Susan Elaine Hussey (June 1, 1954 – February 19, 2009) was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and co-founder of the Gorilla Theatre performing arts venue in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. Hussey was born in

Martinsville, Indiana Martinsville is a city in Washington Township, Morgan County, Indiana, United States. The population was 14,980 at the 2020 United States census. The city is the county seat of Morgan County. History Martinsville was founded in 1822. It is said ...

and graduated from Martinsville High School in 1972. She then received a bachelor of arts in English from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in 1977. She received a master's degree in English literature from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

in 1984. While completing her studies, she took a typist job at the Tampa-based Aubrey Organics, a natural cosmetics company. She stayed with the company, working her way up to vice president of marketing and advertising and becoming the editor of the company's quarterly magazine Organica. In 1999, she married Dr. Aubrey Hampton, the company's founder and president. In 1990, Hampton and Hussey founded the Gorilla Theatre for the presentation of both socially conscious dramatic work and light entertainment. Hussey's plays included ''Plutography in the Slave Trade'' (1990), ''The Dressing Room'' (1993,

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

premiere in 1994), ''Small Mammals'' (1997), ''Christmas Trio'' (1998) and ''The Toxic Wave'' (2000). In 2002, the University of Tampa Press published a book of ''The Toxic Wave'' and ''The Dressing Room.''

References

1954 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Indiana University Bloomington alumni University of South Florida alumni People from Martinsville, Indiana {{US-playwright-stub