Susanna Pitzer

School Visits

I love working with people of all ages on exploring their creative gifts. My background as a writer, illustrator, actress, and director, has put me in a wonderful position of being able to work with students on multiple artistic levels.

I work to help students feel comfortable with creating and learning, and to see that they all have marvelous gifts.

See what I'm up to...Visit my SCHEDULE BELOW.

Contact me to set up a visit at your school.

My Workshops include:

Book Talk:
Reading one of my books to the school or to specific classrooms, followed by a group discussion of the book and how books are written and illustrated. Also includes a question and answer period.

Writing with Pictures:
A wonderful workshop for the early grades, but equally fun and informative for older kids. Children learn about illustration and story structure through creating a book using their own drawings and few, if any, words.

Creating a Book - Story and Pictures:
Students will write and illustrate their own books. This workshop includes writing stories, drawing illustrations, and creating books.

Creative Workout! --Stretching the Brain:
A workshop filled with fun exercises that use art, acting, and music as tools for increasing the depth of creativity.

Improvisational Acting as a Writing Tool:
Students will work in small groups to improvise scenes. They will perform these scenes for the group and then commit them to paper in the form of a story or short play. Plays can be woven together and rehearsed for a future performance.

Story Structure:
Work with students to write and edit their own stories.

Workshop will deal with story ideas, structure, character, genre, voice, and all the elements of a good story.

I'm also Happy to Create Workshops Specific to the Needs of Your School.

**Workshops can be tailored to address the current curriculum of your school or a particular classroom.

2009 Schedule - where you'll find me or my work

January 16, 23, 30 - Behind the Book Workshops, P.S. 116, Queens, NY

Here's a picture from our Behind the Book visit to Ms. Golding's amazing 2nd grade class! All the students wrote and illustrated their own stories and did a GREAT JOB! Ms. Golding took the picture.

June 16 - 27 - Summer Youth Theatre, directing, "The Queen who Wouldn't Laugh" Lawrence, KS

2008 Schedule

January 10 - OPAL online Interview

February 10 - Chocolate Auction - Artwork Auction to Benefit Baldwin, KS Arts Council

March 17 - Reading 'New Children's Play' for Visible Theatre, NYC

April 19 - Young Writer's Conference, Emporia, KS

April 26 - Seem to Be Players Show - "Puss and Boots" Lawrence, KS

May 12 - workshop, Fox Run School, Norwalk, CT

June 19 - "Hope through Community" - Benefit Art Auction - CCIL, Chicago, IL

August 4 - workshops at The Stone Barns, Tarrytown, NY

Sept-Oct - "Clucky, the Brave Little Hen" -- The Stone Barns, NY

September 18 - presentation & workshop, JCC, NY, NY

October 2 - workshop, JCC, NY, NY

October 18 - Painting the Mural I designed for NY Cares, NY, NY

What a fun day! I had previously draw and painted the outlines of the mural on the school wall...and got to know alot of really nice neighborhood people in the process...then on this day...a talented gang of NYCares volunteers came in and painted with me.

October 21 - Keystone State Reading Association Luncheon, King of Prussia, PA

Here I am holding my Keystone into Reading Award for "Not Afraid of Dogs."

November 5 - Reading of "Clucky, the Brave Little Hen" - Southwest Jr High, Lawrence, KS

November 6, 7, 8 - "Grimm Sisters" -- Southwest Junior High, Lawrence, KS