" Susan Peretz was one of my biggest influences and greatest acting teachers.  I attended her Saturday morning class at 3rd Street in Los Angeles for about 10 years.  We formed a theatre company within that class and produced such plays as Mamet’s Edmund, Sam Shepards’s Geography of a Horse Dreamer, others from Pinter, Shanley and so on…  We worked countless scenes and exercises.  It was acting, directing, producing, and the gift of always walking around with a play in my back pocket, always carrying a character I was exploring.  There were lean times through those 10 years and I didn't pay for class if that was the case.  Susan never kept anyone out of the theatre because of lack of money, not if you were committed and generous, doing the work and wanted to be there.

At Railtown Actors Studio, we do the same thing.  Over the years, we have always offered a free semester, or a class at no cost to students who have been with us for a time, and who want to keep digging in but need a financial break.  We just never called it anything specific.

Until now.  That is why we officially launch the Susan Peretz scholarship fund, in her honour, to continue the tradition of supporting dedicated, hard-working actors as they pursue their training. "  

John Cassini