Memento Mori (2020) Written and performed by David Acosta and Susan DiPronio at the Barnes Foundation Artist Bash, February 14, 2020. Two aging vampires meet to reminisce and bid farewell to the Immortal life. Speaking about their many lovers, the great poets of their youth.

Sexx (2015) Sex-positive collective hosting sexuality events and performances. Raises money for non-profits focusing on sexual health, sex-worker rights, and trauma survivors.

Out of the Shadows (2015) Martina Plag’s show at the Joyce Soho Theater, NYC.

Photo: Didier Garcia

Whipped (2012-2013) Erotic performance and verse drama. A woman undresses out of a golden robe while I perform erotic verse. She lays upon a table and I dress her in edible sweets. The audience is invited to join in.

Graphic: Cristy C. Road

Poe-sers (2009) A one-act play included in the ‘Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial 2009

Raven: Time — it moves as quiet and quick as late fall winds dusting leaves from brittle tree branches, the slipping of stars behind clouds, sands falling through an hour glass……The world was born with light and darkness. We decided there were beginnings and endings.

The play, partially autobiographical, examines the fabric of time through Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry.

“As a child I was given a big, thick book of poetry, and I started reading a lot of Poe. I rediscovered that book after 20 years and found the pages still marked. When I opened it, I was reconnected with my past.”

The play features a sleeper character who wakes in the middle of the night to read and write. When she opens the old book, it acts as a portal to her past. Poe’s words serve as little intros into her experiences in life. It’s very dark and dense. It’s essentially about how obsessions manifest through time.

Truth (2007) A series of personal stories performed live at various venues including Walnut Street Theater, First Person Story Slam, and Philly’s Pissed.

Invisible/Invincible (2006-2007) A collaboration with Linda Dubin Garfield. Installed at Ardmore Arts Initiative, Wooden Shoe Books. Combined the oral stories and live performance of ‘Screams’ with Linda’s “Women of a Certain Age” portraits created by attendees. We were awarded a 2007 Leeway Foundation grant to work with homeless women and children who tested HIV positive to give them the tools to create, write and perform their personal stories which were made available in audio format.

Screams (2006) served as a platform for women to share their stories of a world which they feel doesn’t hear them. The project gave a voice to women who feel they are invisible to a society which no longer sees them as desirable. Screams archived the stories to make them accessible to other women, giving power and a place to the storytellers so that they will never be forgotten.

The project was shown at the 2006 Philadelphia Fringe Festival at Bert & Jane Gallery. Developed, produced, performed, and recorded a compilation of women’s and children’s personal audio stories.

Viewers of live performers in a muted box were able to listen to audio stories wearing headphones.

“If poetic narrative flicks and tender performance pieces are any indication of what avant-activist Susan DiPronio can do, expect passion at a political premium with Screams. A short film and an interactive button-pushing session gives audiences an opportunity to see and hear women disappear — and it's no parlor trick.”

—A.D. Amorosi

Whispers, Songs, Ghosts of the Past (2005) a mixed media production, a love story I wrote and produced about my journey through breast cancer.

Rolling Naked (2005) Fringe Festival installation of two nude women on a lighted bed making love in the window of an art gallery.