Susan Bertoia

Choreographer, Physical Dramaturg, Mentor

Susan is a professional theatre artist, performer, director, devisor, writer and passionate drama teacher AND mom to three amazing humans. She has worked with Some Assembly Theatre on their past 4 productions and is super excited for this new show. She is Adjunct Professor at UBC teaching acting and mask performance and conducts numerous creative initiatives with schools through ArtStarts, a government funded agency. Susan facilitates many professional development workshops with the ABCDE and has presented papers at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research Conferences. Recently Susan was awarded the ‘Excellence in Drama Education’ through ABCDE which recognized her years of dedication and innovative work with youth. She is also the recipient of the Vancouver Jessie Richardson’s Professional Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance and The Gordon Armstrong Theatre Artist Award which recognized her creative initiatives. Susan has performed at many venues including: PuSh International Festival, Arts Club Theatre, Western Canada Theatre, Firehall Theatre and Richmond Gateway Theatre. Susan also directs multi platformed shows ranging from youth engaged theatre to professional ensemble productions. She is Creative Director for an original outreach film, Project Element: Once Upon a Time in Smithers produced by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. Most recently she wrote and directed “Juggle Me Not” a commedia outdoor show for AXIS theatre as part of BC Arts Council Pivot Grant and in 2020 was commissioned to devise an adaptation of the Ugly Duckling story for a site-specific work at Place des Arts, Coquitlam. She holds a BFA in Theatre Acting from UBC as well has trained abroad at schools that specialize in Italian mask theatre (Ill Piccolo Teatro di Milan and Donato Sartori International Mask Workshop). She has trained in physical devised theatre with One Yellow Rabbit; Jeremy James and UK’s Frantic Assembly. More on Susan and her work at: www.susanbertoia.ca