Susan Arnout Smith
Encyclopedia
Susan Arnout Smith is a novelist, television scriptwriter, playwright, and essayist.
Her first novel, The Frozen Lady, is an historical novel dealing with the birth of Alaska, tracing the intertwining lives of an Eskimo man and a white woman.
Her magazine work includes a 1987 interview with James Michener and his family, and a 1987 interview with Susan Butcher, famed champion of the Alaskan Iditarod dog sled race.
Her first play, BEAST, won the 1990 Stanley Drama Award and the 1991 Albert and Mildred Panowski/Shiras Institute playwriting award, where Dr. James Panowski called it “easily the best play writing award winner we’ve selected since the contest began back in 1974.” BEAST’s first professional production was Tampa Players, in 1993. A second play, Killing Mother, was produced in 1992.
Smith's first essay, “From the Heart”, done as a surprise anniversary present for her husband, Fred, was aired on National Public Radio. This began a ten-year career at NPR, writing essays for Weekend Edition-Sunday.
Her 1992 teleplay, Different, was accepted at the National Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CN. Different was later a finalist for a Pen West award, a nominee for a Hollywood Access award, and was broadcast in 1999 in a Lifetime Television production starring Lynn Redgrave
and Annabeth Gish
.
Smith has written three other teleplays, all of which have been produced and have aired: Dying to be Perfect: the Ellen Hart Pena
Story, on ABC, starring Crystal Bernard
and Esai Morales
); Another Woman’s Husband, also by Lifetime Television, starring Lisa Rinna
and Gail O’Grady; and Love Lessons, on CBS, starring Patty Duke
.
Her first thriller, The Timer Game, was published in 2008; it has been translated into several languages and is available in twelve countries. Along with co-creator and director Kai Soremekun, in 2007 she produced a series of twenty-two webisodes—dramas about a minute in length—that introduce The Timer Game five years before the book opens. The last webisode ends in a cliff-hanger that’s paid off in the novel.
Her second thriller in the series, Out at Night, dealing with the issue of terrorism and genetically modified crops, was published in the US in March, 2009 by St. Martin’s Minotaur and in the UK in May, 2009 by Harper Perennial. Out at Night is also available in other languages. Smith is at work on the next Grace Descanso thriller.
Her play, Separation Rapid, will be produced in the summer of 2012 at the Chenango River Theatre in Greene, New York.
, detailing her distress over a fraudulent and libelous Facebook page created in her name as a prank, and Facebook's alleged refusal to take steps to resolve the matter.
Writing career
Smith’s writing deals primarily with the theme of redemption: coming back from a dark place into light and trying to find a way home.Her first novel, The Frozen Lady, is an historical novel dealing with the birth of Alaska, tracing the intertwining lives of an Eskimo man and a white woman.
Her magazine work includes a 1987 interview with James Michener and his family, and a 1987 interview with Susan Butcher, famed champion of the Alaskan Iditarod dog sled race.
Her first play, BEAST, won the 1990 Stanley Drama Award and the 1991 Albert and Mildred Panowski/Shiras Institute playwriting award, where Dr. James Panowski called it “easily the best play writing award winner we’ve selected since the contest began back in 1974.” BEAST’s first professional production was Tampa Players, in 1993. A second play, Killing Mother, was produced in 1992.
Smith's first essay, “From the Heart”, done as a surprise anniversary present for her husband, Fred, was aired on National Public Radio. This began a ten-year career at NPR, writing essays for Weekend Edition-Sunday.
Her 1992 teleplay, Different, was accepted at the National Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CN. Different was later a finalist for a Pen West award, a nominee for a Hollywood Access award, and was broadcast in 1999 in a Lifetime Television production starring Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
and Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish is an American actress known for starring roles in Shag, Mystic Pizza and Double Jeopardy. She is best known for her roles as Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin on The West Wing and as Eileen Caffee on the Showtime drama Brotherhood.-Personal...
.
Smith has written three other teleplays, all of which have been produced and have aired: Dying to be Perfect: the Ellen Hart Pena
Ellen Hart Peña
Ellen Hart Peña is a former world-class runner and lawyer. She is notable for going public about her bulimia. She competed in the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000 meter run and the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials marathon. She earned her A.B. from Harvard University in 1980 and graduated from the...
Story, on ABC, starring Crystal Bernard
Crystal Bernard
Crystal Lynn Bernard is an American actress and singer, most widely known for her seven-year-long role on the situation comedy Wings. While her main work has been on television, she has appeared in some films, and also attempted to pursue a music career as a songwriter/performer.-Early...
and Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
); Another Woman’s Husband, also by Lifetime Television, starring Lisa Rinna
Lisa Rinna
Lisa Deanna Rinna is an American television host and actress. She is known for her roles as Billie Reed on Days of our Lives, Taylor McBride on Melrose Place, and most recently as the host of SoapNet's Soap Talk.-Acting:...
and Gail O’Grady; and Love Lessons, on CBS, starring Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
.
Her first thriller, The Timer Game, was published in 2008; it has been translated into several languages and is available in twelve countries. Along with co-creator and director Kai Soremekun, in 2007 she produced a series of twenty-two webisodes—dramas about a minute in length—that introduce The Timer Game five years before the book opens. The last webisode ends in a cliff-hanger that’s paid off in the novel.
Her second thriller in the series, Out at Night, dealing with the issue of terrorism and genetically modified crops, was published in the US in March, 2009 by St. Martin’s Minotaur and in the UK in May, 2009 by Harper Perennial. Out at Night is also available in other languages. Smith is at work on the next Grace Descanso thriller.
Her play, Separation Rapid, will be produced in the summer of 2012 at the Chenango River Theatre in Greene, New York.
Personal life
In addition to Nancy, Smith has two other sisters, Neva and Bonnie, and a brother, Eugene, who died at age thirty-six in Alaska, killed by in a glacier calving accident. Her father has also died, but she has a stepdad, Bruno Johnson, married to her mother, Florence. She has a son, Aaron, and a daughter, Martha. She lives in southern California with her husband, Fred.Facebook incident
In February 2011, Smith published an article on Salon.comSalon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, detailing her distress over a fraudulent and libelous Facebook page created in her name as a prank, and Facebook's alleged refusal to take steps to resolve the matter.
Works
- The Frozen Lady, 1982
- BEAST, 1992
- Killing Mother, 1993
- Dying to be Perfect: the Ellen Hart Pena Story, 1996
- Different, 1999
- Another Woman’s Husband, 1999
- Love Lessons, 2000
- Essays, National Public Radio, Weekend Edition-Sunday, 1991–2001
- The Timer Game, 2008
- Out at Night, 2009
External links
- Official web site for Susan Arnout Smith: http://www.susanarnoutsmith.com
- Official web site for The Timer Game: http://www.thetimergame.com
- Works by Susan Arnout or/and Susan Arnout Smith in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Articles by Susan Arnout Amith on the 5th Estate blog