About Susan

Last night I went to Rogers Park (the most north east neighborhood in Chicago) to the BoHo Theatre to watch Saren in Ghosts. I get there early so I can get a seat that's not front row because it's awkward when you know someone on stage and they can read your every expression. Pass.

I sit down and this party of four sit in the row in front of me. Being a small theatre (six rows of five seats) we're going to be part of an intimate audience. The woman with brown hair (Brown) starts talking about Susan.

Susan moved to L.A.,  not for acting reasons I soon found out. Woman was sitting in between Brown and a man with a ponytail (PonyBoy) who at that point says, "she'll be back, they always come back." PonyBoy tells Brown that she owes him $2. Brown asks for what. PonyBoy soon reminds her of the bet they made about Susan's boyfriend. The bet was that he would not make it as a famous sports writer. Brown shakes her head. PonyBoy reiterates that he is in fact and will never be a famous sports writer now. Brown states, "well of course not he's dead."

Brown and PonyBoy tell the story of Susan's boyfriend's tragic demise to Woman. PonyBoy did not like Susan's choice in men and in fact was not entirely broken up over the fact that he was dead. He was afterall "terrible to her" and not a very good person. Brown reminds him he died of a heart attack while driving, it was heart disease that did him in, it was all very sad. PonyBoy perks up at hearing the words "heart attack". "It wasn't heart disease that killed him, it was the coke. They always say heart disease, but it's usually something else. Like when my father died of heart disease, it was actually suicide." Woman appears stunned, let's be honest so am I.

Brown continues that she went to see Susan after she moved to L.A. they started to make plans to meet up, but Susan just stopped returning the messages. She thinks maybe it was too soon and that seeing her would remind her of what she left behind. They all nod their head in agreement.

Woman says, "so he died of the car crash?" Brown, "no, he was dead before the car crashed, he had an enlarged heart." PonyBoy, "coke tends to make everything enlarged. It was the coke that killed him. So you owe me $2." Brown, "I paid for drinks, so I owe you nothing." PonyBoy, "true."

Susan's a real person, this conversation actually happened 10 minutes before the play started. I feel really bad for Susan and I hope she's doing well in L.A.


The play Ghosts was really great. I enjoyed it a lot and so did PonyBoy who said my roommate was, "really good and the best in the play."