Steven Dietz

Steven Dietz (born June 23, 1958)^{[ citation needed ]} is an American playwright, theatre director, and teacher. Dietz has written over 40 plays and adaptations, including God's Country, Lonely Planet, and Bloomsday. Dietz taught in the MFA Playwriting and Directing programs at the University of Texas at Austin from 2006 to 2018. ^[1]

Life and career

Steven Dietz was born in Denver. He attended Kennedy High School and studied theatre arts at the University of Northern Colorado. ^{[2] [3]} After his studies, he moved to Minneapolis and worked as a writer and a director of new plays at The Playwrights' Center and other local theaters. ^[2] His first play was Brothers and Sisters in 1981. ^[4] Dietz moved to Seattle in 1991. ^[4]

From 2006 to 2018, Dietz was faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Theatre and Dance. ^{[1] [5]} At UT/Austin, Dietz created an annual new play showcase, as well as co-created a new MFA Directing program. ^[6] Among his students were Luke Leonard, George Brant, Martin Zimmerman, and Abe Koogler. ^[1]

Dietz is described as a versatile and prodigious playwright: ^[4] Robert Faires wrote in 2008, "His output is prodigious, some 30 plays in 25 years, and at a point when other playwrights might be winding down, he still steadily generates a couple of plays a year." ^[5] Dietz's plays are frequently produced in regional theaters. ^[2]

Dietz's play *Shooting Star* was adapted by Dietz, Kirk Lynn, and Meg Ryan for the film What Happens Later. ^[7]

Awards

Dietz is the recipient of the PEN Center USA Award in Drama (for Lonely Planet in 1994); ^[8] a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays (Fiction and Still Life With Iris); ^[4] and the 2007 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best (Mystery) Play (Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure). ^[9] He was awarded a New Play citation in 2016 from the American Theatre Critics Association for Bloomsday. ^[10]

According to the Theatre Communications Group, Dietz was in the top 20 most produced playwrights in the 2019-2020 season (with nine productions) ^[11] and the 2024-2025 season (with eight productions). ^[12]

Personal life

As of 2018, Dietz is married to fellow playwright Allison Gregory. ^[1] They live in both Seattle and Austin, Texas. ^{[1] [13]}

Works

Original plays (by year of first production)

• Brothers and Sisters (1981)
• Railroad Tales (1983)
• Random Acts (1983)
• Wanderlust (1984)
• More Fun Than Bowling (1986)
• Painting It Red (1986) (music by Gary Rue and Leslie Ball)
• Burning Desire (1987) (short play)
• Foolin' Around with Infinity (1987)
• Ten November (1987) (music by Eric Bain Peltoniemi)
• God's Country (1988) (Revised: 2021)
• Happenstance (1989) (music by Eric Bain Peltoniemi)
• After You (1990) (short play)
• Halcyon Days (1991)
• To The Nines (1991) (short play)
• Trust (1992)
• Lonely Planet (1993)
• Handing Down the Names (1994)
• The Nina Variations (1996) (variations on the last scene of Chekhov's The Seagull)
• Private Eyes (1996)
• Still Life with Iris (1997)
• Rocket Man (1998)
• Fiction (2002)
• Left to Right (2002) (short)
• Inventing van Gogh (2004)
• Last of the Boys (2004)
• The Spot (2004) (short)
• September Call-Up (2006) (short)
• Yankee Tavern (2007) ^{[14] [15] [16]}
• Shooting Star (2008) ^{[17] [18]}
• Becky's New Car (2008) ^{[19] [20]}
• Rancho Mirage (2012) ^[21]
• Mad Beat Hip & Gone (2013) ^{[22] [23]}
• On Clover Road (2015) ^[24]
• Bloomsday (2015) ^{[25] [26]}
• This Random World (2016) ^[27]
• Drive All Night (2018) (short) ^[28]
• The Great Beyond (2019) ^[29]
• The Ghost of Splinter Cove (2019) ^[30]
• How a Boy Falls (2020) ^{[31] [32]}

Plays adapted from other sources

• The Rememberer (1994) (from the unpublished memoirs of Joyce Simmons Cheeka)
• Silence (1995) (from Shusaku Endo's novel)
• Dracula (1996) (from Bram Stoker)
• Force of Nature (1999) ^[33] (after Elective Affinities by Goethe)
• Go, Dog. Go! (2003) (from the childen's book) – a musical adaptation co-written with his wife, Allison Gregory.
• Over The Moon (2003) (after "The Small Bachelor" by P.G. Wodehouse) ^[34]
• Paragon Springs ^[35] (2004) (from "An Enemy of the People" by Ibsen)
• Honus & Me ^[36] (2005) (from Dan Gutman)
• Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure (2006) (from William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Jackie & Me (2013) (from Dan Gutman) ^[37]
• American la Ronde (2017) (from Arthur Schnitzler's 1900 play, Reigen or La Ronde )
• Dracula: Mina's Quest (2019) (from Bram Stoker) ^[38]
• Murder on the Links (2023) (from Agatha Christie) ^{[39] [40] [41] [42]}
• Gaslight (2023) (from Patrick Hamilton) ^{[43] [44] [45] [46]}
• Peril in the Alps (2024) (from Agatha Christie) ^{[47] [48] [49]}

Screenplays

• What Happens Later (2023) (from Shooting Star)

