Mena Cleary was a soprano,[2] her voice "by no means powerful but...very sweet," and "managed with rare skill".[1] Cleary was a member of The Bostonians, a performing troupe.[3] She appeared as "Mirabel" in the original cast of the comic opera Prince Ananias by Victor Herbert, when it debuted in 1894.[4] She also appeared in Girofle-Girofla in 1884[5] Fra Diavolo and The Poachers in 1888,[6] and in Robin Hood, Fatinitza and The Maid of Plymouth in 1894, with the Bostonians.[7]
In 1886, while performing in Fra Diavolo in New Haven, Connecticut, her hair caught fire from a lighted candle on stage. Her co-star Tom Karl quickly extinguished the flames, but his hands were badly burned instead.[8] Members of the audience fainted and shrieked, but Cleary resumed her part "with difficulty" after the fire was out.[9] Her 1888 turn as "Ginetta" in The Poachers drew admiration from a critic in Minnesota, who assured readers that "she is a very clever actress, with such winning ways, and a smiling pretty face, and a voice, while it is not a very great volume, is sweet in tone and as clear as the sound of a bell."[6]
