Artist Bio

Susan V. Booth
(Bio as of September 2022)

(Bio as of October 2023)

Susan V. Booth (Goodman Theatre Artistic Director) rejoined Goodman Theatre in the fall of 2022, having previously served as the theater’s director of new play development.  In the intervening years, she was the Artistic Director of Atlanta’s Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre, where she initiated both local and national programming serving artists, young people, educators, and civic partners.  Under her leadership, the Alliance premiered new works from Pearl Cleage, Tarrell McCraney, Stephen King, Kristian Bush, Mike Lew and many others, as well as originating commercial partnerships on such projects as The PromTuck Everlasting; Ghost Brothers of Darkland County; The Color PurpleBring It On: The Musical; Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away; Sister Act: The Musical; Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk; and Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL. She has directed nationally at Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Ford’s Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, New York Stage and Film, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Northlight Theatre, Victory Gardens, Court Theatre and others. She holds degrees from Denison and Northwestern Universities and was a fellow of the National Critics Institute and the Kemper Foundation. She has held teaching positions at Northwestern, DePaul and Emory Universities and is a past president of the board of directors for the Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for the field. She has been a grants panelist for the Doris Duke, Mellon, Heinz, USAA, and NEA, and has been a frequent TEDx speaker. Booth’s leadership is underwritten by the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle, an initiative to support and promote women’s theater leadership funded by the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation. She serves on the board of the Emory Center for Ethics and is a member of the International Women’s Forum. She is married to Max Leventhal and is the proud mother of Moira Rose Leventhal.