Life is a balancing act for Stuart Schleuse. Five days a week, he works as a speech-language pathologist at Emory University Hospital. In his off time, Schleuse dons grease paint and costumes to sing or act on stages around Atlanta.
Growing up, Schleuse never dreamed he would sing with the Atlanta Opera or act in a one-man show. He never planned on becoming a speech-language pathologist, either. But blessed with plenty of energy, dedication and luck — not to mention talent — he's now managing two careers.
In Schleuse’s day job, he assesses and helps patients learn how to swallow or speak again. He typically works with people who have suffered strokes, injuries, head and neck cancer, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions .
“After work, I get to play,” said Schleuse, MS, CCC-SLP. “Acting and singing affords me wonderful opportunities to work with all kinds of people and have fun.
“I’m lucky to have a profession that I’m passionate about and a sideline that fulfills me, and I’d like to keep both in my life. It’s about finding a balance that works.”
On stage, Schleuse has portrayed Leo Frank in "Parade" (Theater Arts Guild) and Crumpet the Elf in the one-man show, "SantaLand Diaries" (Pumphouse Players). He sang in the world premiere of "I Dream" at the Alliance Theatre.
This year, he has played a nuclear physicist in “Copenhagen” (Academy Theater) and an Oompa Loompa in “The Golden Ticket” (Atlanta Opera).
Music and medicine runs in Schleuse’s family. His mother was a percussionist and education director with the Houston Symphony. One brother is on staff with the Houston Grand Opera; another brother is a professor of musicology in New York. His father is a psychiatrist.
A bassoonist, Schleuse attended the University of Indiana to major in music. He didn’t enjoy the long hours in the practice room, so he switched to French with a minor in linguistics.
Merging two interests
“An astute linguistics professor noticed my interest in neuro-anatomy and speech and suggested I shadow a speech-language pathologist at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis. I did and it just clicked,” he said.
Schleuse earned a master’s degree from Purdue University in 2001.
Because he sang in a chorus, Schleuse wanted to work with actors and singers who had voice disorders. He moved to Atlanta for an internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 2001 .
“I ended up working in acute care, with lots of stroke patients, and discovered that I was comfortable in a medical setting,” he said.
Today, about 90 percent of Schleuse’s work deals with swallowing issues, language assessment and speech retraining with patients in Emory’s intensive care and critical care units.
“Swallowing issues are always serious. If I can help patients eat at all, or eat safely, that is huge. I know I’m making a difference in their quality of life,” he said.
Sometimes patients need feeding tubes, and part of Schleuse’s job is to help families understand that and then make difficult decisions.
One of his favorite parts of the job is being there when patients who have undergone tracheostomies get a speaking valve inserted, which allows them to talk again.
“Time and time again, if a loved one is in the room, the first words patients say are, 'I love you,’ ” he said. “Speech, the ability to express oneself, is an unmeasurable quality in life. It’s so wonderful to be part of it.”
Lifting up his voice
Using his own voice to express himself has always been important to Schleuse. Having grown up singing in church choirs, he was a soloist, cantor and staff singer at All Saints Episcopal Church when he moved to Atlanta. A friend from church was producing “Guys and Dolls” at a community theater and invited him to audition.
“I landed my first role as Nicely Nicely Johnson and got bitten by the acting bug,” he said.
That role led to a 10-year “gig” with the Atlanta Opera, where he sings baritone, and sometimes second tenor, in one or two productions a year, and parts in other musical theater productions. Schleuse gets paid for his work at the opera and some acting roles, but having a day job allows him to also take nonpaying roles to stretch his skills.
His acting has been mostly on-the-job training. His favorite roles include Leo Frank in “Parade,” George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Arles Struvie, et al., in the two-man “Greater Tuna.”
Playing Werner Heisenberg in “Copenhagen” was on Schleuse’s bucket list. He saw the Tony Award-winning play in 2000 and has read it many times. The three-person drama revolves around the 1941 meeting of two brilliant physicists, whose work together led to the atomic bomb .
“Heisenberg is the smartest person I’ve ever played,” Schleuse said. “I have a cursory understanding of physics, but I had to learn to sound like I knew what was talking about.
“Acting is difficult, emotional work. It’s not about pretending. It’s about accessing all those emotions within yourself.”
Schleuse and the director worked long and hard on the two-and-a-half page monologue at the show’s end.
“You keep finding new levels. It opens you up. I’m still blown away by the dialogue in this play. Every single performance you see something new. No two of my performances were ever the same,” he said.
Someday, Schleuse hopes to play the lead in “Sweeney Todd,” professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady,” and when he’s older, Niels Bohr, the other scientist in “Copenhagen.”
In the meantime, he always “has his ear to the ground” for new roles. He’ll sing in “Carmen” with the Atlanta Opera this fall.
While his two careers seem poles apart, Schleuse can see connections.
“As a therapist, I see people at their worst, when they are sick and scared. I need to exude an air of calm,” he said. “That I appear more calm and confident than I actually am, I credit to my acting ability. It helps me stay focused and make a difference in people’s care.”
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