Suze Allen wears many artistic hats, all of them cut from the cloth of shared stories. She started writing in a wire-bound, orange covered, lined notebook when she was in second grade and never stopped. She is an author, poet, memoirist, writing coach, conceptual and copy editor, teacher, dramaturg, theatre professional, ghostwriter and life coach and life legacy creator.
Writing Coach ~ Instructor ~ Editor ~ Ghostwriter ~ Family Legacy Creator
Suze created her company, Manuscript Mentor, as a way to guide people to heart-full, soulful writing that jumps off the page with vibrancy and sinks into the artful depth of what needs to be said. Manuscript Mentor has been helping folks turn their dreams, ideas and narratives into effective, vibrant writing in any genre, for over 20 years. Suze’s clients come from all walks of life. She has worked with scientists, psychologists, doctors, business owners, health and wellness practitioners, CEOS, mamas, chefs, playwrights, and all levels of writers who want to bring their story to the page.
Workshops ~ Classes ~ Consulting
Her classes and workshops include: Memoir – the Art of Legacy Writing, Memoir Writing for Beginners, Writing through Grief and Sorrow, Writing Recovery, , Memoir and Monologue – Legacy Writing for the Page and the Stage, Deep Dive Saturdays, Mining the Depths – Memoir and Monologue – taught with Master teacher Roland Tec, Playwrights’ Lab, Writing Critique Workshop and Mama-logues – Writing Workouts to Keep Mama Sane, Centered and Creative, Unearthing Story ~ Connecting to Nature, Self and Community with Eco therapist, Darlene DeRose.
She works with Jnana Gowan of Balance Point Shamanism to create Women in Transition – Climbing into Your Authentic Self and they taught this workshop at Esalen for 9 years. And Suze is a story board consultant at ShadowPower Productions She is also a life coach using a writing modality – LivingWriteNow and offers daily free writing prompts on her website blog. Suze creates videos, audio and written life stories with her Family Legacy Project.
On the first Sunday of every month, Suze hosts Memoir Church, live on zoom, which features moving, funny, inspiring and masterful memoirists in conversation and reading from their work, followed by a Q & A. You can visit the Memoir Church YouTube Channel to see past shows.
Theatre Professional
Suze is a theatre director, dramaturg, actor, and producer who co-founded 3Girls Theatre in San Francisco with Lee Brady and Alisa Baker, where she served as resident playwright and dramaturg, taught playwriting, and created GirlWrights, a playwriting lab for young women to find their voices and get them up on stage. Other companies and outlets for work she created are: The Maine Playwrights’ Lab and Short Works Festival, Fresh! New Works San Francisco with Lee Brady and Penny Wallace, Iambes Bones Studio, amma studio, SF Writers and Actors Lab.
She was the Director of Developmental Readings and Resident Dramaturg for Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, where she also taught playwriting. Her dramaturgy clients have had their plays produced all over the country. Suze was the Bay Area Representative for The Dramatists Guild of America for 7 years and is a long-time member. She was also a teaching mentor for Each One Reach One’s playwriting program for young men incarcerated in the juvenile jail system.
As a playwright, director and actor, Suze’s work has been on stages in San Francisco, Boston, Anchorage, Alaska, Manhattan, Portland, Maine and Edinburgh, Scotland. She directed two world premieres- Richard Fouts’ The Birthday Lottery at Z Space in San Francisco and Roland Tec’s What We Get to Keep, at Hill Arts in Portland, Maine. Suze directed a staged reading of Michael Wells-Oakes’ Winter Wheat at The Tank in Manhattan with The 29th Street Playwrights’ Collective
Suze is also the director of Roland ec’s Some1Speaking – Hear Me Out Monologues on zoom on the first Monday of every month. View past Some1Speaking shows.