Susan Tsu
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when [s]he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
-Albert Einstein
Susan Tsu is an award-winning costume designer whose work has graced the stages of over 45 major LORT theatres in the United States as well as international venues the world over. She headed the costume programs at Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin before joining the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon, her alma mater, in 2003. Designing costumes for theatre, opera, and television, she is cited in Who’s Who in Fine Arts Higher Education and Who’s Who of American Women, and has been a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recommender.
Memorable productions include the award-winning hit musical Godspell, The Joy Luck Club– a first time collaboration between Chinese and American companies, and The Balcony at the Bolshoi Opera for Sarah Caldwell’s US-Soviet Cultural Exchange. Tsu’s recent design work includes Hamlet and King Lear for Quantum Theatre; Andy Warhol in Iran and The Revolutionists for City Theatre; Hairspray, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Merry Wives of Windsor for American Player’s Theatre; and The Importance of Being Earnest and The Mousetrap for the Guthrie Theater.
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.
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.
A passionate curator, 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; was 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. http://www.worldcostumedesign.com/
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.
Tsu is a happy mother and wife, a University Professor, a USITT Fellow, and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local #829, the National Theatre Conference, and Phi Kappa Phi. She serves on the Board of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and proudly celebrates the accomplishments of her brilliant students through the years!