Dietz to be first playwright to speak at Visiting Writer's Series

In the newest installment of the Visiting Writers Series, widely produced and published playwright Steven Dietz will offer a diverse appeal to aspiring playwrights, actors and directors.

Dietz will present Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Maloney Room in Main Building. Dietz has been the recipient of numerous awards for his more than 30 plays. Dietz was awarded the 2011-12 Ingram New Works Fellowship from Tennessee Repertory Theater, according to the Tennessee Repertory Theater.

?He is one of the most produced playwrights today by regional professional theaters because he writes plays that leave audiences talking,? Producing Artistic Director Ren? D. Copeland of the Tennessee Repertory Theater said.

Dietz has also won the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award twice, once for his play Fiction and once for his play Still Life with Iris.

Dietz?s best known plays include Lonely Planet, a deeper metaphorical look at the AIDS epidemic that won the PEN USA West Award and God?s Country, a play inspired by true events regarding white supremacy, according to his University of Texas profile.

Carrie Fountain, professor of English Writing and Rhetoric at St. Edward?s University, said that Dietz?s plays address difficult questions on a very human level.

Although Dietz is best known as a playwright, he has also directed numerous plays at America?s leading regional theaters. At the Playwrights? Center in Minneapolis, Dietz served as Artistic Director of Midwest PlayLabs and as a resident director. Dietz is currently a professor at the University of Texas.

Dietz is also known for his articles that have been featured in the American Theatre Magazine. Past articles include ?An Audience Manifesto,? ?A Modest Proposal: On Training Directors for the New Century,? ?Developed to Death? and ?Doom Eager: Writing What We Need to Know.?

Fountain said that Dietz will be the first playwright she?s known of to present through the Visiting Writers Series.

Dietz has had his plays seen in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and Thailand, according to his University of Texas profile. Additionally, Deitz has had his plays translated into 10 languages.

Students can expect Dietz?s presentation to show his wide range of expertise and provide an interactive experience.

?It?s not going to be a traditional Visiting Writer?s Series event,? Fountain said.

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Source: http://www.hilltopviewsonline.net/2012/03/28/dietz-to-be-first-playwright-to-speak-at-visiting-writers-series/

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