Richard Baxter

Richard’s career spans more than  40 years in non-profit and professional theatre, and theatre education.

Richard served as the Producing Artistic Director of the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado for 17 years. While in Creede, he hired more than 40 company members for each season. He also served as project manager for two major capital campaigns.  He has taught workshops throughout the country in acting, auditioning, and interviewing. The Creede Repertory Theatre won the Award for Excellence in the Non-Profit Sector during his tenure. 

In addition to his responsibilities in Creede, he also worked as a Guest Director for the American Southwest Theatre at New Mexico State University, directing an original script of The Snow Queen and a production of Noises Off.

Richard co-starred with Richard Dean Anderson, Valerie Bertinelli and Doris Roberts  in the feature film Ordinary Heroes (1986).

In 2000, he was selected to be the Director of Special Events at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. . At Saint Mary’s, he oversaw 23 Commencement Ceremonies and three College Presidential Inaugurations. Richard served as the speech coach for the Valedictorians and as a presentation coach for major college dinners, awards and functions. 

While in South Bend, he became active in the South Bend Civic Theatre.  He acted in Tartuffe and directed A Flea in Her Ear, The Thirty Nine Steps, Wait Until Dark, Unnecessary Farce, Vincent, One Slight Hitch, The Liar, and Noises Off at the South Bend Civic Theatre. 

At Saint Mary’s, he has appeared in Moliere’s Learned Ladies, Red Herring, Celebrating Wendy, Ordo Virtutum, and Confessions of the Chaff. He has also directed Radium Girls, The Imaginary Invalid and for 12 years, he directed and appeared in the acting portions of the annual Madrigal Dinners. While at Saint Mary’s he received the 2020 Gratia Cantantes (Unsung Hero) Award. He taught Intro to Acting for the Department of Communication Studies, Dance, and Theatre.

Richard holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Utah, where he studied with Kenneth Washington and Marilyn Holt. He is a member of Actor’s Equity and the Screen Actors’ Guild.

Susan Brabant Baxter taught playwriting, journalism, and communication studies for 24 years at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Ind. She also taught first-year writing, and was Director of the Writing Proficiency Program for seven years. 

With more than 20 years experience as a freelance journalist and playwright, she won regional, national, and international awards and citations for her work. From 1994-2000, she was a general assignment reporter and later an editor for News Media of Chicago publications. She was a regular columnist for The National Catholic Register until she joined the SMC faculty full-time. Her work has appeared in Columbia, Catholic Faith and Family, Catholic Digest, The Family, and other periodicals, and her plays have been mounted in staged readings and productions. 

Her work has been included in TCG's PlaySource and in the anthology, More Monologues for Women by Women (published by Heinemann, 1995). Her acting credits include appearances at The Denver Center Theatre, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, and at The Creede Repertory Theatre, where she met her husband, Richard Baxter. 

Her acting credits include appearances at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Brown County Playhouse in Nashville, Ind., Creede Repertory Theatre, and The Denver Center Theatre.  

The student body at Saint Mary’s honored her with their Woman of the Year Award in 2009 and again in 2014. She also won the Kevin J. and Marijo Kelley Faculty Award in March of 2018, but her most cherished award is the Maria Pieta Award - the highest award the college bestows for teaching first year students. 

She holds a BA from Seton Hill University and an MFA from Indiana University in Bloomington.