References

1. "Steven Dietz to Leave Full-Time Faculty Position at UT Austin". American Theatre. July 24, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
2. Wakeman, Gregory (December 5, 2023). "Steven Dietz on his Colorado roots and 'What Happens Later'". Boulder Weekly. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
3. Kennedy, Lisa (October 30, 2013). "Playwright and native son Steven Dietz returns home with two works". The Denver Post. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
4. Tu, Janet I-Chin (February 1, 1998). "Busy, Busy, Busy: Playwright Steven Dietz Juggles Many Projects". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
5. Faires, Robert (November 7, 2008). "Working Playwright: Steven Dietz just wants to get in, roll up his sleeves, and make the words better". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
6. "Steven Dietz to Leave Full-Time Faculty Position at UT Austin". American Theatre Magazine. July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
7. Lang, Brent (April 28, 2022). "Meg Ryan Returns to Romantic Comedies With David Duchovny Film 'What Happens Later'". Variety. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
8. "Literary Awards Winners Archive". PEN America. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
9. "Dietz's Sherlock Holmes Wins 2007 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Play". Playbill. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
10. "Steinberg/ATCA". American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
11. Tran, Diep (September 18, 2019). "The Top 20* Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2019-20 Season". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
12. Weinert-Kendt, Rob (September 25, 2024). "The Top 20* Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2024-25 Season". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
13. Wakeman, Gregory (November 2, 2023). "Playwright Steven Dietz on 'What Happens Later,' Meg Ryan, Seattle roots". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
14. Clawson, Kerry. "Review: None Too Fragile cast gets under skin with 'Yankee Tavern' conspiracy thriller". Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
15. "Palm Beach Arts Paper review of Yankee Tavern". Palm Beach Arts Paper. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
16. Kiley, Brendan. "The Oddities About 9/11 We Can't Explain Away". The Stranger. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
17. "Review: Shooting Star". The Austin Chronicle. March 20, 2009.
18. "SHOOTING STAR". September 19, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
19. Lynn Jacobson (October 27, 2008). "Review of Becky's New Car". Variety.
20. "Regional News & Review of Becky's New Car". Talkin' Broadway. October 30, 2008.
21. Juliet Wittman (November 7, 2013). "Comic illusions abound in Rancho Mirage". Westword.
22. "THEATER REVIEW Mad Beat Hip and Gone - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News Archive". Windy City Times. May 7, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
23. "Everybody knows what happened to Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady in "On the Road," but now playwright Steven Dietz shows us what happened to the two guys in the car behind them". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
24. "On Clover Road by Steven Dietz". Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University | CATF. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
25. "'Bloomsday' a Breathtaking Play About Time, Love, Regret and Fateful Decisions". WTTW News. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
26. "'Bloomsday': lost love, Joyce and time travel". The Seattle Times. September 19, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
27. "This Random World in Off-Off-Broadway at Theater for the New City 2023". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
28. "Smith and Kraus Publishers | when the Promise was Broken". smithandkraus.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
29. Miller, Elissa. "A Tale of Two Plays: "The Ghost of Splinter Cove" and R" . Retrieved June 18, 2019.
30. Toppman, Lawrence. "Review: To get the most out of these interlocking plays, you need to see them both". charlotteobserver. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
31. "How a Boy Falls". February 2020.
32. "Review: 'How a Boy Falls' at Northlight Theatre is a tense, anxious thriller". Chicago Tribune . February 2, 2020.
33. Jones, Chris (April 26, 1999). "Force of Nature" . Retrieved June 18, 2019.
34. Pela, Robrt L. (October 23, 2003). "So Farce, So Good". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
35. Tom Williams (February 16, 2004). "Chicagocritic.com Review of Paragon Springs". TimeLine Theatre Company.
36. "'Honus and Me' brings the prolific playwright Dietz full circle in Seattle". Seattle P.I. March 31, 2006.
37. "The Theater Loop: Chicago Theater News & Reviews - Chicago Tribune". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
38. Mee, Dewey. "'Dracula' at the ACT Theatre: Suburb, scary fun". Daily Record. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
39. "Laguna Playhouse's 'Murder on the Links' is a Complex, Delicious Theatrical Confection". www.newportbeachindy.com. June 8, 2023. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
40. Kragen, Pam (April 24, 2023). "North Coast's bubbly 'Murder on the Links' a fun and well-cast whodunit". The San Diego Union-Tribune . Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
41. "Murder, mystery, intrigue and a little golf at Laguna Playhouse". The Orange County Register . June 10, 2023. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
42. Harris, Anita W. (May 7, 2023). "'Murder on the Links' dazzles in world premiere at North Coast Rep". www.latheatrix.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
43. "REVIEW: "Gaslight" at Cincy Shakes Does Not Dim". September 9, 2023.
44. "REVIEW: "Gaslight" Captivating at CSC". September 10, 2023.
45. "MRT's Psychological Thriller 'Gaslight' a Portrait of Courage in the Face of Evil - Theater Mirror". November 2023.
46. "REVIEW: Gaslight". September 17, 2023.
47. "REVIEW: North Coast Rep returns to successful formula with Peril". April 22, 2025.
48. "REVIEW: Peril in the Alps". April 22, 2025.
49. "Mystery and Laughs return to North Coast Rep". April 22, 2025.

External links

• University of Texas Press, 'Steven Dietz: Four Plays for Family Audiences'
• "Renowned playwright Steven Dietz's influence is heavy in D-FW scene" - Dallas Morning News
• "Being Prolific Has Its Own Rewards" - Austin American Statesman profile
• "Brick Solid" - Seattle Weekly article by John Longenbaugh
• March 2003 Interview with Steven Dietz from Theatrescene.net
• Playbill's Brief Encounter with Steven Dietz
• Information on Steven Dietz by doollee.com
• Bibliography at goodreads.com
• Director and Playwright Discuss Last of the Boys, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
• Michael D. Mitchell Bio and discussion of Sherlock Holmes adaptation in "Understudy", a guide to plays at Fulton, 2007.