Photos courtesy of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (www.repstl.org)

Photo credit: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

Quotes from book by Hunter Bell

Quotes from songs by Jeff Bowen

The darling Andrew Gans at Playbill.com interviewed me for “Diva Talk” about this production. I adore him for still thinking of me as a Diva**. You can read it at:

Do I get to meet [John Cameron Mitchell] if I do your little show?

L-R: Amy Justman (Heidi), Benjamin Howes (Jeff), me (Susan), Ben Nordstrom (Hunter)

I’m not really auditioning at the moment... because I’m actually starring in a little play called “corporate whore,” where I play the role of “office manager.”

L-R: Benjamin Howes, Amy Justman, me, Ben Nordstrom, David Horstman (Larry)

But enough about me... who’s up for more Susan talk?

L-R: Amy Justman, Benjamin Howes, me, Ben Nordstrom, David Horstman

A vampire is any person or thought or feeling that stands between you and your creative self-expression. They can assume many seductive forms. Here are just a few of them...

L-R: Benjamin Howes, me, Amy Justman, Ben Nordstrom

The secondary characters are callin’ the shots/while the guys are being stored in the wings...

whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-ho-ho!

L-R: Amy Justman, me

Listening to Amy as Heidi sing “A Way Back to Then” was one of my favorite parts of the show, even though my butt was extremely uncomfortable perched on the arm of the orange chair.

L-R: Amy Justman, Benjamin Howes, me, Ben Nordstrom

Wait a minute... all that just happened?

Shhh...

L-R: Benjamin Howes, Ben Nordstrom, me

I am eight years old in Ohio/It is time for the annual church bazaar

There is a cake baking contest/I am going to be the big star

But I don’t want to make a German chocolate/ And a seven-layer, I’ll never complete

So I show up with pride this morning/With a tray of Rice Krispie treats

And they try to push them aside/Saying they are too strange to compete

And sure, most of the judges award the red velvet...

But one picks the Rice Krispie treats

Let our show be the Rice Krispie treat

I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing

L-R: Don’t you know these people by now?

I loved doing this show.

It brought me back from the dead.

So, what have we learned, kids?

That often, in order to do what you love, you have to leave the ones you love.

On major holidays.

But if the suck columns can even just eke out in your favor, hey, that’s enough.

** note that when I say that I am grateful that Andrew has continues to treat me like and think of me as a “Diva,” I do not mean diva in the lowercase sense: the word that implies bad behavior and tantrums and entitlement and snobbery. I do not wish to be that sort of diva at all. I mean the Playbill.com definition of Diva, which I myself have created based on the context of the subjects of the column: simply, a well-regarded and respected actress of great quality who is vital in and around the New York theatre scene.