Suntree, Susan 1946- (Susan Daughtry, Frances C. Stout)

views updated

SUNTREE, Susan 1946- (Susan Daughtry, Frances C. Stout)

PERSONAL: Born May 19, 1946, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Edward Francis and Beatrice Madaline Stout; married Philip Daughtry, 1972 (divorced, 1988); children: Sean Philip Daughtry (stepson), Califa Selene Suntree. Ethnicity: "American mix." Education: University of Arizona, B.A., 1968, graduate study, 1971; University of Kent—Canterbury, M.A., 1970; attended New York University, 1990; studied at Theater of the Oppressed and Commedia dell'Arte. Politics: "Green." Religion: Buddhist. Hobbies and other interests: Gardening, singing.

ADDRESSES: Home—Santa Monica, CA. Offıce—Department of English, East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Educator, Modesto Community College, Modesto, CA, instructor in English, 1970-75; Primitive Arts Institute, Nevada City, CA, cofounder and director, 1976-82, artistic director of DramaWing, 1978-82, resident artist, 1976-83; Antelope Valley College, adjunct instructor in English, 1983-84; Pierce College, instructor in English, 1988-89; East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA, instructor in English, 1989—, chair of literature committee, 1994-99. Nevada County Arts Council, founding director, 1978; Original Face Video, production associate, 1981-82; Nevada County Community Workshop, coproducer of theater projects, 1982-83; Simple Path—Arts for the Disabled, codirector, 1982-89; Theater Flux, artistic director, 1985—. Technical University, Helsinki, Finland, visiting lecturer, 1972; California State University—Sacramento, extension teacher, 1979; Sierra College, extension teacher, 1979; University of California—Los Angeles, extension teacher, 1984, 1985; Santa Monica College, adjunct instructor, 1984-98; University of Utrecht, visiting lecturer, 1998, 1999; University of Judaism, visiting lecturer, 1999; Antioch College—Marina del Rey, guest lecturer, 2000; also guest lecturer at University of Southern California, Pomona College, Harvard University, and Sarah Lawrence College. Awakening the Dreamer Creativity Workshops, presenter, 1985-86; Los Angeles Theater Center, member of women's project, 1986-91; teacher of private classes and workshops on women's theater and improvisation; visiting or resident artist at schools and community organizations; presenter of poetry readings; public speaker. Creator, producer, and performer in plays and spoken-work presentations, including street theater performances; Earth-Water-Air Los Angeles (annual performance tour), founder, codirector, and performer, 1997—; World Festival of Sacred Music, cocreator, producer, and performer, 1999, 2000; actress in stage productions, including Marat/Sade, 1973, Yamamba, 1982, and They, 1987; guest and performer in radio, including in play, "The Diaries of Anaïs Nin," I-Thou Theatre, National Public Radio; performer in documentary films and other media projects. Committee to Save Sa'anga, member, 1988-90; Santa Monica Preservation Alliance, founding member, 1989-91; Mid-City Neighbors, member of board of directors, 1989-91; Citizens United to Save ALL of Ballona, member, 1997—; Friends of the 11th Street Neighborhood Association, cofounder and cochair, 1999—; Wetlands Action Network, member of board of directors, 1999—.

MEMBER: Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, American Theater in Higher Education.

AWARDS, HONORS: Grants from Folk Culture Institute at University of Arizona and National Endowment for the Humanities, 1971, Finnish Government, 1972-73, California Arts Council, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983-85, Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation, 1981, Santa Monica Art Commission and Santa Monica Art Foundation, 1986, Eighteenth Street Arts Complex (for the Netherlands), 1998, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Southern California War Resistors League, Sierra Club, Save Open Space Foundation, and Earthways Foundation, all 1998-2000, Puffin Foundation, 2000, and National Endowment for the Arts.

WRITINGS:

(Photographer) A Finnish Carnival: Finnish Mumming Plays, Helsinki Folklore Institute (Helsinki, Finland), 1975.

Eye of the Womb (poetry), Power Press (Nevada City, CA), 1981.

(Translator, with Nancy Dale Nieman) Ana Rossetti, Tulips (bilingual poetry chapbook), Exiled-in-America Press (Santa Cruz, CA), 1991.

Rita Moreno, Chelsea Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor) Wisdom of the East: Stories of Compassion, Inspiration, and Love, Contemporary Books, McGraw-Hill (Chicago, IL), 2001.

Work represented in anthologies, including Women's Culture: The Women's Renaissance of the Seventies, edited by Gayle Kimball, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1977; Redefining Archaeology: Feminist Perspectives, edited by Anthea Burdock, Australian National University Press (Canberra, Australia), 1998; Edge Storytellers: A Film Companion and Theatre Workbook, edited by Susan Vaneta Mason and Eugene van Erven, Atalanta Publishers (Houghten, Netherlands), 1997; Organization and Environment, Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1999; Playing Democracy: International Perspectives on Urban Communitybased Performance, edited by Susan Haedicke and Tobin Nellhouse, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001; and Reflections on the Writing Life, edited by Mark Waldman, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001. Contributor of poetry, essays, translations, and reviews to periodicals, including Artists-Artistas, Hard Pressed, Journal of Cultural Transformation, Santa Monica Mirror, Sensuelle, Kshanti Literary Review, and Prairie Schooner. Some writings appear under the name Susan Daughtry or Frances C. Stout.

plays

(With others; and performer) Antigone Prism, produced in Berkeley, CA, 1977.

(With others; and performer) Bawdy Suite-Sweet Body, produced in Santa Cruz, CA, 1978.

(And performer) "Origins of Praise" (solo show), in Writers in Performance Series, produced in New York, NY, 1982.

(And director and performer) Brothers and Sisters (for children), produced in Los Angeles, CA, 1983.

(And performer) Sacred Sites/Santa Monica (performance piece), produced in Santa Monica, CA, 1986-87.

(And director) The Symphony of Giordano Bruno (multimedia), produced in Santa Monica, CA, 1988.

(With others) Four Women and an Angel, produced on tour, 1990.

Sacred Sites/Los Angeles, produced in California cities, 1992.

(And performer) Sacred Sites/Los Angeles (solo performance piece), produced in California cities, 1994—.

(And coproducer and performer) The Amazing Unveiling and Startling Origins of Wetlands Land, produced by Wetlands Action Network and Theater Flux, 1996-99.

(And coproducer and performer) Saving Private Pickle Plant (musical), produced by Wetlands Action Network and Theater Flux, 1999—.

Also author of Seed to Snow—Plays for the Seasons (four-part cycle), 1978; The Barney Go Bill Whirling Circus, 1981; Street Play, 1982; Lillian: The Story of My Life—A Masked Cabaret, 1982; A Love and Sad Story, 1983; Beauty and the Beast (puppet show), 1984; Light/Shadow Reaping, 1985; SKINS: A Women's Mystery Play, 1985; and Talking to the Sun, 1987.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Los Angeles, creative nonfiction based on a performance piece.