Ada Rehan | 1860–1916 |
Ada Rehan as Katherine in Augustin Daly's production of Taming of the Shrew, New York. Hand-colored photograph, 1887. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Costume worn by Ada Rehan as Viola in Twelfth Night. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare Memorial, Stratford-upon-Avon. As You Like It. Program, 1897. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Born Ada Crehan in Limerick, Ireland, Ada Rehan arrived in Brooklyn with her family at age five. Her big break came in the late 1870s, when theater manager Augustin Daly hired her for his New York company. Rehan’s sweet and funny stage presence served her well in a vast number of parts over the next two decades. In addition to many modern roles, she played such Shakespeare heroines as Rosalind, Viola, Katherine, and Portia, always working under Daly’s famously detailed direction. After his death in 1899, she returned only once to the stage, for a brief tour in 1904–05.