Susan Pellowe |
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Susan Pellowe's Biography
Susan Pellowe has worn many hats and she's still placing orders with the
milliner!
From choral accompanist to British Music Hall performer, junior high
newspaper editor to travel writer and book editor, from fairy godmother in
a play at the local library when she was six to world-traveling actress,
from
associate professor of theatre to theatre critic, organist's page-turner
to symphony manager, Pellowe has embraced all aspects of the arts.
She has traveled (and written about) Europe, East Africa, the South Pacific,
Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
On graduation from Albion College she began her career at WTTW/Channel 11
in Chicago. She left to study Shakespeare in Britain. On her return, she
taught English and journalism at West Senior High School in Aurora (IL) then
joined
Aurora College/University to become Director of Theatre.
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As Associate Professor of Speech
and Theatre and Coordinator of Fine Arts, she encouraged the growth
of performing and visual arts on campus; oversaw fine arts festivals
and concerts; developed a theatre curriculum; and supervised the
design and inauguration of the new Perry Theatre.
She has directed over 100 plays, musicals, and operas, with "specialties"
in Shakespeare, classical Greek, and medieval theatre. She presently
is the Creative Director for 4th Acts, the theatre group at 4th
Presbyterian Church in Chicago.
Onstage her favorite roles include the recent Miss Helen in Athol
Fugard's
The Road to Mecca; Mrs. Patrick Campbell in Dear Liar; Dona Ana
in Shaw's
Don Juan in Hell; She in Albee's Counting the Ways; Zerbinetta
in Moliere's
Scapin. Not to forget the myriad of characters in her Music Hall
show,
Taking Turns! click here
Pellowe's articles and photos have appeared widely, for instance
in the
Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, London
(Ontario) Free Press,
and Miami
Herald. For 14 years she was the Chicago theatre critic for the
British
theatre magazine Plays International. An active member of the Shakespeare
Globe Center North America, the support group for rebuilding Shakespeare's
Globe in London, she edited the Midwest chapter newsletter. She
has led
study trips to Great Britain, Minneapolis, and Stratford, Ontario,
and
regularly spends time researching and relaxing in London and Cornwall.
The Current Scene: Following on from 12 years at Aurora University and 16
years at The Art Institute of Chicago, Susan is now the Coordinator of
Visual Arts at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago as well as Artistic
Director of Fourth Acts. She is working on three books, most immediately on
the one with a working title My Stroke of "Good Luck", recounting her recovery from a
stroke in 2005. click here for a sneak preview! Other books to come
include one on mermaids and one on Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of Britain
and mentor to Queen Victoria. Her writings have been "anthologized" in
several collections.
She and fellow Cornish-American Jim Wearne are co-founders of the
Illinois Cornish Society. They both also regularly perform at the
biannual Gatherings of the Cornish American Heritage Society. In
1996 she was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd for her services
to Cornwall.
To learn of her multi Methodist activities and contributions, see
Susanna Wesley. click here
Susan graduated from Adrian High School in Michigan. Her degrees
in Speech and Theatre are from Albion College in Michigan and
University
of Illinois/Chicago, with further graduate work at Northwestern
University, University of Illinois/Champaign, and the Shakespeare
Institute through Birmingham University. She has twice been the
recipient of awards from the Westminster Experiment and Research
in Evangelism Trust (London), the most recent to study the Wesleys
in Oxford for two weeks in May 2003. In October of 2003 she was
named a Distinguished Albion Alumna – a distinction seldom
awarded to one in the arts. To read her response The Quest of
the Human Heart, which was published in the alumni newspaper
Io Triumphe and which speaks to the importance of the arts in
our lives, click here.
Calendar
of Performances
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