Spend three minutes with Susan Hallatt and you’ll know she’s a bit of a firecracker. She’s lively, good-natured and witty, and – if you’re feeling a little weary – you can count on her for a breath of fresh air.
But, when the curtains rise and she’s on stage, you never know what you’ll find.
“I’m most comfortable with the traditional comedic support roles where I can be funny and really play off other actors, but I’ve played plenty of serious and dramatic characters, as well,” says Hallatt, assistant director of graduate admissions. “I do have to say that I like a challenge, so I’m not at all restricted to my comfort zone.”
In all of the 250 productions she’s performed in over the past 25 years, the furthest she’s ventured from her comfort zone was in 2006, when she played the mentally ill Bananas in John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves.
“Bananas was nuts (hence the name), and it was so hard to get into her head … probably because she had no head. Even now I look back and have no idea what she was talking about,” says Hallatt, whose performance involved eating sliced bananas with no hands. “She was a real challenge for me – which is why I took the role in the first place, for the challenge.”
It may have been a difficult role, but it was one that she mastered. The critics ate it up, and so did the local acting community.
“I couldn’t fit a hat on my head for months,” laughs Hallatt, who typically performs in five to six community- and professional-theater productions a season.
And, while Hallatt doesn’t always bring down the house (she’s the first to admit to her share of “off” nights), the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Not that she gives any of them – positive or negative – too much weight.
“I always remember that it’s one person’s opinion. That person might be fighting with her husband or his wife, or maybe he has hemorrhoids and doesn’t like the seat he’s in,” she says. “You never know where someone is coming from, so I don’t take it too seriously.”
To Hallatt, it’s the audience’s reaction that matters most.
“I love the applause at the end – I can’t get enough of that. And I love hearing the people laugh – although I tend to milk it too much: Once I get one laugh, I think I need six,” she says. “I also think it’s just so meaningful when someone recognizes me or remembers a performance I did years ago. That’s how I know I made an impression.”
All told, Hallatt’s acting career has been laidback, fun and successful – and it’s a success that’s all her own. She never had any formal training, but instead studied her fellow actors.
“I pay a lot of attention to character and physical communication. I think I have better physical control of myself
than I once did,” says Hallatt, whose first “real” performance was in 1983, when she played Ida in See How They Run. “That’s a very special role to me because, when I
did it again in 1990, that’s when I met
my husband.”
The two have been performing together ever since. They received high acclaim for their 2006 performances in A Christmas Carol – Hallatt as the Ghost of Christmas Past and her husband as the Ghost of Christmas Present – roles that they will play again in this year’s production. And, Hallatt promises, “It’s going to be even better
this time.”
Leave it to Hallatt to upstage herself. 
Charleston Stage’s production of A Christmas Carol will be at the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre December 4-21. For more information and tickets, call 577.7183 or check out www.charlestonstage.com.