Director of the upcoming spring play, John McKenna hopes to draw from his experience in all areas of theater and sketch comedy to bring beauty and comedy to "The King's Stag."

"I always knew I was an artist of some kind," said McKenna who first wanted to be a comic book artist. "I learned how to draw okay. I had a whole super hero group called 'The Andromeda Force', which was terrible."

Realizing he had no future for drawing comic books, McKenna found the next best thing was to be in them. "The best way to do that is to be an actor," said McKenna, who was already involved with theater.

Enticed by a poster saying "Are you Creative" in his high school band room, McKenna went to Cornish College of the Arts, where he earned his Bachelor's of Fine Arts.

Burned out on theater after college, he decided to focus on his music.

McKenna ended up in the band "Mama Lama", playing flute and guitar. "I was not nearly the musician I am today," said McKenna, now only having trouble with brass and bagpipes. The band rehearsed some songs, but never played a show and soon fizzled out.

After Mama Lama's death, McKenna found himself strong-armed back into acting by a close friend. "I was playing an old woman in a coma," said McKenna. "It involved me gargling for 45 minutes in the background."

Reluctantly doing theater at this point, McKenna was talked into doing a play called "Gogol." McKenna had a breakthrough and learned how to operate his voice, "it was the most magnificent theater experience I had ever had," he said.

When McKenna was not working the theater he was getting laughs as a sketch comic.

His first sketch comedy group was all audio, called "Not Named Bob Weird Ass Radio Theater."

It was six guys on microphones at a table with sound effects. "We were all co-writers," said McKenna. "Everybody had a stake in what was being performed."

"I have a weird love affair with sketch," said McKenna about his most recent sketch group, "Them", which formed out of Open Circle Theater, where he had been working straight theater for awhile.

"I was getting the sketch bug again," said McKenna, "we did two shows and I got it out of my system."

Alongside his work with sketch comedy groups, McKenna has worked with many different theaters, where he has done much more than just acting. "The thing with company acting is if you're capable of doing something, you'll probably end up doing it at some point," said McKenna about his days working with Open Circle Theater.

Having experience in all areas of theater has benefited the students acting under McKenna's direction in "The King's Stag".

"He already knows what he wants," said EvCC actor David Delashmit about rehearsals with McKenna. The student actors have experienced everything from comedy workshops to using props and masks.

Ready to experience and learn from as many different directors as she can, Christina Lefel said McKenna is very involved on stage, showing you physically instead of just telling you what to do.

"The King's Stag" will begin playing at the end of May and into the first week of June, so make sure to go see it because McKenna is sure to keep you laughing with his sketch comedy experience.