Susan Kirby

Chronicler is the pen name — nom de plume, pseudonym, handle, mask, alternate personality — of Susan Kirby, actress, singer, writer and editor.

 For 35 years, Susan plied her writing and editing crafts first as an unofficial, then an official, then an unofficial, then an official employee of The New York Times, first working on the corporate side and then easing her way down the ladder to editor. Over the last 20 years she had the great honor to edit the brilliant columnists and editorial writers for the editorial and Op-Ed pages, and the privilege of editing some very savvy letter writers (you need look no further than Les Dreyer, the former Met fiddler, for proof of the talent she got to work with). She has now left The Times, a horror story she'd love to tell, but not on this Web site.

In 2015, Brandon Stanton filmed Susan for inclusion in his Humans of New York video series. Apparently Susan must be a human, if Brandon Stanton declares it so! It is a nice video, entitled Part of the World, and was posted on the Humans of New York Facebook page in December 2017.

While at The Times, Susan wrote Topics of The Times, short editorials that unfortunately no longer appear on the editorial page. That’s a shame, really, because those short edits drew the readers in. Her favorite Topic was Eek!  She’s also quite fond of A 90 Cent Fountain of Youth. 

A member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Susan is now auditioning and sending out her résumé, hoping to resume her acting quest. She thinks it’s never too late to follow your dreams (she also thinks denial is a lovely concept). She has been amazed at how much can happen in a year and a half! She can be seen in Episode 7 of Onion SportsDome as the Naismith Interpreter. She spent August 2010 in a 14-performance run as Donna Ann in the Zephyer Rep production of the very funny Unfortunate Honeymoon of Tony and Steve, a show by Blake Bradford et al. that defies genre description, at the Wings Theatre in the Village. She has also sung in two performances of Angel Drake Presents at Wings: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll and Songs to Stalk By. In May 2010 she appeared in a staged reading of A Medley for Margaret Fuller. In December 2009 she appeared in the chorus for the 12 performances of Christmas Rappings, an Equity showcase at Judson Memorial Church.

She has also found herself in front of a camera lens. In addition to the Onion SportsDome, mentioned above, she can be seen as Margaret Sanderhof in And See All the People, directed by Jon Russell Cring; as the Bookseller in Love Under Glass, directed by Diane Ingino; as Mary in Picture This, a New York Film Academy movie directed by Lydia Galeno; as Aunt Mary in Puzzle, directed by Antonia Lema; as Florence in Jolly Banker, a New York University student film directed by Eric Goldberg; as a torch singer in Solomon Grundy: Born on a Monday, and as Kimberly Kirke in 69, both films directed by Mattson Tomlin, at that time a student at SUNY Purchase (yes, young Master Tomlin called it that, but Susan will always think of it as The Sex Lives of the Elderly); as the Mother in Teach Me How to Be, written and directed by Daniel Jaffe, another NYU student; as Auntie in Mert Romero Wants to Kick My Ass (the working title), a feature-length film directed by Dan Lee; as a nurse in Do Over, directed by Christina Raia; and as an extra or background in many other films (perhaps you spotted her red hair in Rubicon). Pictures of her in some of these films and in other performances can be seen if you click on the Susan Kirby link, exciting projects that she will tell you about if you ask her. 

In her youth, she appeared as Nora in A Doll’s House, Candida in Candida and Ellida in The Lady From the Sea. Twenty years ago she appeared as an extra in a commercial with Mike Tyson. (How's that for name-dropping? Susan never talked to him, but did have multiple bruises from bouncing against the Jeep door as she rode behind him snapping pictures.) In her after-youth, she’s studying voice with Woody Regan, singing at Woody’s workshop, participating in Leonore Stefanik's acting class, Acting While Singing, Singing While Acting, and performing at various venues in New York City.

Susan will be editing again when she finds the right project(s). And she'll be writing for this site whenever the mood hits her.

Susan can be reached at Susan.Kirby@gmail.com and Susan@pmsaga.com.

Drawing by Susan Kirby; Headshot by Taylor Hooper