ACTOR, SINGER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER,

ADMINISTRATOR, AND EDUCATOR... 

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While serving as Director of Education at Paper Mill Playhouse, Susan Speidel oversaw the operations of the Theater School and created the Rising Star Awards, the Summer Musical Theatre Training program, and the Adopt-A-School Project, which was cited for excellence by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Graduates of those programs have gone on to appear at theatres throughout New Jersey, as well as on Broadway and in film.  

 

As a performer, she appeared off-Broadway in Olio:  A Modern Vaudeville, and in Jesus Christ Superstar and The Student Prince at Paper Mil Playhouse where she also appeared in numerous concert events.  She has played leading roles in productions at George Street Playhouse, the Forum Theatre, Light Opera of NJ, Surflight Theatre, Foundation Theatre, Chatham Playhouse, and Plays-in-the-Park in Edison, NJ, most recently playing the title role in Hello, Dolly!, for Capital Productions.

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She has been a guest soloist with the Seattle and Portland Symphonies and the Orchestra of St. Peter’s by the Sea.  She also appeared in the inaugural concert of the Key West Pops Orchestra, returning to sing with them each season for more than 10 years.  She has performed solo cabaret shows at The Paper Mill Playhouse Brookside Cabaret Concert Series, The Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum, Key West's Tennessee Williams Performing Arts Center, the Actors Home in Englewood, NJ, Fellowship Village and at The Duplex, Judy's Chelsea, and Broadway Baby Bistro, in New York City. She has also appeared online on Virtual Piano Bar, with frequent collaborator Joseph Regan.

 

She has directed more than 70 school plays and musicals, as well as numerous community and professional productions at Surflight Theatre, Chatham Players, Villagers Theatre, and Plays-In-The-Park.  She taught middle and high school theater for 12 years at Morristown-Beard School and currently teaches for the Theatre Conservatory at Kean University and for the Mason Gross School of the Arts and the OSHER Lifelong Learning Program at Rutgers University.  She also teaches for Elefante Music and School for Performing Arts in New Providence, NJ, and is the Education Program Coordinator for Chatham Players.

 

She studied at HB Studios in NYC and the Globe Theater in London, and also holds a BA in English and Theater from Montclair State, an MA in Arts Administration from New York University, an MA in Liberal Studies from Kean University.  She earned her Doctorate in Liberal Studies, at Drew University; her dissertation topic was "Elements of the Greek Choral Structure in the Musicals of Stephen Sondheim, as influenced by Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro."

 

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