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Hussey, A Force In Local Art Circles, Dies Of Cancer

Tribune file photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER (2005)

Susan Hussey and her husband, Aubrey Hampton, founded the Gorilla Theater in 1990. Hussey died Wednesday at the age of 54.

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TBO.com

Published: February 19, 2009

TAMPA - As a playwright, Susan Hussey used her characters as prisms to cast an intimate light on global issues such as environmental disasters and AIDS.

In 1990, Hussey co-founded The Gorilla Theater in Tampa's Drew Park area, which became a hotspot for the artsy and the avant-garde.

Hussey's spirit and her love of literature, art and nature will be remembered and "she will be missed by all," Gorilla Theater spokeswoman Bridget Bean said in an e-mail to the Tampa Tribune.

Hussey, 54, died Wednesday of cancer. She is survived by her husband, Aubrey Hampton, and their 6-year-old son, Trevor.

Born in Martinsville, Ind., on June 1, 1954, Hussey worked odd jobs after graduating from high school, including a five-year stint with a small Canadian circus working as a magician's assistant, Bean said in a written statement.

A graduate of Indiana University, Hussey also received a master's degree in English literature from the University of South Florida in 1984. While finishing school at USF, she was hired by natural cosmetics maker Aubrey Organics. She started typing invoices and worked her way to vice president of marketing and advertising. She also became the editor-in-chief of the company's "Organica" magazine.

In 1999, Hussey married Hampton, the founder of Aubrey Organics. Two of Hussey's plays, "The Toxic Wave," which dealt with an environmental calamity, and "The Dressing Room," about a drag queen dying of AIDS, were published by the University of Tampa Press in 2002.

A viewing will be held starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Gonzalez Funeral Home, 7209 N. Dale Mabry Highway, followed by a memorial service at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS can be made. To contact the charity, call (212) 840-0770.

Messages of condolence can be sent to the family care of Aubrey Organics, 4419 N. Manhattan Ave., Tampa FL 33614.

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