"Even as I premiere my twenty-ninth play, I find myself having to re-learn again and again, one play after the next." That being said, acclaimed playwright Steven Dietz should feel right at home among his students at The University of Texas as he joins the faculty this fall. Dietz is the newest appointee of both the Department of Theatre and Dance and the College of Communication's Department of Radio/Television/Film (RTF). Though Dietz has taught throughout his career, this will be his first full-time university faculty position.
Perhaps best known for his plays Lonely Planet, a beautifully rendered metaphorical examination of the AIDS epidemic, and God's Country, a look at white supremacy based on a real-life incident, Dietz is one of this country's most-produced playwrights. He has just finished a new piece, What Mickey Thinks, commissioned by the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, and is working on new plays commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre, ACT Theatre in Seattle, and the Denver Center Theatre Company.
"What appealed to me about this position was the university's stated desire to put a working professional writer on its faculty," he says. "Therefore, it doesn't really seem like a shift in focus for me. I'll continue my writing career full-time and fold my teaching into that work. I'm hopeful that my own ongoing professional experiences will give students a hands-on feel for the realities of making a career as a playwright."
Learning the realities of the craft from a proven and active artist has students and colleagues greatly anticipating Dietz's presence in their departments. Greg Romero is a recent graduate of the M.F.A. Playwriting program and attended a master class given by Dietz this past year. "It was incredible," says Romero. "I feel like I learned as much in that hour as I'd learned in my whole life. And I love that he comes from a practical background—he's been a working artist his whole career, cutting his teeth in the rehearsal hall and in the theatre space. His knowledge comes from actually working, and that is exactly the kind of teacher that will benefit all of us."
Dietz has also worked extensively as a director, evidenced in his philosophy toward new plays and new artists. "I expect our writers to learn from and be challenged by their university collaborators—the actors, directors and designers whose expertise and feedback should inform not only the production of plays, but the creation and revision of them. A playwright must ultimately speak the language of acting, directing and design—not simply the lingo of literature."
In addition to his experience with artists in the theatre, Dietz has also written on the responsibility of the audience in American theatre. In his Audience Manifesto, published in American Theatre magazine in 1993, he says, "The highest challenge you, as an audience, can issue to your theatre artists is to demand that they run through the minefields before you do. […] We should encourage our theatre artists to go where we dare not. We should thank them (grudgingly, at times) for revealing to each of us, individually, what our boundaries are, social, sexual, religious, political. Tell your theatre that you're ready for anything, and that you plan to let them know exactly what you think of it, good or bad. Getting your money's worth is not good enough. Get your heart and mind's worth. As artists and audiences, together we share the theatre. Together we share this grand, eloquent, messy, unpredictable experiment. Let's revel in that."
