Susheel Bibbs (Susheel)'s Page

Susheel Bibbs, PhD.  

OVERVIEW

   Filmmaker-performer Susheel Bibbs (Susheel) is an acclaimed touring singer, an author, and an award-winning director-filmmaker. She also heads the new Living Heritage Foundation in Sacramento. Bibbs tours for screenings and performances as an actress and singer, and continues work on Independent films.  

   In music, she graduated from the Boston University School for the Arts in Opera and the New England Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance.  She debuted in Boston's Jordan Hall, sang with many opera companies, including the Santa Fe Opera, where she apprenticed, and The Opera Company of Boston, where she won international acclaim. Bibbs has sung on television and in films, has toured in concert across the US, in Canada, and in Europe and served on the touring rosters of Today's Artists Concerts, The Missouri Arts Council, and The California Arts Council. She is especially known for her touring recital entitled The Unsung Muse, Classical Song of Black Composers; her recent works and films combine her talents as a writer, filmmaker, and performer. Among these are the TV special called An Unsung Muse (Classical Song of Black Composers) and the award-winning Meet Mary Pleasant, Mother of Civil Rights in California, now on PBS.

    Bibbs was one of the first recipients of the Keeper of the Spiritual Award by Friends of Negro Spirituals, Inc. and she is known for her master classes on those songs. Today she also tours in Voices for Freedom -- a retrospective in word and song on the Hyers Sisters -- 1880s African-American divas who made contributions to civil rights.  In 1999 Bibbs  received the title "foremost expert on Mary Ellen Pleasant (Mother of Civil Rights in California)" from the Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco in their Highest Commendation, which cited her outstanding contributions to the arts and humanities

See Awards/Activities listings below   

Key Web site:  www.mepleasant.com

CURRENT ACTIVITIES 

Distribution:  

• TV short: An Unsung Muse (Classical Song of Black Composers), 
• Book: Heritage of Power, DVD:  Meet Mary Pleasant (Mother of Civil Rights),

Screenings: Meet Mary Pleasant (Mother of Civil Rights) -- 1 hour
Touring Lectures/Masterclasses:  

• The Art of the Spiritual -- a touring master class.  
•  Voices for Freedom! -- multimedia lecture with song on The Hyers Sisters (African-American activist divas of the 1880's) --  also a film project
• Before Martin There Was Mary -- Lecture on Mary Pleasant

Dramatic works:

• Meet Mary Pleasant -- a touring one-woman show (chautauqua)  60-90 min.

AWARDS

• Keeper of the Spiritual
• Two CPB Awards for dramatic radio productions
• An Action for Children's Television Award
• A national Emmy as executive Producer at WGBH-TV, Boston, for ZOOM TV series
• Six Independent-Film Awards, including -- 

1. A Peace Reel Medallion (Berkeley Film and Video Festival) '07 for Best Short: Meet Mary Pleasant
2. A Silver Telly (broadcast award--California Telly Awards) '08 for The Legacy of Mary Ellen Pleasant (on KVIE, CA Public TV) 
3. "Best Historical Documentary" '07  (The New York International, Independent Film Festival -NYIFVF) 
4. “Best Director of a Documentary” '09 (NYIFVF)
5. “The Gold Kahuna Award for Excellence in Filmmaking” 2010 (Honolulu International Film Festival) for PBS documentary feature: Meet Mary Pleasant (Mother of Civil Rights), which was screened at Cannes '08.  
6. HBFF Finalist Ribbon

• Certificate Awards/Commendations for contributions to humanities and music:  Touring Artist Awards:  California Arts Council, MO Arts Council, MO Role Model Experiences Program, St. Louis, Callfornia Humanities performance grants; The Highest Commendation of the Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco;   The California African American Museum Certificate Award for Contributions to Women's History,  Certificate of Acceptance:The National Parks Service, Certificate of Award for Community Contributions in the Arts: St. Louis City Museum. 
• A Writer's Digest Book Award, '99 for her book on Pleasant -- Heritage of Power (now on amazon.com, kindle -- 2011 revised or enlarge