Summers, Susan (1946-2023) | University of Illinois Archives

Name: Summers, Susan (1946-2023)

Historical Note: Susan Summers (1946-2023) was born in Tacoma Park, Maryland. Summers earned a bachelors degree in design and production from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1972. She would continue to work as a librarian for NCSA until 1978. masters in theater lighting design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She served as the lighting designer and production manager for the National Academy of Arts in the 1980s. At the same time she became a union member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees local 482. From 1985 to 1989 she served the University of Illinois Dance Department as a production manager. Following this, she designed productions for several regional companies including the Carolyn Dorman Dance Company, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and the summer ARTPARK series. She also served as a lighting designer for the Saitama International Dance Competition in Tokyo, Japan. She also worked for many years with Cassidy Cataloguing Services. In 2013, Summers married her lifelong friend Julie Hannaford Rundell. Summers died in Urbana in 2023.

Sources:

Susan Summers Obituary, News-Gazette (April 2, 2023).

Susan Summers Obituary in, Pivot: Department of Dance Magazine, 37 (2023): 9.

Note Author: Nolan Vallier