By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Mariah Burks has solved the mystery of how to build a career in theater, and do it while being true to her hometown.
Burks, a 2015 graduate of Bowling Green State University, will be returning to Northwest Ohio next week as part of the Broadway touring cast of “Clue.”
She plays the cook, plus a few other roles, in the comical mystery based on the movie, which was based on the board game.
“Clue” will be on stage at the Stranahan Theater for eight performances May 6–11, 2025. Showtimes are: Tuesday, May 6, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, May 7,7:30 p.m.; Thursday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 9, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 10, 2025 2:00 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, May 11, at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at BroadwayInToledo.com and StranahanTheater.com.
Burks’ keys to success have nothing to do with a candlestick, wrench, or knife. On the contrary they involve being nice to people.
In a recent telephone interview from the road, the 32-year-old actor said: “The first thing that I always keep at the forefront of my career is my integrity, knowing what I have to offer when I come into different rooms and different spaces, and leading with generosity and complete self-respect and respect for the craft. I have found that it has gotten me a long way in being an artist who is not only kind, but also just genuinely in love with what I do. If you don’t love it, why do it? “
You don’t know, she continued, whom you will work with.“It’s always in your best interest that you always show up to places with your best foot forward, the best version of yourself forward,” she said. “You are genuinely looking to collaborate and that you’re looking to bring something and to share something with people and with the community that you’re about to serve.”
That’s helped guide from her earliest days in theater when the eight-year-old Mariah played an orphan in a local production of “Annie.”
In her senior year at BGSU, she had a starring role in Landford Wilson’s “Book of Days.” Burks was on the stage almost the entire time. “That production sticks with me,” she said.
Still she questioned the need to go to graduate school. “I had a lot of fear going into auditioning for a grad school program because I genuinely did not have any interest in going to grad school,” she said. “I didn’t know if it was something that I needed, but what I did know was that I wasn’t done learning, and I knew that I had a lot of confidence. I had a great amount of skill, but there was just something else that I had not tapped into yet.”
She was accepted into Case Western in Cleveland.
Burks started to realize what she was capable of. “By the time we got to our third year in our master’s program, I felt really, really confident in all the things that I possessed and what I have to offer,” Burks said. “And it’s a very unshakeable feeling, and it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to say that no one else can do what I do because there’s only one me.”
It was 2018 when she was cast as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere in a Cleveland Playhouse production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
The cast featured veteran regional and Broadway actors including Tony Award winner Ali Stroker.
Shortly after she was called in for two auditions at the Playhouse. One was for the Greek tragedy “Antigone.” She was cast in both of them, including as the title role in “Antigone, which was set to open in April, 2020. The show did not go on until two years later because of the pandemic.
Right after auditioning for “Antigone” she got the call to audition for “Clue.” She hadn’t seen the movie, and she hadn’t played the game since she was a kid.
She auditioned for the walk on part as the Singing Telegram Girl. It’s a short but memorable part. Burks was baffled by the size of the part.
The staff asked her to go home, watch the movie, and return. She came back and did her best in the iconic 15-seconds, and ended up with a multi-track role, where she plays several characters, including the Cook.
The show opened in January 2020. She made enough of an impression that she was later invited to reprise the role at the noted Paper Mill Theater in New Jersey. She had to pass on the offer with “Antigone” finally opening in Cleveland.
The next year, she was invited to try out for the Broadway touring cast. “It’s an 80 minute highbrow comedy,” she said of “Clue”. “It’s all physical comedy, and it moves through swiftly.” It touches on all the highlights the audience is waiting for.
Sometimes members of the audience, many of whom come dressed as characters, mouth the words with the actors.
“It is honestly probably one of my most fun tracks that I’ve ever played,” Burks said. “I love shaking it up. I love being able to come in and off stage and just have these really golden comedic moments. Comedy is my jam. I love it so much. So is drama, but I love being able to laugh and laugh with people.”
The show is wrapping up its run. It will play in Madison , Wisconsin after Toledo, and then conclude the tour with three weeks in Toronto, the only international stop.
Touring, Burks said, “is very, very fun, and it’s very, very laborious. It takes a lot of diligence and a lot of commitment and discipline to be on the road like this, just because circumstances are constantly changing.”
When she gets to a new place she looks for the closest shop where she can buy her fruits and vegetables.
“You make sure that you have what you need for your health and wellness,” Burks said. “The show is intense on the body, and so we’re very fortunate enough to have physical therapy given to us.”
She also looks for chances to get outside, and to sample local cuisine.
After the tour ends she’ll return to the Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights to perform in a three-night run of “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road.”
Burks worked as the director of engagement at the venue for several years.
Also, this summer she’ll be the inaugural artist in residence at Aspire, an All Girls summer program. She graduated from Aspire when she was in middle school.
She’s taught theater and given voice lessons. She’s also directed. That included directing her sister Kyla, also a BGSU graduate, in a production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’”
“The beautiful part about my story is that I’ve been very intentional about what those side gigs are and making sure to the best of my ability that they are things that line up with what I love,” Burks said.
“You can always create, always, it doesn’t matter where you are.” For Burks that place is her hometown of Cleveland.
She advises younger performers that “if you have the love of creation and the love of art, you can always create, and you can always work,” she said. Even if people question whether theater is a viable career, they still should pursue it. “You have to be your biggest cheerleader.”
