Hey everyone! This Saturday and Sunday March 25th & 26th at 2pm please join us at T.U. Studios for two readings with two different casts (both awesome!) over two days of William Shakespeare’s KING LEAR! I am thrilled to be playing Regan this Sunday, March 26th at 2pm. Would love to see you!
Admission is Free. Donations are gratefully accepted and will go towards funding a full production later this year!
10943 Camarillo St, North Hollywood, CA 91602
Delighted to see this very nice review today in AudioFile Magazine for THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE: American Women and World War I by Lynn Dumenil. Published by Blackstone Audio! Truly an honor to narrate.
THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE: American Women and World War I
by Lynn Dumenil | Read by Susan Hanfield
History • 14.75 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2017
Narrator Susan Hanfield does a splendid job conveying WWI and the many women who made an immense impact on winning it. She skillfully employs an old-fashioned style for the quotes, and for the narrative she uses a contemporary delivery that enhances the descriptions of women ranging from nurses to telephone operators to prostitutes. The women who pushed against the limits society imposed on “the weaker sex” include elites, suffragettes, pacifists, African-Americans, and immigrants, all of whom have their say with distinction from Hanfield. Listeners will hear fascinating first-person accounts from women reveling in their new more exciting and challenging lives. The audio version is ideal for a book overflowing with names, dates, acronyms, and numerous notes of explanation. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2017]
To read this review online at AudioFile Magazine just click on the link!
So happy to share this lovely review from AudioFile Magazine for The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough! Published by Scholastic Audio.
Narrator Susan Hanfield embodies the characters Love and Death, who wager on the love between Henry and Flora, a pair of teenagers in Seattle in the 1920s. Hanfield uses a stoic voice when Death points out that because Flora is African-American and Henry is white, there is no way their love will endure. From Love, one hears notes of wistfulness and desperation–as he is tired of losing his wagers with Death and wants this forward-thinking pair to thrive. Hanfield believably portrays both Flora and Henry from childhood to the story’s present as well as creating vivid voices for secondary characters, ably handling accents and foreign languages, and even occasionally breaking into song. Historical fiction, romance, and magical realism make for a compelling listen. A.F. 2017 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2017]
Listen to a sample of 2017 Audie Award Finalist The Game of Love and Death!
Great fun today sinking teeth into the text of William Shakespeare’s King Lear with director Tony Tanner (who is also playing the title role) and a sublime cast! I am thrilled to be playing Regan, in my favorite of all of Shakespeare’s plays.
We will be putting on a full scale production towards the latter part of the year, but first things first! We’re getting our feet wet with two staged readings – performed by two extraordinary casts! This is going to be fun.
Readings will take place on Saturday March 25th & Sunday March 26th at T.U. Studios located in the NoHo Arts District at 10943 Camarillo St., North Hollywood, Ca 91602. Performances will begin at 2pm on both days.
Not sure which day I’ll be performing yet, so stay tuned!
Lynn Dumenil’s The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I offers an in-depth look at the role women played during World War I and how they crossed personal, economic and political boundaries to help the United States mobilize for War. Published by Blackstone Audio, this was such a compelling book to narrate!
The women of this era fought fearlessly, volunteering on the home front, working as laborers in factories, serving as nurses overseas, and challenging racial divides at home – forming a true second line of defense. Anne Emerson, captured the essence of the early 20th century “new woman” beautifully in her 1918 Forum Article: “Today she is everywhere; a Salvation lassie, serving coffee and doughnuts on the firing line; in the Red Cross Emergency Hospital at the front; in the munitions factory at home; filling the gaps in man-made industry everywhere. . . She is omnipresent.”
Youth Will Be Served by Andrew Fox is a deeply enthralling short story that I had the incredible joy of narrating for Nightmare Magazine, produced by Skyboat Media.
I won’t give all the details away as I hope you’ll stop by Nightmare Magazine to have a listen, but this dark tale centers around a young girl who is about to celebrate her thirteenth birthday. This is not just any birthday, as this particular girl has Hutchinson-Gilford Pregoria syndrome, a heartbreaking disease whereby a child ages rapidly and rarely sees their fourteenth birthday.
Andrew Fox’s moving story toggles between the present and fourteen years earlier where we meet a clique of elderly ladies who call themselves the “the nobody-to-call-us club.” Years ago, these ladies made a deadly deal with a sea creature called Mr. Grayback, in the hopes of regaining their youth. The terms were steep and the end result not exactly ideal, but when we return to the present, this young girl’s aunt thinks perhaps it’s time for just one more deal…if only to guarantee that her niece reaches her fourteenth birthday…
The ocean is an immense eating machine, and I’m an edible speck bobbing up and down between its lips. Waiting for it to notice me.
Mr. Grayback?
Are you out here?
We need to make a deal . . .
So incredibly happy to have learned that I am a 2017 Audie Award Finalist in the Young Adult category for THE GAME OF LOVE AND DEATH, exquisitely written by Martha Brockenbrough and published by Scholastic Audio!
My deepest thanks to Paul Gagne for trusting me with this beautiful book that so captured my heart from the very first moment. Heartfelt thanks also to Debra Deyan, Jorge Reyes, Sebastian Zetin and the amazing team at Deyan Audio! What an incredible joy to work with all of you. Thanks also to the Audio Publishers Association!
Huge congratulations to all of the 2017 Audie Award Finalists!! Your work inspires me every day.
Super excited to share this first shot from my recent photo shoot with the amazing Sascha Knopf. You can check out Sascha’s wonderful work at Knopfoto.com!
Such a joy to be a part of FROM THE HEART, a month of free audio put together by the extraordinary Xe Sands and Jennifer Conner as a way to say thank you to our listening community!
Today, I’m up at bat with an intriguing short story called The Lady, or The Tiger? written by Frank R. Stockton. This riddle immediately caught my attention and I love how Stockton leaves it up to the listener to decide which door our protagonist opens! If you’re unfamiliar with the story, here is a brief look behind the two doors…
In a land far far away an unusual punishment is imposed by a semi-barbaric king in which the accused must leave his life to impartial and incorruptible chance as he chooses between two identical doors. Behind one door is a beautiful lady, who the accused man would immediately wed after choosing that door, behind the other is a ferocious tiger who is ready for his next meal. Our protagonist has fallen in love with the princess. Upon learning of this forbidden relationship, the king sentences this young man to the choosing of the doors. Meanwhile, the princess has discovered the secret behind the door and signals her lover. But which door does she signal? If she indicates the door with the lady, she must watch the man she loves marry a woman she despises. If she leads the man to the tiger, she must watch him be torn to pieces. What do you think? Which did he choose The Lady or the Tiger?
The Lady or the Tiger was first published in The Century magazine in 1882. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, author Frank Stockton is best known for this short story.
Hey everyone! I couldn’t be more thrilled to be playing Beatrice alongside an absolutely sublime cast, in a fully staged reading of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing directed by James Loren. Please join us this Saturday December 10th at 2pm at the West Hollywood Library. Admission is FREE – thanks to a generous grant from the City of West Hollywood. I hope to see you there!
