Acting

HIDden's triumph at The York Mystery Plays

July 2014

HIDden Theatre had a very busy summer, with some incredible announcements coming soon! In the meantime, check out some great PR for The Baptism (more details on our Press & Media page). We are elated for this excellent review and lead photo in The Express: "I would pick...The Baptism... as the best presented and performed play[s]." HIDden is very proud to be prominently featured by the BBC, online with lead photo and TV with interviews, as well. And for me as a performer, my anechoic recording of the chant 'Ascendo ad patrem meum' was featured at the sound installation Hearing the Mystery Plays - this project recreates the aural world of specific Mystery Plays using virtual models, state of the art recording techniques, and some creativity in the Medieval streets of York.

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Foreboding nuns, angry witches and other fun stuff in opera

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June 2014

On November 21 and 22, I'm singing the lead role of Madame de Croissy (Contralto) in Opera Sacra's production ofDialogues des carmélites (in English). This kicks off their 40th Anniversary year; Carmelites was Opera Sacra's first production 40 years ago, so I'm proud to be a part of this great event -- one of my favorite composers no less! UPDATE: I'm no longer singing Friday 26th September for The Opera Foundation of Buffalo, Inc's Fall Spanish-themed concert. Please go and support this wonderful group!

And for my third Lecture during National Opera Week for OperaBuffs of WNY? I'm presenting on portrayals of witchcraft, magic and folk religions in opera; and singing arias from Ulrica, Dido's Sorceress, and Carmen reading the tarot cards. A good thing for the morning after Halloween... see you there, Wayward Sisters.

The Geico Opera Diva is now national!

March 2014

The TV & radio advert I shot for for Geico Careers with HomeRun Creative is now released nationally. It's been playing throughout WNY on radio and television during prime time (The Simpsons, SNL, Cosmos 2014), picked up by Geico to run nationally on their Youtube Channel, airing nationally on TV in Iowa & Central Georgia, and the local Geico Careers YouTube page. Here's my audition video (as you can see, the hat was not my idea!)

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Euro News... Paris!

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January 2014

I am beyond elated to tell you I'm walking in a major international fashion show in Paris this spring! Ma tête tourne. Pulp'Fashion Week Paris organized by Histoire de Courbes gets serious press around the world, with some of the top plus designers and models in Europe, so I am jumping for joy! Ah, April (and May) in Paris... In addition, the drama company I Co-Founded, HIDden Theatre, is invited back to the York Mystery Plays 2014. HIDden will present The Baptism on one of the coveted wagons in this amazing event. Finally, the book presenting the research upon whichVivaldi's Women is based, Micky White's Antonio Vivaldi: A Life in Documents, is now available for purchase. The group will go on a book tour of England, I'll join them later this year in Venice.

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Fall updates

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October 2013

It's been a while since I updated the News section, but not for lack of exciting new information... modeling has taken up lots of my time time lately! Although I was able to combine singing and modeling in Venice, after our performance of Un Vespro Venexiano I met a photographer and squeezed off a photoshoot. Now, in addition to walking in many local shows in WNY, I'm very proud to be a part of the video-based Confidence is the Key Project, managed by Evolve and Skorch magazines, bringing together plus models and fashion insiders from around the world, sharing their stories of confidence. And I've been invited back by OperaBuffs of WNY to give a Lecture during National Opera Week on the pre-history of opera. Vocális Chamber Choir will embark on a professional tour of England in summer 2014, playing amazing venues in and around the capitol. I'm excited for another season with this fantastic ensemble in the WNY and Niagara region. In the meantime, I'm taking small solo gigs at services (including a professional position at St. Paul's Schola Cantorum), fundraisers and private events, which has been fun. And starting in late October, I'll be onstage with Diva By Diva at the award-winning O'Connell & Company. This cabaret style all-female performance celebrates its Sweet 16 this year in WNY's longest running show.

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Interviews, films & other bookings

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July 2012

I’ve done some interviews with e-zines lately about plus modeling, check them out: Fashion Police News; and Plus Model 411. Also I've added lots of bookings, gigs, concerts and jobs to my Events Calendar with lots more coming soon. Most exciting, I've been cast in a lead role in the Buffalo 48 Hour Film Project, working with NDstudios! You can view the final film here. It was nominated for the Best of Buffalo/ Audience Award, which was so cool. Check back often for updates...

