Biography

Sybil Lines started her career as Marion Lines but now uses her middle name to avoid confusion with another actress. She trained for three years at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, appeared on BBC television and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years performing in London, Stratford-on-Avon and Japan with performers who included Dame Judi Dench, Roger Rees and Lisa Harrow. In England, J. B. Priestley advised at rehearsals of his play Time and the Conways where she was Kay Conway; she played opposite Tony Church in A Man for All Seasons and took leading roles in world premieres of Tilted Scales by Henry Cecil, The Making of Julia and Roses of Eyam with David Suchet, Roy Marsden and Robert Lindsay. After touring the US with London Assurance she took over as Kate in Bedroom Farce on Broadway. Other Broadway roles include Dora in Waiting in the Wings with Lauren Bacall, Fustian in Lettice and Lovage with Maggie Smith and understudying Lynn Redgrave in Aren't We All.

Sybil was directed by Alan Schneider in Rockabye:Footfalls with Billie Whitelaw. Other New York credits include Claw at the Manhattan Theater Club, The Philanderer at the Roundabout, The Penultimate Problem of Sherlock Holmes at the Hudson Guild, Crimes of Vautrin at SoHo Rep, Counting Hours at La Mama, Homebody/Kabul at NY Theatre Workshop, School for Scandal at the Pearl and Quatermaine's Terms at Playhouse 91. Sybil was Dr. Scott in the American premiere of Whose Life is it, Anyway?, created the roles of Martha in The Hiding Place with Alfred Drake and Proby in The Team directed by Stephen Hollis, was Ruth in Blithe Spirit with Christine Baranski and Anna Russell and starred in the one-woman show about Victoria Benedictsson for the Strindberg Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. She has played David McCallum's sister in The Mousetrap and his wife in Run for Your Wife directed by Tony Tanner, was Mrs. Alonby in A Woman of No Importance with Dixie Carter directed by Michael Kahn and played Gertrude in Hamlet directed by Gale Edwards. During seasons with Seattle's ACT, the Alabama and Orlando Shakespeare Festivals, the Folger Theatre in Washington DC and various British theatres, her roles have included Shakespeare's Viola, Rosalind, Mistress Quickly, Mistress Ford, Juliet's Nurse, Titania, Lady Capulet, Maria, Portia, Alice, Marianne, Timandra, the Princess of France and Lady Macbeth, as well as Webster's Julia (The Duchess of Malfi) directed by Clifford Williams, Moliere's Elise (The Miser) with Jack Going, Sheridan's Julia (The Rivals), Chekov's Masha (The Three Sisters) and Varya (Helen Hayes Nomination) in The Cherry Orchard directed by John Neville-Andrews.

Some of her other regional credits include Stepping Out (Vera) at The Pasadena Playhouse and The Berkshire Festival with director Marge Champion, Breaking the Code (Pat) at South Coast Repertory, Ashes (Anne) at The Cincinnati Playhouse directed by Emily Mann, Otherwise Engaged (Davina) at The Goodman, Absurd Person Singular (Eva), Fallen Angels (Jane), Indiscretions (Leonie) at The Dallas Theatre Center, Lettice in Lettice and Lovage, Agnes in Dancing at Lughnasa with director Terry LaMude, Dora in Equus for PJ Papparelli, Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers, Mrs. Poultney for Kate Saxon and Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station with Jerome Kilty.

Film and television credits include: the villainess Libby Webster on The Edge of Night, Madge on Murder She Wrote, Gloria on The Hogan Family and James Fox's wife in Mickey Blue Eyes. In 2008 Sybil devised and directed an audience-participation version of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov and in 2013 she wrote Bastard Blood (two promenade plays that run concurrently and sometimes overlap) telling of the 'Wars of the Roses' through her own text and Shakespeare's. In 2015 she co-directed an Equity showcase of Alice! with the playwright, Patrick Cann, and other collaborations include Thistle & Rose with Linda Gates; After the Garden with Gerald Duval and co-writing Rough.In.Proof with Sea McHale which, in 2012, she also directed as an Equity showcase.

Sybil has taught at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Academy of the Spoken Word in Stuttgart, Germany, Kolping School in Heilbronn, Germany, Catholic University in Washington DC, University of Central Florida, The Drey Institute at Rollins College, University of South East Alaska, and in New York City at Circle in the Square, Actors' and Directors' Lab, ACTeen Drama School at Simple Studios, and the Corner Loft Studio. Sybil Lines is the artistic director of Sybilline Productions.

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