We were lucky to catch up with Susanne McDonald recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susanne, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve worked on several meaningful projects including creating my own short film that was inspired by the suicide of my favorite family member, it was the way I needed to process my grieve. My short film is called “Trivial Pursuits” and I was the writer, producer, and a lead actor on the project. So far we’ve been accepted into two film festivals but it was more about the journey of creating. I want to share this story with others who may also be struggling.
For the past two years I have been working on several projects that have centered around grief: from a short film that has been in 15 film festivals and counting to my Off-Broadway directorial debut “#UGLYCRY” which was allllllll about the grief journey.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Susanne McDonald, an actor, director, and devising theatre artist who strives to create work that will make an impact. Storytelling has been essential for thousands of years, and it is still true today. Although I look sweet and cute, I am also grounded and gritty (and I curse like a sailor, learned it from my Air Force grandfather). I am an actor and creator who constantly pushes boundaries and fearlessly embraces my vulnerabilities to create art that resonates and challenges the status quo. My dream is to be a combo of Florence Pugh/Greta Gerwig/Emerald Fennell.
What is a devising theatre artist? A theatre maker who creators stories from scratch or adapted texts with an ensemble of interdisciplinary artists. I studied devising theatre at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where I received one of the only BFAs in the country that exists for this niche kind of theatre. Collaboration is at the core of everything I do but especially as a director.
Although I have been working as a director for the past six years, I have been an actor since I was ten years old working with my city’s professional theatre company (Charleston Stage) that practically raised me. Growing up in “America’s First Theatre” (Dock Street Theatre) and then going to boarding school with a beautiful black box theatre, I was spoiled while I learned the craft of acting. I must say I am very proud of the productions I was involved with as a child, teen, and college student. I graduated in 2020, which landed me right into the pandemic but I’ve been incredibly busy despite the global pandemic, a double strike, and the threats of more strikes. I have been working on films, TV, and Voice Over projects as an actor and director.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Four years. Four years since I graduated college. Four years since the pandemic. Four years since I waited my entire life to officially enter the professional film and theatre industry as an adult. I always dreamed of going to college, continuing to study the craft was always the plan. Getting a degree was always part of the plan. But after six years of conservatory I had planned on auditioning rather than auditioning for graduate schools. If you can over rehearse, you can over train right? So I thought. First came the pandemic, which sent me directly home back to South Carolina. Not part of the plan. For a while I was busy with online internships, assistant directing with one of my favorite theatre companies, and giving advice to a a different, smaller theatre company that I loved. Having a devising theatre degree worked to my advantage as it enabled be to work outside of the box but that little boost didn’t last long.
A year later I was still in Charleston, working in a restaurant I loved but going what seemed like no where. The pandemic wasn’t really changing. Finally I moved to New York in late 2021, while doing some crappy online acting advice/agent panels. Then boom. A industry stopping strike. Then boom another industry stopping strike. Then boom when those strikes finally come to an end, when everyone thought auditions would come flooding in…silence. Then more silence. Then rumors of a crew strike. They strike. That strike ends. The teamsters almost strike. It kind of ends. And that’s where we are now. And there is a strike for Voice Over video games and on developmental theatre contracts. In that time I could have gotten a four year graduate degree in acting (all of my graduate dream schools are four years). In four years, as an actor, it feels like I have gone no-where. It takes patience. It takes knowing that small wins are the wins. That pivoting to directing will eventually bleed into my acting if I channel it it correctly.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am an actor first but being an actor can be a little elusive. It is not always in your hands. You can audition and network and make your own work but that still doesn’t mean that you are working on the projects you want to or are going out for the auditions you want. Although I want to be a director, I wasn’t expecting to direct so quickly. In the past four years, I was able to assistant direct more short films than I can count AND direct two large projects. Enough for me to sustain myself off my art for about a year and a half without support from other jobs.
The first project was my Off-Broadway directorial debut. “#UGLYCRY” began in previews in Pittsburgh and was produced by Off The Wall Productions. A one woman show about processing the grief of her dead ex-boyfriend and dating all while running on a treadmill annnnnd using your cellphone. Yes, a treadmill on stage and everyone, audience and actor included, used their cellphones the whole time. An interactive and immersive one woman show, I was able to use my skills as a devising theatre artist as a director to help create a brand new show that pushed the concept of what a one woman show could be. All of this was created by Katie Mack and was based on her real life experience. We then packed everything up and transferred the show to New York City.
The second project was a great honor and something that I dreamed of doing, going back to my boarding school to direct their senior show. I was asked back to the South Carolina Governor School for the Arts and Humanities to direct the seniors’ devised production. This was a brand new concept for the school, only attempted the year before. It was incredible to come back with my expertise and share what I hand learned, especially because not all of my teachers were thrilled when I graduated in 2016 to pursue a degree in devising (experimental) theatre, which is now a staple in theatre training. When you do the math, all of this was only four months out of a twelve month year but I was also working on my own short film and grateful for the assistant directing gigs in between. As well as auditions and the good old waiting periods where there are just crickets.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.susannemcdonald.com
• Instagram: @susannemcd11