Susan Zelinsky spent her childhood on the coast of Carpeteria, California and returned to San Francisco every summer to her dad’s house in the Sunset District. Those city summers were incredibly special. She learned a lot from her dad, and his background as a musician. She would also become inspired by the culture of the Bay Area. Little did she know that she would not only become a prominent musical legend in the Bay Area. Beyond her own staredom, what surprised her the most was that she would spend her adult life giving back to her community. She went on to become a role model, music teacher and advocate for youth in arts in San Rafael.

In her high school years, Susan was famous in her small town. She would blow her peers away with lead performances in every school musical and looked up to her own drama teacher as an artistic role model while she was away from her father. In her free time, she would write songs with the guitar gifted to her for her thirteenth birthday.

In 1988, Susan decided to pack up her life on the coast and pursue acting in San Francisco. She was unsure of college plans, but was living with her dad and taking classes at ACT (American Conservatory Theater). With ACT, she was able to play two significant roles in the Christmas Carol with a packed schedule of eight shows a week. “I remember thinking ‘Holy crap, this is what I want to do.’”

In fall of 1989, Susan made the jump across the Golden Gate to study theater at the College of Marin. “I remember my first day of school, I just knew that I wanted to study acting, music, and dance and I signed up to be in the play. They already had auditions so I knew that I wasn’t going to get an actual part, but I could be in the ensemble.”

Susan felt lucky enough to be part of the college production, where she met a “theater family.” Being in a close knit arts community, Susan learned the values of hard work, dedication, and how those late night rehearsals can lead up to a masterpiece. Susan graduated from the College of Marin and received the Robin Williams Scholarship from Williams himself.

After college, it was all about gigs: car commercials, music videos, independent films, and open mics. Susan reflected on one of her earliest and most memorable music video cameos in a music video with rapper Too $hort, called “Short But Funky.”

“I remember going to the audition, my agent told me ‘You gotta dress sexy, you are going to be in a nightclub’. The audition itself was in a hotel, so I was pretty nervous. I remember they kept trying to get me to get stoned with them,” said Susan.

After the Too $hort video, many other jobs were rolling in. Throughout the nineties, Susan would tour with her girl group She’s Out There in between larger jobs. One of Susan’s go-to incomes was picking up roles as extras in film productions. In 2001, Susan starred in a major motion picture, Sweet November. Being in a cast with Keanu Reeves, Frank Langella, and Charlise Theron was an experience of a lifetime. Although Susan had a small role as a waitress, she was able to learn so much from the Hollywood professionals.

In the past 20 years, Susan has been an iconic staple in a majority of the Mountain Plays, professional productions put on on the top of Mount Tamalpais every May. Susan has played lead roles including Maria in Westside Story, Tonya in Mamma Mia, and Zelma in Hairspray. “The Mountain Play is an amazing experience because it’s not your typical theater. Not only is it huge and I’ve played for crowds of 5,000 people in one sitting, it’s outside and there aren’t lights, we often have to work with whatever weather we have,” Susan said.

Once Susan became a mom, she wanted to execute her talents and passions within her own community of San Rafael. One of her supplemental incomes was teaching piano lessons, so she decided to combine that with her music knowledge to create an entire program at Sun Valley Elementary School in San Rafael. Susan said, “I started a little after school program [called Happy Lane Drama] where I started with 9 kids,15 the next year, 25 the next year, 40 the next year, and 50 the next year.” Susan always knew she had a good connection with children because she is goofy and they like that, but she is also disciplined and knows how to produce a phenomenal show. After her own children left Sun Valley, she continued the program out of her own enjoyment of being able to give her students that “special feeling” after their first performance. “It gives me such a great feeling to have parents come up to me and go ‘wow you didn’t do some easy 20-minute production, you are having them do 60 minute productions with difficult songs and choreography.’”

It brings Susan joy to put her past experiences in theater and performing arts into a program that helps kids move out of their comfort zone and gain confidence. “I didn’t want to go to LA to get fame and fortune, and I didnt want to go to New York, but I chose to stay in the Bay Area. Here in the Bay Area I could still achieve my goals, have my family, and have a less complicated life.”

According to Susan, she lives her life with four values: family, community, unity, and helping each other. “I feel happy to offer a program that a lot of kids are interested in and a lot of kids want to do, it makes my life more full,” said Susan.

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