Suzy Ridenour
Minneapolis, MN
playwright, director, performer
Biography

Suzy Ridenour is a Minneapolis playwright, director, and performer. She is an alum of Knox College, where she double majored in Creative Writing and Theatre, and was the recipient of a Ford Fellowship for research into performance theory. One of the founders of BareBones Productions, known for their Annual Halloween Extravaganza, she has moonlighted as a community arts organizer, director, performer and technician in association with BareBones, along with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, Parkland College Theatre, The Station Theater, Logan Park, and the Chautauqua Fine Arts Center. Suzy rejoined the playwriting world in 2022 after a brief 21-year hiatus to raise a family.

Plays

by Suzy Ridenour

A corporation’s newly implemented brain augmentation technology puts two coworkers at odds with themselves, their employer, and the Internet of Things.

Genre: dark comedy, experimental

Keyword: brain-computer interface, hypercapitalism, surveillance culture

Cast:
9 actors: Shelley / Mary / Gretchen, Olivia / Dave, Sean / Voice Over, Bed, Toilet, Toaster, Fridge, Car, Fired Doodler, Unchipped Worker, Contractor 1, Security 2 / Joe, Steve, Security 1, Panhandler, Justin, Contractor 2, Guest / The Hive (3 modern dancers)

Successes

“Inner Drive” was an Honorable Mention for the 2023 Neukom Award for Playwriting

The annual Neukom playwriting award considers plays and other full-length works for the theater that address the question, “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?” The award is a partnership between the Neukom Institute, the Department of Theater at Dartmouth College, and Northern Stage based in White River Junction, Vermont.