Susan Nussbaum | |
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![]() Susan Nussbaum, from a 1984 newspaper photo | |
Born | Susan Ruth Nussbaum December 12, 1953 |
Died | April 28, 2022 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | (aged 68)
Occupation(s) | Playwright, novelist, activist |
Parent |
|
Relatives | Karen Nussbaum (sister) |
Susan Ruth Nussbaum (December 12, 1953 – April 28, 2022) was an American actress, author, playwright, and disability rights activist. [1] [2]
Nussbaum was born in Chicago and raised in nearby Highland Park, the daughter of Mike Nussbaum and Annette Brenner Nussbaum. Her father, a former exterminator, became a well-known actor and director; [3] her mother was a publicist. [2] Her sister Karen Nussbaum is a noted labor leader. [4]
Nussbaum studied acting at Roosevelt University and Goodman School of Drama, both in Chicago. Nussbaum used a wheelchair after she survived being hit by a car in her twenties. [5] "When I became a wheelchair user in the late '70s," she wrote in a 2012 essay, "all I knew about being disabled I learned from reading books and watching movies, and that scared the shit out of me." [6]
As a performer, Nussbaum appeared a comic revue, Staring Back (1984), [7] as Emma Goldman in Frank Galati's She Always Said, Pablo (1987), in another comic review, The Plucky and Spunky Show (1990), [8] in her own one-woman show, Mishuganismo, directed by her father, in Activities of Daily Living (1994), [9] and in No One As Nasty (2000). [10] She worked with Marca Bristo on Access Living, [11] [12] and started a group of disabled girls and young women, The Empowered FeFes. [13] [14] [15] She directed a production of Michael Vitali's G-Man! (1995), [9] and two productions of Mike Ervin's The History of Bowling (1999). [2] [16]
Riva Lehrer painted a portrait of Nussbaum in 1998. [16] [17] In 2008, Nussbaum was named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World." Her debut novel Good Kings, Bad Kings (2013) won the 2012 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. [18] [19] The novel is set in an institution for disabled young people in the Chicago area. [20] [21]
Nussbaum had a daughter, Taina Rodriguez. [24] She died from pneumonia in 2022, at the age of 68, at her home in Chicago. [1] [2] She was buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge Illinois.
Susan Nussbaum | |
---|---|
![]() Susan Nussbaum, from a 1984 newspaper photo | |
Born | Susan Ruth Nussbaum December 12, 1953 |
Died | April 28, 2022 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | (aged 68)
Occupation(s) | Playwright, novelist, activist |
Parent |
|
Relatives | Karen Nussbaum (sister) |
Susan Ruth Nussbaum (December 12, 1953 – April 28, 2022) was an American actress, author, playwright, and disability rights activist. [1] [2]
Nussbaum was born in Chicago and raised in nearby Highland Park, the daughter of Mike Nussbaum and Annette Brenner Nussbaum. Her father, a former exterminator, became a well-known actor and director; [3] her mother was a publicist. [2] Her sister Karen Nussbaum is a noted labor leader. [4]
Nussbaum studied acting at Roosevelt University and Goodman School of Drama, both in Chicago. Nussbaum used a wheelchair after she survived being hit by a car in her twenties. [5] "When I became a wheelchair user in the late '70s," she wrote in a 2012 essay, "all I knew about being disabled I learned from reading books and watching movies, and that scared the shit out of me." [6]
As a performer, Nussbaum appeared a comic revue, Staring Back (1984), [7] as Emma Goldman in Frank Galati's She Always Said, Pablo (1987), in another comic review, The Plucky and Spunky Show (1990), [8] in her own one-woman show, Mishuganismo, directed by her father, in Activities of Daily Living (1994), [9] and in No One As Nasty (2000). [10] She worked with Marca Bristo on Access Living, [11] [12] and started a group of disabled girls and young women, The Empowered FeFes. [13] [14] [15] She directed a production of Michael Vitali's G-Man! (1995), [9] and two productions of Mike Ervin's The History of Bowling (1999). [2] [16]
Riva Lehrer painted a portrait of Nussbaum in 1998. [16] [17] In 2008, Nussbaum was named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World." Her debut novel Good Kings, Bad Kings (2013) won the 2012 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. [18] [19] The novel is set in an institution for disabled young people in the Chicago area. [20] [21]
Nussbaum had a daughter, Taina Rodriguez. [24] She died from pneumonia in 2022, at the age of 68, at her home in Chicago. [1] [2] She was buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge Illinois.