Susan Tsu
Bessie F Anathan Professor of Design & University Professor
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
Designs
Various
Susan’s own designs have been exhibited many times including a major exhibition at Lincoln Center Library called: “Curtain Call: Celebrating A Century of Women Designing for Live Performance” and “From Shakespeare to Sondheim” at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
The World’s Top Costume Design Schools 2024
The Hollywood Reporter online
2024-02-24
As CMU professor Susan Tsu says, “We prepare students to invent a future we cannot know and value our relationships with them years after they have graduated. Consequently, our alumni continue to be devoted to the school, return frequently to work with students, and hire them within the profession.”
How the CMU School of Drama is working to broaden its definition of a star
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette online
2022-08-12
“I’ve always told our students that there is no difference at all between who they are as people and who they are as designers,” she said. “It’s part of our obligation as teachers to illuminate certain ways of thinking and questioning why we are the way we are and what our biases are.”
Susan Tsu: Outfitting a vision
China Daily online
2016-06-03
"I did the play of The Joy Luck Club with (set designer) Ming Cho Lee," she said. "It was very exciting. We worked alongside our Chinese colleagues, which was a great honor for us. It was a big deal in China at the time because it was the first collaboration of its kind."
"While I have a unique understanding of what it means to be Asian, I do not believe that only Asian designers can do Asian plays, just as I do not believe that British designers are the only people in the world who can bring meaning to Shakespeare," Tsu said.
"I believe a good designer has the ability to take on the skins of many cultures and can immerse herself in many situations, which she in fact has not experienced," Tsu added.
"As educators, we have an enormous responsibility. We form the future of our own field by training tomorrow's theater artists. We teach technique, process, and skills but do we adequately address the cultures and theater of the world and within our country? So many voices and visions in the cultural richness of the United States have yet to find expression," said Tsu.
Media
Industry Expertise
Accomplishments
Curatorial Work and Exhibitions
Chief Curator of Innovative Costume of the XXI Century: The Next Generation and Co-Curator of Costume at the Turn of the Century: 1990-2015–both hosted by the A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum in Moscow–two comprehensive exhibitions of contemporary costume design in the world representing over 300 designers in 60 countries. Both exhibitions continue to tour the world.
Curatorial Work
Tsu co-curated the USA National and Student exhibits for the 2023, 2011 and 2007 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. She was the Artistic Director for the USITT-USA-PQ 2011 exhibit, From the Edge, shown at La Mama La Galleria, the A.A. Bakhrushin State Museum in Moscow, and the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art at CMU.
Awards and Publications
Tsu’s designs are represented in numerous books and publications, and she has won many awards, including the USITT 2024 Distinguished Achievement in Costume Design, the 2017 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement- Established Artist, 2016 Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement, NY Drama Desk, NY Drama Critics, NY Young Film Critics, LA Distinguished Designer Awards, and a Kennedy Center Medal of Achievement.
Links
Research Focus
Leadership Roles
During a 6-year term on the Board of Directors for Theatre Communications Group Tsu was on the task force that reconfigured American Theatre magazine and was a strong advocate for the Free Night of Theatre initiative across America now reaching over 600 cities. Susan has been a featured guest presenter/workshop leader at (IFTS) International Festival of Theatre Schools- the University of Calicut, Thrissur, Kerala, India; (iSTAN) the International Stage Art Network-PR China; World Stage Design- Taipei, Taiwan; (TETA) the Texas Educational Theatre Association, (USITT) The United States Institute for Theatre Technology; SIVA (Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts); (CSA) The Costume Society of America; (SETC) Southeast Theatre Conference; The Moscow Art Theatre and The Central Academy of Drama as well as at theatres and schools within the USA. For CMU, Tsu has been on the Miller Gallery Programming Leadership Committee, and a wats:ON? Festival organizing partner.