Susan Mickey Brings a Designer’s Eye to the School of Theatre
Susan Mickey Brings a Designer’s Eye to the School of Theatre
This article was originally published in BU Today on February 20, 2020. By Joel Brown
Among her goals as director: more collaboration with Schools of Music, Visual Arts
Excerpt
Susan E. Mickey says you don’t really know what you’re going to find at a new job until you get there. Like when she arrived at the College of Fine Arts last summer as the newly appointed director of the School of Theatre amid major renovations…
“You don’t know the intensity of someone drilling into the side of your building until you live it every day,” she says with a smile. “Until you actually have that jackhammer in the wall and you’re all screaming to be heard over the noise and dust.”
But the scaffolding outside her fourth-floor office will soon come down, she adds, and “we’re about to emerge as a phoenix from the ashes into an absolutely beautiful building.”
What goes on inside that building, especially in her school, is already in excellent shape, says Mickey, who is also a professor of theater, design, and production/costume design. “The good news is what a healthy, vibrant, and lovely department it is, especially the faculty and the talented, talented, talented students.”
Before arriving at BU last July, Mickey was senior associate chair of the University of Texas at Austin department of theater and dance. Unlike many theater school administrators, Mickey is neither an actor nor a director, but a well-known costume designer who has worked with many of the nation’s major regional theaters, among them the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, and Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company. Her numerous accolades include three Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago’s top theater award, and in film and television she has worked on HBO’s Emmy-winning Miss Evers Boys and Mama Flora’s Family for CBS.
Mickey, who took over as School of Theatre director from Jim Petosa, a CFA professor of directing and dramatic criticism, spent the fall semester meeting with faculty and staff and seeing virtually every School of Theatre production—more than 20 shows. “I loved The Europeans, I loved Exonerated. I love the passion and fearless courage of our writers and our students to make their own work, too, and how devoted they are to seeing each other’s work. I went to performances on Sunday mornings at 10 am that were packed with students. That’s pretty impressive.”