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TV DOCUMENTARY ~ another life's dream come true

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April 2012

Biggest, best news EVER! I've been approached by Minerva Media, a Manchester-based production company, to be the main Presenter/ Host for a documentary about the experiences of Medieval female mystics! This is precisely what my MA research at Harvard was about, and the documentary, which will film all over the world over the next few years, will air on the top network in the UK. We'll explore mystics like Margery of Kempe, Angela of Foligno and more, especially in light of the erotic nature of their experiences. Jean-Claude Bragard, the creative director of Minerva, worked at the BBC for many years and produced some of their most important documentaries. This is BEYOND exciting!!! We start filming the short taster version this summer and fall, fully funded by the TV network...

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Movie filming and busiest week ever commences...

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March 2012

This week alone -- I've been cast in the lead role in a short film called Cassandra's Cleaning, which will film around York all this week. In addition, I am submitting an abstract for an academic journal about the history of low female voices; I'm doing a magazine interview; lots of rehearsals & performance for a choral concert... and more great news to follow shortly!

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New Agency & Bananana

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September 2010

Great news from the world of modelling: I am now on the books at a great agency in London called Daniel Browne Street Agency.

Additionally, I was just cast in the lead role as The Model in a movie called Bananana, filming in London, which is set in the 1950s! I'm playing a Bettie Page-type actress. Principle photography starts this week, so stay tuned for more information...

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Changes...

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September 2010

I have just made a big change in my life, a bit scary and a bit sad, but very positive and optimistic. I'm going to embrace my performance career -- singing, acting and modelling, as well as being a diversity activist -- full time. I'm really looking forward to the future, so many amazing things have come my way in the last 6 months... onwards and upwards!

I am also now officially a Founder and Producer at HIDden Theatre!

HIDden Theatre

August 2010

The Head of Programming at the British Museum was so impressed with our performance in the York Mystery Plays, we have been invited to present Medieval Christmas dramas at the prestigious museum this December! Our new historical theatre troupe, HIDden Theatre, has asked my company Trinacria Productions to produce the event. I will also star in the plays as an actress! This is very exciting, and gratifying to know all our hard work in the mystery plays paid off.

York Mystery Plays

March 2010

The play's the thing... I have been cast in one of the lead roles in the 2010 York Mystery Plays. This event takes place only every 4 years, and I'm very excited to be a lead role in the play "The Transfiguration," as John the Apostle. On 11 and 18 July, and on 6 June at the York Carnival, The Lords of Misrule will perform the play four times in locations throughout town, including the Museum Gardens and Dean's Court, on a movable wagon! The York Mystery Cycle began as an expression of guild solidarity in York in 1376 and continued until 1568; the tradition was revived in 1951. See the Calendar and York Mystery Plays for more information - this event is held in conjunction with the York Early Music Festival.

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BAROCCA

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June 2009

Sue will be featured in BAROCCA, which will premiere in the UK in the 2010 season. After fantastic reviews with a previous cast in Italy, we plan on performing this exciting and beautiful production in York, Oxford, France and Norway. BAROCCA, a multimedia Baroque dramatic extravaganza, is conceived of and directed by Gianmaria Romagnoli. Sue will sing the Alto solos in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and the role of Testo in Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Ottavo libro, Madrigali dei guerrieri ed amorosi). This all-female production will also include a Vivaldi cantata, complete with stunning visuals and gorgeous costumes.

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Research Update

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May 2009

Sailing through The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi by John Whenham and Richard Wistreich (2008, page 11), I read a paragraph which jumped off the page at me and made me whoop with job. It directly pertains to and necessitates the topic of my dissertation, and I think this is the most beautiful set of sentences I've read in a long time: "Again, Monteverdi is one of the earliest composers for whom we are tempted to associate the steps in his musical development with three rather neat geographical locations -- Cremona (1567 - 90), Mantua (1590 - 1612), and Venice (1613 - 43) -- and link them to his early, middle and late styles on the nineteenth-century 'progressive trajectory' model established for Bach (Weimar, Cothen, Leipzig), Mozart (Salzburg, Italy, Vienna) and other composers. Those who do not quite fit the style-place development model seem to have a harder time fixing themselves in our historical consciousness, no matter how talented. Among Monteverdi's contemporaries, Luca Marenzio and Sigismondo d'India may particularly have fallen into this historiographical trap, as is evidenced by their rather poor showing in the present performing and recording arenas."