Background

Steven Dietz was born on June 23, 1958, in Denver, Colorado, in a family of a railroad engineer.

Education

Steven Dietz graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1980.

Career

Although he never took a class in his craft, Steven Dietz has become one of the most successful playwrights of his generation to emerge from Colorado. His stage dramas, which include More fun than Bowling, God's Country, and Private Eyes, have been produced by theaters across the United States, as well as internationally, and range from satire to serious commentaries and adaptations of works by others. Calling Dietz "unique" due to his continued focus on politics, a Contemporary Dramatists essayist praised the playwright as "prolific and diverse, and he has a voice that is always changing and yet recognizable as his own." As Dietz himself commented in Contemporary Dramatists: "I believe that, at its best, the theatre can serve as a social forum, a place where members of a community can gather to confront those things which affect them. A place for reasoning and rage, laughter and loss, recognition and discussion."

When he finished college, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began an acting career. He wrote his first play out of necessity when production of the Children's Theatre Company in which he was cast was lacking a script. With this success, he authored more plays produced in Minneapolis and also began directing plays by other writers. In more recent years, Dietz's plays have been produced in Seattle, Washington, where he now makes his home, although some have made debuts in cities such as San Diego, Washington, D.C., and Louisville, Kentucky.

Dietz's topics can sometimes be disturbing, as in Foolin' around with Infinity, wherein two men who work underground in a government nuclear weapons facility in Utah suffer from a constant fear of the end of mankind, even as they guard the button that can make it happen. His plays are timely, and often incorporate actual news events or the politics of the day. Ten November, for example, is a retelling of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior in 1975.

After the birth of his daughter, Ruby, Dietz began to writing for children, and his Still Life with Iris was awarded a Kennedy Center grant. In an interview with Denver Post reviewer John Moore, Dietz said that writing for kids is "the hardest writing you will ever do. It's harder because kids take their imagination for granted. They are the most honest audience... You can get through a lifetime in the 'adult American theater' and never really learn how to construct a story as a writer. When you write plays for kids, that's when you are tested. It's a gut-check."

All in all, Steven Dietz has a rich experience he got through the course of his career. Currently a playwright and Artistic Director, Dietz started from affiliation with Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked from 1980 to 1991. At the Quicksilver Stage, Minneapolis, he worked as a Co-founder from 1983 to 1986. Then, at the Midwest Playlabs, Minneapolis, he was an Artistic Director from 1987 to 1989. Later, at Sundance Institute, Utah, he became a Resident Director and worked here during 1990. After that, at the Contemporary Theatre, Seattle, Washington, he was an Associate Artist from 1990 to 1991.

Steven Dietz is a Director of a great number of plays, including Standing on My Knees, 1982, 21-A, 1984, The Voice of the Prairie, 1985, Harry and Claire, 1985, and many others.

Achievements

• Steven Dietz is a highly-productive and talented creator with more than thirty plays. His director's work was seen in many regional theatres all around the United States, and his plays are being played internationally.

Works

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  • God's Country

    (This exciting, highly theatrical docu-drama is about the ...)

    2010
  • Halcyon Days

    (Senator Eddie Bowman cannot see the point of invading a m...)

    1995
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure

    (The book was adapted by Steven Dietz, based on the origin...)

    2007
  • Private Eyes

    (Private Eyes is a comedy of suspicion in which nothing is...)

    1998
  • Lonely Planet

    (This compassionate play reveals friendship and fear in th...)

    1994
  • Foolin' Around with Infinity

    ("You" is ushered into the theatre and given a program and...)

    1990
  • Paragon Springs 2011
  • Shooting Star 2010
  • Becky's New Car 2010
  • Yankee Tavern 2010
  • Last of the Boys 2008
  • Inventing Van Gogh 2004
  • The Nina Variations 2003
  • Rocket Man 2003
  • Force of Nature 2003
  • Fiction 1999
  • The Nina Variations 1996
  • Trust 1995
  • More Fun than Bowling 1990
  • Ten November 1988

Views

Quotations: "When you write plays for kids, that's when you are tested. It's a gut-check."

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "The most ubiquitous American playwright whose name you may never have heard." - Chris Jones, critic

Connections

Steven Dietz is married to Allison Gregory. They have a daughter.

Wife:

Allison Gregory

Daughter:

Ruby Clementine

References

• Contemporary Authors vol. 233