Actress, director, and designer Mary Sue Birkhead Fridge Jones was born on August 24, 1930 in Carthage, Missouri. She entered Baylor University in 1948 as an art student but eventually found her way to the Theater Department under Paul Baker. She received a Master's in Drama in 1955 from Baylor. Mary Sue began student teaching in 1954 and became an integral part of the Paul Baker teaching team. She taught acting and design at Baylor and later followed Baker in his move to Trinity University, where she was an assistant professor.
Mary Sue was present at the founding of the Dallas Theater Center in 1959 and was made assistant director of the facility. She starred in many Dallas Theater Center productions, winning Dallas's Billy Award in 1963 as best actress for her performance in Sister . Some of her other starring roles at the Dallas Theater Center were in The Taming of the Shrew, Medea, and A Streetcar Named Desire . She was costume and set designer for Julius Caesar, Journey to Jefferson, Macbeth and Marat-Sade to mention only a few. In the 1980s, Baker promoted Mary Sue to associate artistic director and then co-artistic director. Baker, forced to resign from the Dallas Theater Center by the Board of Trustees in 1982, picked Mary Sue as his successor. The Board appointed her interim artistic director until Adrian Hall was hired to fill the position in 1983. Mary Sue then moved to Santa Fe as artist in residence at the College of Santa Fe, where she taught acting and directed at the Greer Garson Theater Center. In 1988, she was made a full time faculty member of the college.
Mary Sue's first marriage was to Roy Fridge, an artist who also created posters for the Dallas Theater Center. Mary Sue divorced Fridge on January 23, 1964 after a long separation. She married Preston Jones on September 7, 1964. Mary Sue Jones died in Santa Fe June 27, 1992.
From the guide to the Mary Sue Jones Papers Collection 009a., 1931-1992 (Bulk: 1949-1992), (Southwestern Writers Collection, Special Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos)
