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18.Mar.2010 Becky’s New Car: About the Playwright

Filed In: 2009-2010 Season, Becky's New Car, Oxford Financial Group presents Becky's New Car, Program Notes, Theatre

Steven Dietz, playwright

Steven Dietz is one of America’s most-produced contemporary playwrights. Since 1983, his 30-plus plays have been seen at over 100 regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in England, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Greece, Argentina, Peru, Korea, Singapore, and South Africa. His work has been translated into eight languages.  Mr. Dietz received the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award for his plays Fiction (produced Off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company) and Still Life with Iris; the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Play for Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; the PEN USA West Award in Drama for Lonely Planet (produced Off-Broadway at Circle Rep); and the 1995 Yomuiri Shimbun Award (the Japanese “Tony”) for his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel, Silence. Becky’s New Car was a finalist for the 2009 Steinberg New Play Award.  Mr. Dietz’s other plays include Last of the Boys (Pulitzer and Steinberg Award nominations), Inventing van Gogh, God’s Country, Private Eyes, The Nina Variations, Trust, Rocket Man, Halcyon Days, Ten November, and Foolin’ Around with Infinity. Mr. Dietz’s award-winning stage adaptations include Honus and Me (from Dan Gutman), Force of Nature (from Goethe), Over the Moon (from P. G. Wodehouse), The Rememberer (from Joyce Simmons Cheeka), Paragon Springs (from Ibsen), Dracula (from Bram Stoker), and, with Allison Gregory, Go Dog Go! (from P. D. Eastman).  Recent widely-produced plays include the 9/11 conspiracy thriller Yankee Tavern (which will be seen in April at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis) and the romantic comedy Shooting Star. In addition, Mr. Dietz is currently at work on new plays commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre (Chicago) and the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis).   A native of Denver, Mr. Dietz and his family now divide their time between Seattle and Austin, where he teaches playwriting at the University of Texas.