Sue Bartelt
Finance, production and general management
New York, New York USA
I was very lucky growing up. My parents are both professors and there was a summer stock at the college they taught at, so, from a very young age, I got to see three musicals and one children’s show every summer. And a good children’s show, at that. After one show, when I was about 9, I turned to my mom and asked her if they ever used kids in the shows. And her response was, “I don’t know. You should call them and ask.” She sat down with me and we planned out what I would say on the phone (she refused to be a stage mom and it helped that she knew that the guy who ran the program would be kind to me) and I called and left him a message. It turned out they were going to do South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music the next season. I later found out he was terrified of working with kids, but knew I was nice and would behave and listen to direction, so he cast me in South Pacific and The Sound of Music, the two productions he would be directing. From that point forward, I knew I wanted to do theatre. I loved everything about it, but was fascinated and downright entranced by what was happening backstage, which eventually led me to abandon performing for what I thought was the “interesting stuff”. That same summer stock changed my life, yet again, a few years later. I had pretty much only been exposed to “classic” musicals up to that point, but that summer they did Pippin. I didn’t know shows like that existed and the idea of a musical like that completely blew my mind. My brain raced with the possibilities of all of the interesting theatre that was out there for me to experience.
Sue Bartelt. Currently the Assistant Director of Finance for Frankel Green Theatrical Management, Sue has worked in many different capacities over her career. Starting as a stagehand in a road house, she eventually moved into the management side of theatre and, after going back to school for her degree in accounting, into Finance.
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