Next in our “Meet the Artist” series is the fabulous Susanna Brock!
Susanna Brock is a Swedish, New York-based theater maker, performer, director, administrator and educator who creates multi-sensory and interactive theater with and for young audiences. She aims to create spaces where young people can dream and play and critically reflect and comment on our world.
For the past 14 years, she has had the opportunity to work in many different parts of the world including Stockholm, Paris, Kampala, Nairobi and New York where she has facilitated and performed in school and community-based programs. In addition to her work at Flying Leap, Susanna is an ensemble member and administrator at the award-winning company Spellbound Theatre and has been a teaching artist and led professional development and trainings at places like ArtsConnection, The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College, Bank Street College of Education and NYU. In 2020 she graduated with a Master’s of Applied Theater from CUNY School of Professional Studies.
We asked Susannah three questions about her work:
What is one of the core values or approaches in your work as an artist?
“Play is the foundation of everything I do! I love learning about play and sensory exploration from babies and toddlers and nurturing play and imagination in elementary students who get less and less opportunities to play the older they get. Imagination and play is such a crucial skill that we need for a thriving democratic and empathic society. I also love working with play with adults and seeing them connect with themselves and with others in a way that they often don't in their regular lives. More play for the people!”
What is something you have coming up artistically that you’re excited about?
“Ana Cantorán Viramontes and I have been working on something we call Immigration Imagination Lab which is theater workshops for adult English language learners. We did a series of workshops at the Sunset Park Library in the fall funded by the Brooklyn Arts Council which was very exciting and successful. We can't wait to find more places and funders for this important work!”
What is one memorable moment on a Flying Leap Project?
'“Seeing families experience The Garden in many different venues has been really magical. Watching young children enamored by the milkweed fluff and the movements of the performers and then little by little entering the playing space and playing with other children they have never met before. Seeing expressions of awe and delight in the caretakers as they see their little ones engage with the play and seeing the adults' bodies relax as they settle into the show.”