SUZANNE COSTELLO joined Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater in New York City in 1979 and became its Artistic Co-Director in 1984. During her career with the company, she has been highlighted as a performer, choreographer, teacher, and rehearsal director. As Director of Arts & Education and Arts & Healthcare Programs for the company, she creates and facilitates the many community-inclusive projects SPDT has come to be known for nationally and internationally.
Over the past decade she has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts for programs across the country that give voice to those whose stories have not been heard. Currently, she is developing a national performance project for persons with spinal cord injury, From Where I Sit, which will be premiered in Birmingham, AL in 2025. Recently, she directed the NEA project I Believe / The South Dakota Prison Project. This five-week program engaged men at the Sioux Falls Penitentiary in creating performance through writing and movement to express their non-carceral stories. Past NEA community performance projects include Our Country’s Keepers at the Walter Reed Military Center, Bethesda, MD, engaging active military and veterans; Raising Our Voices for the Birmingham cancer community; and LISTEN / Stories of Cancer told through Movement, Music & Voice, commissioned by Gilda’s Club of the Twin Cities, with participants impacted by cancer. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/389513015
Ms. Costello has been invited to present on this body of work at the International Conference on Culture, Health, and Wellbeing Conference in Bristol, UK, and at the International Conference on Parole & Probation in Ottawa, Canada. National presentations have included the National Organization for Arts in Health, Austin, TX; Expressive Therapies Summit, NYC, NY; and Performing Arts Alliance, Atlanta, GA; among others.
Ms. Costello’s choreographic work has been honored with three Individual Artist Fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council and has been commissioned by national dance companies and individual artists. She directed and choreographed CATS for Broadway at Iroquois, Louisville; Go, Dog, Go! for Metro Theater Company, St. Louis, and Stage One, Louisville; and choreographed Grimm Tales for Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis. She has been a Guest Artist at colleges and universities across the U.S. and abroad and has twice been a Cowles Guest Artist as well as Affiliate Faculty for six years at the University of Minnesota.
In New York City, Costello performed with several companies, including David Gordon Pick Up Co. and Billy Siegenfeld & Dancers. She has also worked with colleague Joe Goode in San Francisco who created a solo for her, Movie Star Life. Ms. Costello began her study of dance under Annelise Mertz at Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Dance.
SUZANNE COSTELLO joined Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater in New York City in 1979 and became its Artistic Co-Director in 1984. During her career with the company, she has been highlighted as a performer, choreographer, teacher, and rehearsal director. As Director of Arts & Education and Arts & Healthcare Programs for the company, she creates and facilitates the many community-inclusive projects SPDT has come to be known for nationally and internationally.
Over the past decade she has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts for programs across the country that give voice to those whose stories have not been heard. Currently, she is developing a national performance project for persons with spinal cord injury, From Where I Sit, which will be premiered in Birmingham, AL in 2025. Recently, she directed the NEA project I Believe / The South Dakota Prison Project. This five-week program engaged men at the Sioux Falls Penitentiary in creating performance through writing and movement to express their non-carceral stories. Past NEA community performance projects include Our Country’s Keepers at the Walter Reed Military Center, Bethesda, MD, engaging active military and veterans; Raising Our Voices for the Birmingham cancer community; and LISTEN / Stories of Cancer told through Movement, Music & Voice, commissioned by Gilda’s Club of the Twin Cities, with participants impacted by cancer. https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/389513015
Ms. Costello has been invited to present on this body of work at the International Conference on Culture, Health, and Wellbeing Conference in Bristol, UK, and at the International Conference on Parole & Probation in Ottawa, Canada. National presentations have included the National Organization for Arts in Health, Austin, TX; Expressive Therapies Summit, NYC, NY; and Performing Arts Alliance, Atlanta, GA; among others.
Ms. Costello’s choreographic work has been honored with three Individual Artist Fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council and has been commissioned by national dance companies and individual artists. She directed and choreographed CATS for Broadway at Iroquois, Louisville; Go, Dog, Go! for Metro Theater Company, St. Louis, and Stage One, Louisville; and choreographed Grimm Tales for Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis. She has been a Guest Artist at colleges and universities across the U.S. and abroad and has twice been a Cowles Guest Artist as well as Affiliate Faculty for six years at the University of Minnesota.
In New York City, Costello performed with several companies, including David Gordon Pick Up Co. and Billy Siegenfeld & Dancers. She has also worked with colleague Joe Goode in San Francisco who created a solo for her, Movie Star Life. Ms. Costello began her study of dance under Annelise Mertz at Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Dance.