Buen Camino, American performer takes a 540-mile walk from grief to freedom to Fringe
This August, American writer, performer and career consultant Susan Edsall is set to make her Edinburgh Fringe debut with her heartrending and ultimately liberating tale of how she navigated her way through grief by walking the famous Camino de Santiago.
Before the death of her husband, Susan had a perfect life, a perfect love, and perfect happiness. But that all ended when she lost her partner for life and consumed by excruciating pain, she found it impossible to imagine any future worth living.
Written and performed by Susan herself and directed by Jennifer Lynn Johnson, Buen Camino tells how, in the depths of despair, on an ordinary trip to the grocery store, she heard what she now calls The Voice. At that time Susan didn't believe in Voices. And yet, when The Voice told her to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, she obeyed, despite knowing nothing about this ancient pilgrimage.
With only her pack and her pain, Susan embarked on a journey of 540 miles on foot, through unrelenting rain and temperatures that rarely got above 50 degrees. With the help of some improbable Spiritual Guides and the Camino itself, it was only when Susan was forced to face her past that she was able to create her future.
Buen Camino, which is set to move and uplift audiences at the Eve Theatre Appleton Tower in Edinburgh throughout August, is Susan's story. It is a personal yet universal chronicle of how grief can take one through surrender and ultimately lead to freedom.
A published writer, performer, and career consultant, Susan Edsall grew up in Montana and now lives in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Author of the forthcoming novel Bitterroot, she has also written two memoirs, Into the Blue: A Father’s Flight and a Daughter’s Return and Saved. She premiered Buen Camino at the SOLO STARS Series in Los Angeles in December 2024, winning their Encore Award. Susan brought the show to United Solo in New York City in March 2025.
Jessica Lynn Johnson is a published playwright, recipient of the Best National Solo Artist Award, Advisory Board Member of the L.A. Women’s Theatre Festival, Co-Executive Producer of the Joshua Tree Solo Theatre Festival, and Founder & CEO of Soaring Solo Studios International. Jessica has aided in the development, direction, and production of over 175 solo shows. J
essica’s projects have earned accolades such as Topf of Fringe, HFF Encore Producer Awards, Tvolution Best Solo Performance, Larry Cornwall Award for Musical Excellence, and many others. Jessica was also nominated for the Female Director Distinction in Theatre by Girl Trip, LLC at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival and Best Director of a play by the L.A. Women’s Theatre Festival.