susan jennifer polese

Susan Jennifer Polese, MS LCMH, is an American dramatist, journalist, editor, and psychotherapist/mental health counselor certified in crisis care. She is an award-winning playwright whose work is seen regionally, Off-Broadway and at such venues as La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, HERE Performing Arts Center, The Midtown International Theatre Festival, and Planet Connections Festivity in Manhattan, NY. Trained in New York at The Wonderhorse Theatre, Herbert Berghof Studio, and Hunter College Susan taught playwriting through Purchase College, Axial Theatre Collaborative and is facilitating “Playwriting in Paradise” at Key West Fringe Theatre, Key West, Florida. She is published in the Alexander Street Contemporary World Drama Collection. Her work is fueled through social justice and is often performed as fundraisers/awareness enhancers for non-profits. Susan is a member of The International Centre for Women Playwrights and Theatre Without Borders. She attended La Mama’s International Playwright Retreat in Umbria, Italy and was awarded an artist-in-residency at Bethany Arts Community, 2020. Susan is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
Website: http://www.susanjenniferpolese.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.polese
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susalita3560/

MORE ABOUT ME:
I was fortunate to experience a production of Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard in the 80s and was transfixed. Later that very week I saw Christopher Durang’s The Actor’s Nightmare on stage with Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All. Seeing each of these visionary – albeit very different – productions while I was just beginning to study playwriting fueled my interest in the craft and paved the way to the development my own style and seeing the world through writer’s eyes. Fast forward to seeing Doubt by John Patrick Stanley on Broadway and once again I was thrilled. Fast forward again to Slave Play, the last show I saw before the first lockdown. The inspiration never ends! Live theatre means the world to me – it’s the collaborative nature of the endeavor. I would like directors to know that I yearn for collaboration, input and sharing a vision. I become enlivened by the experience of getting my work on stage. I have had very good/intense relationships with directors, and I am always interested in their take on my work. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
I am working on a full-length play about my parents’ experiencing in 1951 Georgia as a transplanted, newly married military couple (from the Bronx!) living with a Southern family. It’s the most personal story I’ve told so far. I am having a composer create a score for the show and it takes place pre-civil and women's rights. It's interesting to write a period piece and I look forward to bringing it an online platform as well as live performance. It's entitled Two Junes & No July. I'll keep you posted!

KEYWORDS:
​Political, Satire, Period, Social Justice, Comedy