Three-time Emmy® Award winner creating bold, deeply human work across theatre, film and television.
Cady McClain is an Emmy®-nominated director and producer working across theatre and film, with a particular passion for actor-driven storytelling and the development of new work.
As Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director of Axial Theatre, she directs, develops and produces work in New York and beyond, and has helmed more than 50 staged readings in addition to full productions and developmental workshops.
She is a member of the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit.
Her filmmaking work includes the acclaimed and multi-film festival award-winning documentary Seeing Is Believing: Women Direct, as well as narrative and documentary films that have screened at festivals internationally.
She received two Daytime Emmy® nominations as part of the directing team for Venice the Series.
"The Slide is the Negative" by Jake Shore at The Chain Factory Series, Directed by Paul Smithyman and Produced by Cady McClain for Axial Theatre, JSC Productions, Oberon Theatre Ensemble with Michael Howard Studios and Fortify.io
"The production represents precisely the sort of theatrical enterprise that makes Off-Broadway indispensable to the American stage."
- Eduard A Kliszus, Opening Night Reviews
"THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE (and it is negative as an exploitation) is a brave, intimate, intense play. I wouldn’t call it shocking, but I did look at audience members during the show. For people who see theater as a staid trotting out of superficial stories to entertain, this is something more. The stillness in the silence here is something to see as well as the dialogue, the expression and the emotion as well as the conversation. The actors looked intense, but when I looked at the audience for a moment, I saw a single group seeming not to move, and not to blink, frozen like an image in a slide as they watched. When actors are intense, that’s a good play. When audience members watch with this kind of intensity, it’s a great one."
- Claude Solnik, Encore Theater Reviews
"Cady McClain takes us by the hand and leads us step by step into a strange, labyrinthine world of art and artists. The journey is both physical and psychological.
The actors performances are perfectly orchestrated without a misstep in her surefooted, MASTERFUL DIRECTION!"
Bob McAndrew - Former talent director at 20th Century Fox and Paramount Studios. Member Actors Studio PDU
"The Park" by Eric Conger at MTC Creative Center
directed by Cady McClain
pictured: Carl Hallberg and Tess Riley
"The Park" by Eric Conger at The Marilyn Monroe Theater
directed by Cady McClain
Pictured: Georgina Okon
"The production was beyond fantastic - actors, writing and music but most of all the director! I wanted to say perfect, but the native people said that only God is perfect, and they made an intentional imperfection in all their weaving. So I have to say beyond fabulous!!
You have great, great talent!! ⭐⭐⭐"
Magie Dominic, founder Caffe Cino
"Cady did a great job of presenting this reading. It was inventive and imaginative."
Director and Fight Director BH Barry
"Just a Yellow Cab in New York City" by Youlim Nam,
directed by Cady McClain
With Youlim Nam and Hari Bhaskar
"NEVER THE SINNER was the most professional production I have ever seen at Axial. The story was powerful, the acting superb, and the direction choreographed with precision. Don't miss it!"
Joan Gilbert - Board Member, Schoolhouse Theatre
"With ORSON'S SHADOW playwright and director Austin Pendleton, together with his co-director David Schweizer, has created a masterpiece that qualifies as much as comedy as it does drama."
- Rachel Kovacs - Off-Off Online
"The production ultimately offers intelligent acting, smart staging and fine design. There are some highly emotional and touching scenes, especially those involving Leigh, and intriguing glimpses into how early fame can affect artistic geniuses haunted by their own shadows."
- Marilyn Lester - Nite Life Exchange
"Orson's Shadow" by Austin Pendleton, directed by David Schweizer and Austin Pendleton.
Produced by Cady McClain for Axial Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Theatre for the New City, with Michael Howard Studios, Amanda Quinn Olivar and Fortify.io
Pictured: Cady McClain and Brad Fryman
"A passionate, insightful, timely and gorgeously crafted film."
- Lizzie Borden - Director of the indie classic film Born in Flames on Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
“…illuminating, absorbing, and intelligently crafted.. a revelatory documentary…”
- BROADWAY WORLD on Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS INCLUDE: Micheaux Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, Dances With Films, Heartland International Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival, SOHO Int'l Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Bozeman Film Festival, Macon Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, NFMLA, LA Femme Int'l Film Festival, High Falls Film Festival, Socially Relevant Film Festival, March On Washington Film Festival, SaMo Film Festival, Artemis Women in Action Film Festival, DTLA Film Festival, Buffalo Film Festival, Miami Web Fest, Les Femmes Underground Int'l, Bahams Int'l Film Festival, Festival of Cinema NYC, Latino Short Film Festival, Mystic Film Festival, and the Santa Fe Film Festival.
