Artists on the Cape Series #7: The Play’s the Thing, with Love from Nina Schuessler
“When people of all ages create together, the potential is boundless.”
In this final episode of our Artists on the Cape Series, Susan talks with actor, director and artistic director of the Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre Nina Schuessler about the mission of theatre and how it brings people together. She talks about her work at the theatre, educating and entertaining children, teenagers, and adults, how it has adapted and changed through the pandemic, and her vision for moving forwards in the future: getting back to basics, committing to inclusivity and justice, with an emphasis on “inviting everyone in.”
Meet This Episode's Guest
Nina Schuessler
Nina Schuessler is Producing Artistic Director of Cape Cod Theatre Company/ Harwich Junior Theatre, Inc. She has been a driving force in Cape theatre for 45 years as a teacher, actress and director. She is a 2012 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod and Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theatre’s Lifetime in the Arts Award in 2018.
Nina has supervised the production of over 250 plays and musicals including world premieres by Cape and National Playwrights. She was also founding member of Helikon Theatre Company. Under Nina’s artistic direction, the CCTC/HJT received many accolades including the Regional Award for Excellence in Educational Theatre by the New England Theatre Conference. HJT was also nominated for the Presidential Coming Up Taller Award by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is a Cultural Investment Partner. Nina was selected as an established leader to participate in the AMEX/TCG Creative Leadership Conference, building upon the vision of HJT’s founder Betty Bobp.
She has worked to develop the extensive education and outreach program at Harwich Junior Theatre over the past 30 years. She joyfully taught drama to countless children and teens at Harwich Junior Theatre, the Academy of Performing Arts, and Cape Cod Conservatory. Nina has worked extensively with the playwright Wendy Kesselman and has directed Becca, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Executioner’s Daughter. Her direction of The Juniper Tree, A Tragic Household Tale and The Notebook was featured at the New England Theatre Conference. Her many directing credits include the world premiere of Wolf Hollow, an adaptation of Lauren Wolk’s award-winning novel by Susan Kosoff; The Normal Heart starring Julie Harris; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Mary and Andrew Arnault, Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Adventure; A Symhony of Revenge and The Kabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Frankenstein by J Hagenbuckle; RECONSTRUCTION, by Christine Rathbun which was a finalist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council Playwriting Award. Nina has produced the world premiers of Children’s Letters to God by Stuart Hample, Douglas Cohen and David Evans, The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster and Sheldon Harnick, The Wild Swans by Stephen Russell and The Further Adventures of Sacajewea by Kevin Rice, and the US Premier of Daughters of Heaven by New Zealand playwright Michelanne Forster. Nina is currently collaborating with playwright Wendy Lement on a play about her mother Lisa Gervai-Egler who was in the resistance group The Red Orchestra in Berlin during WW II.
As an actress Nina performs both classical and contemporary repertoire. Highlights include acclaim for her performance in Terrance McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre where she originated the role of Denise in Gip Hoppe’s Savior of The Universe and played Fraulein Schneider in I am a Camera.
She was deemed Best Actress in Cape Cod Times for her performance as Martha in Yasmin Reza’s The Unexpected Man, which was produced at The Lark Theatre in NYC. She played the role of Kate Keller in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons for Cape Rep, directed by Maura Hanlon, which received a Best Performance accolade in the Cape Cod Times.
Find out more about the Cape Cod Theatre/Harwich Junior Theatre here!