ON CLOVER ROAD BACKSTAGE GUIDE 5 Steven Dietz's thirty-plus plays and adaptations have been seen at over one hundred regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in over twenty countries, including recently in Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, Estonia, and Iran. Recent world premieres include Bloomsday (Steinberg New Play Award Citation), and This Random World (Humana Festival of New American Plays). His interlocking plays for adult and youth audiences (The Great Beyond and The Ghost of Splinter Cove) will premiere in Charlotte, North Carolina this spring. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Dietz graduated in 1980 with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Northern Colorado, after which he moved to Minneapolis and began his career as a director of new plays at The Playwrights' Center and other local theaters. During these years he also formed a small theatre company and began to write plays of his own. A commission from ACT Theatre to write God's Country brought him to Seattle, Washington in 1988, and he lived and worked in Seattle from 1991 to 2006. In 2006, Dietz began teaching in the MFA Playwriting and Directing programs at the University of Texas at Austin. Dietz was awarded the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award for Fiction and Still Life with Iris; the PEN USA Award in Drama for Lonely Planet; and the Edgar Award® for Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. Dietz's plays range from the political (Last of the Boys, God's Country, Halcyon Days, Lonely Planet) to the comedic (Becky's New Car, More Fun than Bowling, Over the Moon). The majority of the plays are published (in acting editions) by either Dramatists Play Service or Samuel French, Inc. An anthology of Dietz's work for young audiences was published by UT Press in 2015. Many of the short plays are also anthologized. In 2010, Dietz was once again named one of the most produced playwrights in America (excluding Shakespeare), placing eighth on the list of the Top Ten Most Produced Playwrights in America, tied with Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee for number of productions. Currently a Dramatists Guild "Traveling Master", Dietz teaches workshops in playwriting and story-making across the United States. He and his wife, playwright Allison Gregory, divide their time between Seattle and Austin. ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT STEVEN DIETZ (edited from Wikipedia.org) The cast of American Blues Theater’s production of Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz in 2015. From left to right: Darci Nalepa, Ian Paul Custer, Steve Key, and Richard Cotovsky Playwright Steven Dietz