Donald McKenna was the best- and they were right . Since working with Donald, Devon has improved on her camera technique, improv and overall acting skills tremendously. When we have an audition, we call Donald to make sure that she is prepared and confident. If an audition needs to be taped, Donald has the expertise to do a very professional job. Recently my daughter was fortunate enough to be asked to audition for the part of young Amy Schumer in the movie “Trainwreck” Donald worked with her to prepare the audition, making sure she knew how to play to the camera and deliver her lines in an impactful way. As a result of his coaching and Devon’s performance…..she got the part !! I highly recommend Donald to anyone who wants to improve their acting skills and get better results at auditions. He is a wonderful mentor who cares about his students and their success