Sue Scott never intended to end up on the Island of Discarded Women. She was on A Prairie Home Companion for 24 years where she got to travel the globe doing a job she loved with interesting and incredibly talented people. Sue created memorable characters, many that she never could have played on stage without a mic, because she would have blown out her vocal chords.

When it was announced in 2016 that Garrison Keillor was retiring from the show and handing it over to a new young host, Sue and her two male castmates were left hanging as to whether they would be a part of the show going forward. But then, Sue found out only she was being let go, because they wanted a younger female performer. They said it wasn’t personal, it was just a “casting decision.” 

Sue grew up in Tucson, Arizona, the very funny middle child of three, with an older sister and a younger brother who was born with Spina Bifida and paralyzed from the waist down. Her siblings were her best audience. She would get in trouble for making her sister laugh so hard she’d have to run to the bathroom. For years, her parents told the story of how Sue was ready to go the moment she was born. Sue’s dad was a Methodist minister and social justice activist. Her mom was a homemaker and uber volunteer who suffered from debilitating rheumatoid arthritis. Sue describes her mom as being incredibly gregarious despite her health challenges. To this day, Sue’s mom and brother are inspirations to her.  Her families’ life was full of hospital stays and wheelchair ramps, but also so much love. Sue’s parents were a constant source of support when she decided to become an actor. Her mom had her own dreams of acting, so she was especially supportive.

Sue was bitten by the acting bug in highschool thanks to an amazing drama teacher. But even though she loved it, Sue didn’t know anyone who made a living as an actor who wasn’t a movie or Broadway star, and she didn’t find either an attainable goal. Sue started college leaning toward Anthropology because living in southern Arizona, there were a lot of archaeological digs, which she found fascinating. Her highschool drama teacher convinced Sue to take an introduction to acting class for non-theater majors as a favor to him, which she did and loved it. Sue’s heart just wasn’t in Anthropology. Theatre fired her up, so she became a theater major.

This Performing Thing

It was during college that Sue started developing her acting chops. Her school had an MFA in directing, so there were graduate students who were in constant need of actors for their productions, class projects and theses. It was one of the MFA students who hired Sue to perform in summer-stock theater, with The Old Creamery Theatre, in Garrison, Iowa. Eventually, Sue was hired to join its touring company. She describes this period as absolutely bonkers given the pace of the productions and the touring. But it was unbelievable training, and it is when Sue knew she was an actor, because for one thing, she was getting paid to do it

During her six years in Iowa, Sue moved briefly to Chicago because she wanted to study improv at Second City. She went through an extremely intense and competitive audition for a class taught by one of the fathers of improv, Del Close, and she got in. It was during this time that Sue determined “somehow, somewhere, I am going to keep doing this performing thing.”  

Sue experienced a devastating loss when her younger brother died at the age of 23. Sue was back living in Iowa with plans to return to Chicago where she had friends and an agent, but instead she decided to move to Minneapolis. Three friends, one of whom was a friend from college, encouraged her to move to Minneapolis, because there was plenty of theater work. Even though there was a lot for her to return to in Chicago, Sue moved to Minneapolis, because she felt a need to be supported and comforted by friends with whom she had long histories. 

Once in Minneapolis, Sue got some small theater parts and worked on getting into Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop (Dudley Riggs). She eventually landed a spot with the resident improv company. Her two years with Dudley Riggs were intense and incredible. After leaving the company, Sue returned to stage work and co-founded a corporate entertainment company with two of her Dudley Riggs colleagues. They wrote and produced original work, hired a lot of their friends to perform, traveled to amazing destinations and made good money.

In 1992, Sue went to an invite-only audition for Garrison Keillor who was moving his radio show from New York back to Minnesota. The only people invited to audition were funny people from Dudley Riggs, stand up comedians and opera singers.  Sue made it through the audition and was hired to do two shows, which she refers to as her on-the-job audition. After that, she became a cast member of A Prairie Home Companion.

Sue loved working with her brilliant and talented castmates, Tom Keith and later Fred Newman and Tim Russell. The show was intense but also very fun. Sue and Tim played husband and wife so often that they were asked frequently if they were married. Their cheeky response was, “Yes, but to other people.”

Speak Up, Speak Out and Support Other Women

After not being asked to stay with the new show, Sue remembers thinking how strange it was to lose her job after 24 years for no other reason than her age. She was keenly aware that ageism existed in the business but had not yet experienced it firsthand.  Sue returned to act in local theater.  It was exhausting, because she hadn’t been in a theater production in over twenty years, but she was grateful for the opportunities. Sue was grieving the loss of the radio show and at the same time feeling stuck. She was drawn to women who experienced similar circumstances and reinvented themselves. Their stories inspired and helped empower Sue to consider what might be next. Sue decided she didn’t want the focus of her career to be about auditioning for acting jobs and hoping to get hired. Instead, she wanted to create something that would allow her to speak up, speak out and support other women. That is when she decided to create a podcast that would amplify women’s voices through sharing their stories.

Sue jumped in to learn all about producing a podcast. She invested her own money, went to podcasting conferences and tapped into the knowledge and expertise of friends and public radio colleagues, like Ira Glass.  Sue settled on a podcast of a live show written and performed by a funny, diverse and fiercely talented cast of women with original stories, social satire and music. The show’s centerpiece is an interview with an inspiring woman who’s overcome obstacles in her life.

On the island they are “amplifying women’s voices through powerful storytelling, original music and passionate conversation.” It takes place at a local supper club, so as you listen you can hear the clink of glasses and the laughter and applause of the audience. The show is funny, thoughtful and poignant as it focuses on sharing personal stories in a myriad of ways. It also gives hope that though we live in a world that wants to discard women for any number of reasons, the women are speaking up, showing up and bringing other women along with them.

It is all consuming to produce a live show and turn it into a podcast. Sue is currently trying to figure out how to grow the show, what kind of administrative staff she needs to do that, how to increase the show’s revenue and how many shows to do in a season. It is hard, fulfilling and the right work. Sue’s biggest hope is that in the future there will not be a need for a show like the Island of Discarded Women. Until then, you will find her on the Island working to keep this “podcast with a purpose” moving forward! 

To Learn More

Visit the Island of Discarded Women to learn more about and listen to the podcast, purchase tickets for upcoming shows, sign up for the mailing list, subscribe to the podcast, donate and visit their online store for some really cool merchandise.