[1][2] McSweeny is a native of Washington, D.C., the son of political journalists Dorothy and William F. McSweeney,[3] who served as Lyndon B. Johnson's deputy chief of staff and later an executive vice president of Occidental Petroleum, heading its international division.
[4] At Columbia, he studied theatre under Austin E. Quigley and directed two student productions, Look Back in Anger and The Tempest.
[4] McSweeny returned to Washington after college and spent four years working as assistant director of The Shakespeare Theatre under Michael Kahn.
[9] McSweeney joined the American Shakespeare Center as artistic director in 2018, succeeding Jim Warren, who co-founded ASC and stepped down at the end of 2017.
[10] He previously co-directed Chautauqua Theater Company in Upstate New York for eight years with Vivienne Benesch.