School of Theatre Arts

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts

Acting & Directing

Head of Music Theatre Program

Outside of academia, Scott Susong primarily freelances as a professional director. Select directing credits include Bonnie & Clyde (Danish premiere), Catch Me If You Can (Danish premiere), Carousel, Dogfight (Danish premiere with Pasek & Paul in residence), The Hotel Casablanca (opera), Aspects of Love, Urinetown, Into the Woods, Triumph of Love (the musical), Simple Gifts (Greece tour) and Donne in Amore: Heroines in Verse (Italy tour), among many others.

As an actor some of Scott’s credits include the 1996-97 national and international tours of The Sound of Music (Rolf) and a featured performer in 100 Days of Wonder as Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty; Ziggy in Tycoon at the John Houseman & Douglas Fairbanks Theaters; Ali/PJ in Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at The Duplex; The Lisbon Traviata(Mike), Cabaret (Cliff), The Baltimore Waltz (Carl), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius & Oberon), and Camelot (Arthur & Lancelot). He performed in 14 productions with UDT, including Into the Woods (Baker), Metropolis (Steven), Blood Brothers (Edward), City of Angels (Stine), Joseph . . . Dreamcoat (Joseph – 10th Anniversary Production), Guys & Dolls (Nathan Detroit) and Oklahoma! (Curly). Concert credits include  An Evening with Tim Rice with Sir Tim Rice and Jesus Christ Superstar starring original cast member Yvonne Elliman, again featuring Sir Tim Rice.

Scott co-founded and served as artistic director of Curtain Call Productions from 1998-2008. His CCP credits include co-producing with Towson University and directing and designing the world premiere production of the new musical Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped at Baltimore's Theatre Project (featured in American Theatre’s January 2002 musicals issue). He directed the world premiere reading of the new musical Deceptions: Wind of Change at the Audrey Herman Spotlighters; produced/directed the CCP educational wing and produced Summer on Stage’s musical revue As Thousands Cheer and an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Scott directed a 2008 CCP benefit concert of William Finn’s Elegies: A Song Cycle at IWU’s Evelyn Chapel. 

Since joining the IWU faculty in the fall of 2007, Scott has directed more than 20 productions. He  additionally directed a concert staging of Bloomer Girl for the IWU Music Theatre Society, re-conceived and produced the original Tim Rice musical revue All I Need Is Words , vocal directed the musical Scrooge!. He p roduces the annual IWU cabaret SoTA Shoppe. He has conceived and directed many of the SoTA Senior Chicago Showcases. He teaches a broad range of coursework in acting, directing and theory.

Scott’s most important endeavor is being a father to Elijah and Eden Susong.

Visit Mr. Susong's professional website.

Education

M.F.A., Towson University; B.A., University of Texas at El Paso

Professional Affiliations

SDC-Stage Directors & Choreographers Union; Musical Theatre Educators Alliance – International (former two-term Great Lakes Regional Director, current Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee); The National Alliance for Musical Theatre

Awards and Select Grants

• 2001 recipient of a Towson Graduate Student Association Award of Excellence
• 2005 recipient of the Passano Family Interdisciplinary Chair for Communications
• Sans Tache Faculty Prize at RPCS
• Included in the 9th edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers
• 2009 international MTEA conference in Denmark and Germany (Conference presentation: “Music Theatre Curriculum: hybrids of the BFA conservatory model”)
• SETC 2010, 2011, 2014, & 2015 (Conference presentations: “Seeking Common Ground: What Similarities are at the Core of BA, BFA and BM Undergraduate Musical Theatre Training?” & “Auditioning for College Musical Theatre Training Programs”)
• 2010 IECA (Conference presentation “Music Theatre Audition Process When Applying to College”).
• As the Great Lakes Regional Director of MTEA, Scott helped plan the 2011 Annual Conference (University of Texas, Austin), presented on the subject of “best practice” in musical theatre training and facilitated keynote speaker Kaitlin Hopkins, Texas State. He c ohosted the 2013 Annual Conference (Webster University, St Louis) with Lara Teeter, facilitated keynote speaker Scott Miller, author & historian. Has subsequently presented at MTEA again in 2018 (Race, Diversity & Inclusion in Recruiting) & 2021 (Directing Musicals during COVID-19).