John Susman is an American playwright, screenwriter and a director/producer of film. In the 1980s, he worked at

Steppenwolf Theatre Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighbo ...

as literary manager, dramaturg, and assistant director on many Steppenwolf productions.

Playwright

In 1990, his play ''Tiger Treadwell Takes Tinseltown'' was produced at the Ventura Court Theatre by the ''L.A. Theater Unit'' in Los Angeles. In 2003, his play ''Cafe Society'' was staged in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

at The

Circle Theatre Chicago Circle Theatre Chicago founded in 1985 by Wayne Buidens, Joe Bass, and Karen Skinner is a theatre company in Oak Park and Chicago, Illinois. They chose the name "Circle Theatre" to represent both Circle Avenue (Forest Park's main thoroughfare) ...

's New Plays Festival. Susman's play ''Nelson and Simone,'' about the decades-long relationship between

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel '' The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulate ...

and

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

, is based on material Susman drew from de Beauvoir's 1998 book, ''A transatlantic love affair : letters to Nelson Algren.'' It had several staged readings, and was first produced in 1999 as a featured play at Prop Theatre's New Play Festival. It was produced again in 2000 at Chicago's Live Bait Theater directed by Richard Cotovsky starring Gary Houston and Rebecca Covey. The play dramatizes the love affair between Chicago literary giant

and French existentialist

Film

In 2007, he wrote, directed, and produced the comedy short ''Making the Man'' which has screened at over twenty film festivals in the US, Europe and Japan and had its commercial release on the DVD ''Best Of 16th Raindance Film Festival Shorts.'' Susman's first feature-length motion picture ''Game Day'', starring

Romeo Miller Percy Romeo Miller Jr. (born August 19, 1989), also known by his stage name Romeo (formerly Lil' Romeo), is an American rapper, singer, actor and television personality. He gained fame as a rapper in the early 2000s after signing with his father, ...

and

Lisa Zane Lisa Zane (born April 5, 1961)Skin, Mr. Skin (2005). Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia: The A-to-Z Guide to Finding Your Favorite Actresses naked'. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 612. . is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. Early lif ...

with

Chris J. Johnson Chris J Johnson (born August 29, 1977) is an American actor. Life and career Born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, Johnson had a supporting role as a young agent in '' XXX: State of the Union''. He also played the lead in ''Three Blind Mice'' and '' ...

and

Fyvush Finkel Philip "Fyvush" Finkel (; October 9, 1922 – August 14, 2016) was an American actor and director known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series '' Picket Fences'', for which he earned an ...

, is scheduled for release in 2016. Original music by composer William Susman.IMDB pro
/ref> John Susman is author of the original screen play and co-producer.

Awards and honors

*Illinois Arts Council *Illinois/Chicago Screenwriting Competition *Nicholl Fellowship *Uprising Playwright's Award

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Susman, John Living people American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters Writers from Chicago University of Chicago alumni New Trier High School alumni Jewish American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Screenwriters from Illinois Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews