Steven Dietz

Steven Dietz (born 23 June 1958, Denver, Colorado) is an American playwright whose thirty-plus plays have been widely produced in the U.S. and internationally. With the notable exception of "Fiction", produced Off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2004, the vast majority of Dietz's plays are produced in American regional theaters. 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. Dietz was awarded the 2011-12 Ingram New Works Fellowship (following previous winners David Auburn and John Patrick Shanley) by the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. Recent premieres include the black comedy, "Rancho Mirage", and the thriller, "On Clover Road". Both of these plays received "rolling world premieres" through the National New Play Network.

Life and career

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 (Quicksilver Stage) 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. He now divides his time between Seattle and Austin, Texas where he teaches playwriting and directing at the University of Texas at Austin.