Holly (Thomas) Cerney
Trap Door credits
Acting
- Martyrdom of Peter Ohey (Repertory cast)
- Mother Courage and her Children
- Bowie in Warsaw (Chicago, New York)
- And Away We Stared
- The Killer
- 25/25 – Trap Door Celebrates 25 Years
- The Locketeer
- Fantasy Island for Dummies
- John Doe (Poland in 2014 and 2015 and Chicago)
- Vatzlav
- They Are Dying Out
- Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve (Chicago, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and France)
- Horses at the Window (Chicago, Lexington, Virginia, and Romania)
- Eva Peron
- The Fourth Sister
- Amerikafka
- The Garden of Delights
Website Manager
Website manager and principle performer, Holly (Thomas) Cerney (she/her/hers) has been a part of the Trap Door community since 2004 and served as the grant manager and development director from 2008 to 2015. She received a BA in theater arts from the University of Oregon and an MLIS from Dominican University. Visit her resume here.
Gallery
Holly Cerney gives a tour de force performance as Mother Courage, on stage continuously and called to sing, dance, and haul a canteen wagon.
Bill Esler, Buzz Center Stage (about Mother Courage)
Actress Holly Cerney makes it her own, lending the character a youthful sassiness and brassiness that buffers her harsh, unapologetic selfishness. Cerney’s full-flavored performance gives the show body and leavens the tragic inevitability of the tale, which is signaled from the start.
Newcity Stage, Hugh Iglarsh (about Mother Courage)
Holly Cerney makes for a convincing Mother Courage. She perfectly looks the part and holds the story together with her dynamism and forthrightness.
Around the Town, Julia Rath (about Mother Courage)
Holly Cerney gives a powerful performance as the lusty, battlefield businesswoman, Mother Courage – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Third Coast Review, Nancy Bishop (about Mother Courage)
St. Dziuk’s staging is funny, frighten-ing, and, thanks to Wesley Walker’s Walpurg and Holly Thomas Cerney’s Anna, unexpectedly beautiful.
Tony Adler, Chicago Reader (about John Doe)
Anchoring the production are Walker and Cerney’s raw, revelatory performances. Cerney, more so than the other actors, portrays her character’s interior state through body language, including rapid movement, awkward contortions and coiled limbs.
Barnaby Hughes, Chicago Stage Review (about John Doe)
It’s a strange trip but also strangely exhilarating in its unapologetic indulgence, anchored by hypnotic performances by Wesley Walker as poet Alexander Walpurg, and by Holly Thomas Cerney as achingly vulnerable Sister Anna…
Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune (about John Doe)
…a gutter-regal central performance by Holly Thomas as Eva…
Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago (about Eva Peron)
Holly Thomas’ Eva is a regally demanding, humorously wicked creation; she anchors the production with a statuesque grace and haughty sense of amusement.
Brian Krist, Chicago Free Press (about Eva Peron)
Beata Pilch, Nicole Wiesner, Carolyn Shoemaker and Holly Thomas anchor and carry the frantic absurdist farce – Trap Door Theatre’s ensemble has so much fun it becomes contagious.
Tom Williams, Chicago Critic (about The Fourth Sister)
In a play full-to-bursting with striking visual metaphors, the pas de trois among Kahara, Thomas and a cello is first among equals.
Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago (about Horses at the Window)
Holly Thomas’s inclusion of live cello music to her characterization renders lovely additional depth and melancholy.
Venus Zarris, Chicago Stage Review (about Horses at the Window)
A counterpoint to all of them is when, delicate Holly Thomas, half naked and bowing her rich-toned cello while John Kahara’s husband raves about the creative power of war.
Tony Adler, Chicago Reader (about Horses at the Window)
Thomas captures Genevieve’s implacable belief that she can only find herself by pretending to be somebody else.
Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune (about Me Too, I Am Catherine Deneuve)
The entire cast is sharp, but Holly Thomas shows exceptional comic style as a mogul’s wife.
Tony Adler, Chicago Reader (about They Are Dying Out)