Tennessee Repertory Theatre and Nashville Children’s Theatre Welcome Steven Dietz, 1/10

Tennessee Repertory Theatre and Nashville Children's Theatre welcome renowned playwright Steven Dietz to Nashville for "An Evening with Steven Dietz."  This free enrichment event will take place on Tuesday, January 10 at 7:00 pm at Nashville Children's Theatre (25 Middleton Street).   Reservations are available by e-mailing represervations@gmail.com. 

Dietz is serving as Tennessee Rep's Ingram New Works Fellow for the 2011-12 season.  A staged reading of new play by Dietz will debut at the Ingram New Works Festival in June. 

"I am thrilled to have Steven Dietz as our 2011-12 New Works Fellow and thrilled to welcome him to town so Nashvillians can get acquainted with him," says Tennessee Rep Producing Artistic Director René D. Copeland.  "He is one of the most produced playwrights today by regional professional theatres because he writes plays that leave audiences talking. I think back to last year's production ofYankee Tavern. It was a play where audiences felt compelled to go out for coffee after seeing it and discuss the possibilities, the issues raised-this is the kind of play Tennessee Rep loves to produce. It really resonated with our patrons and created a great buzz. Dietz's body of work spans a variety of genres, from comedy to drama, and all are compelling and smart and witty and I have admired his work for some time.

"Also, Dietz is a teacher, director, and leading thinker on new play development. This makes him an especially exciting New Works Fellow since he will be mentoring the emerging playwright members of the Ingram New Works Lab. I predict that the New Works Festival will showcase some terrific plays this season, and it will be thrilling to have the Ingram New Works project contribute to the creation of Steven Dietz's next play."

Steven Dietz is one of America's most widely-produced and published contemporary playwrights. Since 1983, his thirty-plus plays have been seen at over one hundred regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in England, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Italy, Slovenia, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa. His work has been translated into ten languages.

In addition to being the recipient of the 2011-12 Ingram New Works Fellowship from Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Dietz is. a two-time winner of the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, for Fiction (produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, Off-Broadway), and Still Life with Iris. Mr. Dietz is also a two-time finalist for the Steinberg New Play Award, for Last of the Boys (produced by Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago), and Becky's New Car. He received the PEN USA West Award in Drama for Lonely Planet; the 2007 Edgar Award for Drama from the Mystery Writer's of America for his widely-produced Sherlock Holmes:  The Final Adventure (adapted from William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle); and the 1995 Yomuiri Shimbun Award (the Japanese "Tony") for his adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel Silence. His acclaimed conspiracy thriller, Yankee Tavern, was a National New Play Network featured play. 

Tennessee Repertory Theatre produced Dietz's play Yankee Tavern last season and Nashville Children's Theatre has produced Still Life with Iris and Go Do, Go previously. 

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has been a critically acclaimed regional theatre, creating the highest quality professional productions and by serving as a prime cultural, educational, and economic resource within the Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities since 1985.  Tennessee Rep produces work that is designed, built, and rehearsed in Nashville by highly skilled actors, designers, directors, and technicians.  A non-profit organization, Tennessee Rep is committed to consistently delivering thought-provoking theatre each year.  For more information on the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, please visit www.tennesseerep.org.

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