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Susan Booth reflects on her years with the Alliance Theatre
BY MARK WOOLSEY
After 21 years, Susan Booth is leaving her
position as Jennings Hertz Artistic Director
at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, heading to the
Goodman Theatre in Chicago in a similar
role. It’s somewhat of a homecoming, as she
served as director of new play development
there from 1993 to 2001.
But she’s not quietly slipping out a side
stage door.
In addition to all the facets of an artist di
rector’s role — curating a theater season, cast
ing, representing the theater in the commu
nity, fundraising, interacting with a board of
directors, casting — she usually directs a cou
ple of productions a year.
In August, she was in the thick of co-di-
recting Everybody, a thoughtful play about
the meaning of life in the face of death. Her
last day was set to be Sept. 16, smack in the
middle of its run.
Booth’s accomplishments are broad and
deep: more than 80 world premieres with a
half-dozen of those transferring to Broadway
(including The Color Purple), more than 40
shows that she has personally directed, a Re
gional Theatre Tony Award, a $22 million
renovation of the Alliance’s performing space
and the establishment of programs to benefit
emerging playwrights and actors. She’s quick
to share credit with others, be they Alliance
staffers or community members the Alliance
has forged partnerships with.
Booth took time out from rehearsals for
Everybody to talk with Mark Woolsey.
Q. What prompted the move to the Good
man?
A, There aren’t many theaters; there’s only
one that would have been interesting to leave
the Alliance for. I have loved my time at the
Alliance a lot, but the Goodman was where
I came up as a director. For me as a young
theater artist, it was the absolute pinnacle of
muscular, important the
ater. And the timing of this
moment lined up with my
daughter heading off to col
lege this fall, which meant
we wouldn’t be uprooting
her. Honestly, I love chal
lenges. I love finding myself
in positions where I have to
learn new skills.
Q. What, if anything, will
Goodman allow you to do
that you’ve not done here?
A. There’s not a simple an
swer of “now I can do wild
ly experimental work in
Chicago that I can’t in At
lanta” because Atlanta has
been very embracing of a wide collection of
work. What I look forward to is being in a
theater community that, at any given time,
has about 100 theaters. Because what that de
mands is that you find what you particular
ly can do that nobody else in town is doing
as well. That’s a niche you have to fight hard
for in Chicago, and I’m looking forward to
that fight.
Q. Which of the many world premieres at
the Alliance spoke to you the most or broke
new ground?
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A, I studiously avoided having favorites. I
think every piece you do should be your favor
ite for the period you’re working on it. There
was an adaptation I worked on of the [former
U.S. Poet Laureate] Natasha Threthewey’s po
etry. She was generous to allow me to create...
and direct a stage setting of that poetry.
[Also,] a bunch of years ago, Andrew
Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice were interested in
seeing what would happen if Jesus Christ Su
perstar was set in a gospel idiom. They were
interested in having its first experiment in At
lanta. I got to direct [and] we had a 60-voice
gospel choir on stage. It was an extraordinary
community event.
Q. Any thoughts on a favorite actor?
A, I will not call any single actor a favorite be
cause that would leave so many people out of
the conversation.
Q. How did the Alliance cope with
COVID?
A, The Alliance made a decision, that our
board thankfully completely endorsed, that
we were not going to lay people off.. .that we
were going to stay present and useful. So our
costume shop started making personal pro
tection equipment. They made masks and
gowns. Our education staff actually reached
more people than we normally would by go
ing virtual. Parents and teachers were so hun
gry for virtual digital content that we had
more demand than we would have had in
a live situation. It ended up being incredi
bly culturally healthy for this theater.. .and it
ended up being financially the right decision
for the theater, so we came out of the pan
demic in remarkably good shape.
Q. Can you talk about a couple of the pro
gramming and partnerships you devel
oped? The Spelman College program and
playwriting competition come to mind.
A. For the most part, they were responses to
situations where we wanted to be a solution.
You mentioned Spelman. The lack of lead
ers of color and female leaders in our field is
something that I wrestle with. So here was an
opportunity where we could create a multi
year fellowship program where young wom
en of color would be able learn the ropes of
working in a large institution and be given
the opportunity to build leadership skills in
our field.
Young writers come out of graduate school
often with a lot of debt and it can take years
before they’ve cracked their first premiere at
a professional theater. Our feeling was may
be we can expedite that and have final-year
students submit their work, and the winning
play every year would get a world premiere
with the same resources we would give to a
well-known play.
Q. What changed in the Atlanta theater
scene during your time at the Alliance?
A. The creation of the Georgia film tax cred
it. It means that more film and television pro
duction has come to the state, and specifically
Atlanta, and what that means particularly for
actors is that you don’t need to leave town to
make a living.
18 SEPTEMBER 2022 | REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
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