About Susan
First rehearsal for “Handbagged” (Round House Theatre, Off-Broadway at 59E59)
“Ghost Writer” (MetroStage)
Susan Lynskey is basking a bit in the success of her Off-Broadway hit — starring as young Margaret Thatcher in Moira Buffini’s Handbagged, at 59E59 St. Theatre. The run was a great success and the reviews terrific... One even called Lynskey’s Mags “the Cat who got the cream”. It was a sheer delight performing at 59e59 — and it was extraordinary to feel love and support in the audience not only from amazing playwrights like Lynn Nottage and Anna Deveare Smith in the house but also to have such an outpouring of love from family, friends, former students and respected colleagues from all over the country come to support this fantastic Off-Broadway debut.
This on the heels of a luminous five month, three theatre co-production of Paula Vogel’s beautiful and life-changing play, Indecent, which so moved audiences (and Susan) at Arena Stage, Kansas City Rep, and Baltimore’s Center Stage. Paula Vogel’s kind words about the work and warmest embrace after the show will forever remain in my memory and heart.
A nationally known new play development specialist, Susan has helped usher in world and area premieres of new work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, for NPNN, at American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) , San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She recently starred in Daniel Handler’s (Lemony Snicket) new play, Imaginary Comforts, at Berkeley, and helped Sarah Ruhl in the development of her latest commission, Lock Her Up! Becky Nurse, a re-examination of The Crucible, at Groundfloor.
Susan is now launched in NYC, bicoastal with the Bay Area (where she will return late Spring 2020 with a Joe Orton satire), and a veteran of the Washington DC theatre scene, where she is a usual suspect at area theatres like Arena Stage and The Kennedy Center, directing again this September for Washington Women in Theatre for KC’s Page to Stage Festival.
On-camera, her recent appearances include the series premiere of NBC’s The Enemy Within, and she is underway filming Season 2 in her recurring role of the dry-wry Eileen Unger in the series Thespian on Amazon. She is proud to have acted in David Simon’s masterpiece The Wire on HBO, and Homicide on NBC.
Susan is also active in voiceover and can be heard in political spots, on PBS, NPR, CBC, in narrations for The Library of Congress and for Graphic Audio, where she is the voice of Mary Marvel in DC Comics’ audio dramas. She also does motion capture and voice work for video game platforms.
Her work has garnered many Helen Hayes nominations including Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actress and Outstanding Acting Ensemble Awards. Susan has also received The Audience Choice Award, The New Media Award, and grants with highest honors from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.