Theatre
SEX ON THE BEACH by Walter John Thompson
Director
The Chain 2026 Summer One Act Festival
CROCODILE by Patrick Hamilton
Director
The Chain 2026 Summer One Act Festival, NYC
A STORY ABOUT A GIRL by Jacquelyn Reingold (monologue)
Director
"Problematic Tendancies" at Paradise Factory Theatre
JUST A YELLOW CAB IN NEW YORK CITY by Youlim Nam
Director
The Chain Winter One Act Festival 2025
THE PARK by Eric Conger
Director/Producer
Axial Theatre at Manhattan Theatre Club Creative Center
CENSUS by Susan Miller
Director/Producer
Glass Ceiling Breakers Festival
a connected place by Youlim Nam
Director
Dramatists Guild
NEVER THE SINNER by John Logan
Director/Producer
Axial Theatre at Bethany Arts Community
PAINT MADE FLESH (multi cam filmed live theater)
Director/Producer
Distribution: Axial Theater w/support from Sotheby’s (NYC)
GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING (two act play)
Producer
dir. Penny Bergman
NYC Equity Showcase / Chain Theater
Film
SEEING IS BELIEVING: WOMEN DIRECT (single cam documentary)
Director/Producer/Writer/Editor
(28, 57, 84 mins) Multiple Fests & Awards
Distribution: PBS, Kanopy, Seed&Spark, ArenaCinelounge
THE LOST GIRLS (narrative feature)
Producer
dir. Julia Verdin
Distribution: Freestyle
BURNT FEATHERS, BROKEN WINGS (multi cam doc short)
Director/Producer/Editor
Kids in the Spotlight - multiple awards
Distribution: IndieFlix
BUTTERFLIES (single camera narrative short)
Director/Producer/Editor
Anthology Film Archives, Hollyshorts FF (Oscar Qualifying)
Distribution: Amazon Prime
THE WORLD OF ALBERT FUH (single cam narrative short)
Director/Producer/Writer
Official Selection SOHO FF, LA Shorts
FLIP FANTASIA (single cam narrative short)
Director/Producer/Writer
Official Selection Macon FF
THE LAST DAY (multi cam narrative short)
Director/Producer
Kids in the Spotlight
Distribution: IndieFlix
THE MISSING PIECE (single cam narrative short)
Director/Producer
Kids in the Spotlight
Distribution: IndieFlix
VAL-EN-TINA (narrative short)
Producer
dir. Araeia Robinson
Distribution: Wilde.tv
SWITCH (single cam web series)
Director
EP - Stavroula Tosca
VENICE THE SERIES (multi cam web series)
Director
EP - Crystal Chappell
Two Daytime ©Emmy Nominations
HOW WE GOT AWAY WITH IT (narrative feature)
Assoc. Producer
dir. Jon Lindstrom
Distribution: Devolver
Awards and Nominations
2022 SCREENING ON LIFETIME NETWORK: Angie: Lost Girls
2022 Special Award for Outstanding Contributions in the field of filmmaking - SOHO Film Festival
WINNER 2021 Best Feature Film Chandler International Film Festival - Angie: Lost Girls
WINNER 2021 Grand Prize Narrative Feature Award - Angie: Lost Girls
WINNER 2021 Best Social Justice Film Raindance Film Festival - Angie: Lost Girls
WINNER 2020 Best Social Justice Film Santa Fe Film Festival - Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings
WINNER 2020 Best Short Documentary Film Mystic Film Festival - Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings
NOMINEE 2020 Indie Short Fest - Best Director (Female), Best Documentary Short - Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings
WINNER 2020, Third Place NYWIFT Online Shorts Festival, Best Social Awareness - Butterflies
WINNER 2019 Best Documentary Pro Action, Artemis Film Festival - Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
WINNER 2019 Best Film, Best Ensemble, Best Screenplay Paramount Sponsored Kids in the Spotlight Awards - Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings
SEMI - FINALIST 2019, The March On Washington Film Festival - Butterflies
WINNER 2018 Audience Award SOHO Film Festival - Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
EMMY© Nomination 2018 - Best Direction Web Series (w/team) - Venice the Series
WINNER 2018, Best Short Film, Philadelphia Independent Film Festival - Butterflies
FINALIST 2018, Artist Vodka d’Or Award for Oxford Film Festival - Butterflies
NOMINATION 2017, Best Film KITS Movie Awards at FOX Studios - The Last Day
EMMY© Nomination - Best Web Series (w/team) 2017 Venice the Series
Alliance of Women Journalists MATRIX AWARD 2017 for work relating to support of female directors
JURY PRIZE 2016, Runner Up Best Doc Short Newport Beach Film Festival - Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
WINNER 2015, Best Drama/Comedy Short IndieGathering FIlm Festival - The World of Albert Fuh
HONORABLE MENTION 2015, SaMo Film Festival - The World of Albert Fuh
HONORABLE MENTION 2015 LA Film Review - The World of Albert Fuh
Special Screenings:
Oxford Film Festival (Alumni Screening and Panel Discussion)
Women in Film - Los Angeles
Johnson County Community College
Webster College
Pepperdine University
Los Angeles City College
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) School of Tech and Animation Hahn Loesser Law Firm
The Oxford Film Festival
NYWIFT (New York Women in Film and Television)
Curzon Bloomsbury
Long Beach Unified School District,
Long Beach Task Force
Cady with directors Carla Garapedian, Lizzie Borden, Finola Hughes, and Bethany Rooney at Pepperdine University for a special screening of "Seeing is Believing: Women Direct"