(Huntington, NY) Councilwoman Susan A. Berland joined critically acclaimed producer and director Susan H. Schulman and the participants in the Long Island Musical Theater Festival at Walt Whitman High School to present Ms. Schulman with a proclamation in recognition of her guest appearance as a master class teacher.
Susan H. Schulman is a professor and head of the graduate directing program at Penn State University. She made her debut as a producer in 1989 with Sweeney Todd at the York Theater Company. She was a Tony Award nominee for Best Director of a Musical for her production of the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. Her 1991 direction of the musical adaptation of The Secret Garden garnered a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Musical. Susan won an Obie Award for her direction of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along in 1994. Once again, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical for Violet in 1997.
Susan H. Schulman was asked by Andrew Lloyd Weber to adapt a scaled-down production of Sunset Boulevard for a U.S. tour following her well-received Broadway revival of The Sound of Music in 1998. In 2005, Susan returned to Broadway to direct a musical adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women. She has since directed the musical I Do! I Do! and several works for the Stratford Festival of Canada.
“It was a pleasure for me to honor Susan Schulman,” commented Councilwoman Berland. “Not only is she a critically acclaimed Broadway director and producer, she is a patron and leader of the arts. Huntington was honored that she made time to teach a master class for our rising thespians as part of the Long Island Musical Theater Festival. It was truly a wonderful afternoon. Each of these talented young adults, representing Nassau and Suffolk Counties, auditioned for their spots in this program. I congratulate them on their success so far and look forward to seeing the show.”
