SOME RECENT PRESS…
EDWARD ALBEE'S OCCUPANT
"As Nevelson, Susan Rome strides the stage commandingly, flashing her two-tiered sable-shadowed eyes, and appealing directly to the audience for vindication or approval as she chastises her irreverent interviewer. Amidst all her look-at-me chutzpah, Rome still manages to score a skillful selection of laughs, as she suddenly alters pitch or tone for a particular line delivery, or searches for a word that unexpectedly transforms her response into a zinger." - Theatre Bloom
"Susan Rome as Louise Nevelson commands the stage with a spontaneity, grandiosity, and luminosity that would make Auntie Mame and Mama Rose consider retirement. Wearing Nevelson’s trademark sable eyelashes, big beads, and fabulously multipattern smock and slacks, Rome parades the stage, cracks asides, winks and smirks, claps her hands, rolls her eyes, sticks it to The Man, in all embodying to the hilt the artist’s defiant self-chosen self. 'Be yourself; be only yourself,' she says". - DC Metro Theater Arts
LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
"Great comedic duos abound in this production.Butelli's Holofernes and Rome's Nathaniel are quite the pair." -BWW
IF I FORGET
"Older sister Holly is every bit Michael’s verbal and energy equal–at least as portrayed by a very animated, brilliant Susan Rome with meaty lines and moments full of cutting sarcasm." - DC Metro Theater Arts
ROZ AND RAY
"Dr. Roz Kagan is played by Susan Rome. She is able to capture such a nurturing and maternal aspect while flipping into a fierce and independent woman. Rome is a strong actor who can find tenderness one moment and cut the audience to the core the next." - Md. Theatre Guide
"Rome adroitly conveys Roz’s commendable attempts at maintaining a professional facade, as well as the emotional needs that lead her close to ethical transgression." - Washington Post
BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS
“You don’t want to get between Kate Jerome and any throw pillow she may be plumping. When this Brooklyn homemaker tidies, she doesn’t content herself with merely shaking or squeezing the sofa cushions into dent-free shape: She drives a knee into them, moving with quick, impatient energy, her face drawn tight with exasperation and worry.
Susan Rome’s portrait of the harried, controlling Kate is an invaluable anchoring force in director Matt Torney’s production of ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ at Theater J.” – Washington Post
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
“Eric Hissom and Susan Rome stand out for their performances of the maritally challenged Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan. …Rome brings deliciously to life the sometimes exasperating character of Mrs. van Daan, a woman clearly unused to and unsuited to deprivation who clings to her fur coat while stirring up drama at the expense of others.”
HAND TO GOD
“Susan Rome delivers an astonishing portrayal of Jason’s mother, the woman whose comic preachiness puts the play into motion, in The Studio Theatre’s hilarious Hand to God. Rome is wickedly funny as a teacher of puppet-making at a Texas church who is trying–not altogether successfully–to fend off advances from a couple of suitors”
“Susan Rome, as Tyrone’s recently widowed mother Margery, veers between devotion to her son and trying to please a community that asks too much of her. Her revulsion of Pastor Greg is both comic and desperate: she should want this God-fearing, righteous man, but can’t quite bring herself to.”
“An adult volunteer class leader named Margery (the ever wonderful local actor Susan Rome who presents profound emotions whether speaking the most bizarre lines or is actively humping away with an underage male student).”
“Susan Rome plays Jason’s hysterical mother, Margery, who in light of her husband’s passing has volunteered to head up the puppetry events at her church. Rome is the heart of the show, and her performance is profoundly human.”
“Rome gives a splendid account of a middle-aged woman who hasn’t quite managed to swear off teenage passions herself.” – Washington Post
THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG
“Susan Rome’s Gorgeous is deliciously over-the-top, and walks the delicate line between endearing and grating.”
“Rome explodes onstage as Gorgeous. Wasserstein has given her the play's funniest lines and Rome doesn't waste the opportunity. She also doesn't let the humor overshadow Gorgeous' devotion to her family and the challenges she's facing.”
MUD BLUE SKY
“Rome, as the sardonic middle-aged slightly jaded flight attendant is a versatile performer who utilizes a myriad of expressive talents to showcase the true depth of her character. Her physical panic over awkward moments of discovery is riotous and is reflected tenfold in her facial expressions making for a vastly entertaining series of situational comedic moments. Rome’s performance is stellar in this role, impeccably balancing the levity of her situation with the dismal reality, finding peace in both.”
VANYA & SONIA & MASHA…
“Rome’s Masha is a potent mix of grandeur and narcissism and although her character habitually scene-steals throughout, she is most captivating in her quieter moments when not playing to the balcony, but mulling over her life choices and wondering if she is a heroic figure or merely a foolish woman of a certain age.”
“As vain, vulnerable Masha, Susan Rome gives a delicious portrayal. Rome's performance is ripe with nuance throughout.”
“Rome has several moments of pure comic genius when she flips out for one ridiculous reason or another that are delivered so cleanly and honestly that it’s impossible not to laugh at them. Finding unique ways to bring fleeting moments of emotional sincerity to her character’s otherwise vapid and self-absorbed existence, Rome gives a fiercely grounded performance, even if it’s grounded in her character’s mostly vain intentions.”
THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE…
“Susan Rome seems like she just stepped out of a Thomas Hart Benton mural, so sharply etched, firm and fierce is her portrayal of Daddy’s girl Empty.”
THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST’S WIFE
“Rome charts Marjorie’s near-constant angst-fest with expressiveness and large-scale comic panache, at one point — during a speech that evokes Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and, inevitably, Hermann Hesse — actually collapsing onto the floor in anguish. But the actress also convincingly channels the fierce, pulled-together Marjorie who can rise to an occasion and turn a tray of bruschetta into a social asset.”