HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADA REHAN
(April 22, 1857 - Jan. 8, 1916)

A leading actress with Augustin Daly's company, she was born in Limerick, Ireland but spent most of her childhood in Brooklyn where her family settled when she was five.    She became an actress by accident when her sisters were on tour in 1873.  An actress in the company became ill and Ada made her debut as  Clara in Across the Continent.  For two seasons she was a member of Louisa Lane Drew's stock company at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia where she appeared with leading men of the day like Edwin Booth and John McCullough.  In 1879, while she was appearing in New York with Fanny Davenport's company in Pique, she attracted the attention of Augustin Daly who signed her for his company.  She remained with Daly's company for the next twenty years.

When Daly's theatrical activities extended to London in June 1884, she made her London debut.  To showcase his leading comedienne, Daly began a series of revivals of classic comedies in 1886 with The Merry Wives of Windsor in the role of Mistress Ford and later as Katharine in Taming of the Shrew. Of her Katharine it was said "that she raised the character of Shakespeare's Shrew from the level of turbulent farce, and made it a credible, consistent, continuously interesting and an ultimately sympathetic image of human nature.  She was also considered the best Rosalind seen in her time and within her special field of archness, raillery, sentiment, coquetry, and noble, woman-like feelings, she has seldom been equaled and never excelled." (From the obituary in the New York Times, Jan. 9, 1916)