Eric Samuelsen

Eric Roy Samuelsen (born April 10, 1956)^[1] is a Mormon playwright and emeritus professor of theatre at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is considered one of the most important Mormon playwrights,^[2] and has been called a Mormon Charles Dickens or Henrik Ibsen.^[3][4] He won the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) drama award in 1994,^[5] 1997,^[6] and 1999,^[7] and was AML president from 2007 to 2009. In 2012 he received the Smith Pettit Award for lifetime work.^[8]

Biography

Eric Samuelsen was born in Provo, Utah, but spent most of his early life in Bloomington, Indiana. His father Roy was an opera singer, which introduced young Samuelsen to a love for theater productions.^[9] As a young man he served in Norway as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS Church).^[3][10] He received a bachelor's degree in theatre from BYU in 1983 and returned to Bloomington and earned a Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1991. He taught at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio before joining the faculty at BYU in 1992.

From 1999-2011 Samuelsen ran BYU's playwrighting program. Throughout his career, at least 24 of Samuelsen's plays were produced professionally throughout the United States, including California, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, and Utah.^[4]

Most of Samuelsen's early plays were produced at BYU, but around 2003 he began a relationship with Plan-B Theatre Company.^[11] Since 2006, Plan-B premiered a Samuelsen play every year. He became its playwright in residence in 2012, and many of his newer plays were produced there.^[4][12] This may be due to a more controversial bent in later plays; Borderlands has a character who is an openly gay Mormon youth.

Following illness and a diagnosis of polymyositis, a degenerative muscular disease, Samuelsen retired from BYU in 2012, where he had taught for 20 years.^[13] The next year, Plan-B Theatre Company dedicated 2013 as the "Season of Eric", presenting four of Samuelsen's plays.^[14]

Works

1970s

• Letter From a Prophet, co-written by Charles Metten. Produced at BYU, fall 1978. Directed by Charles Metten.
• A Girl Who Blushes. One act. Produced April, 1978, at Mormon Festival of the Arts at BYU.
• Playing the Game. Produced in 1979 at BYU.

1980s

• Emma. Opera libretto, music by Murray Boren. Produced at BYU 1984. Subsequently produced by Hell's Kitchen Opera company in 1984.
• Sex and the New York Yankees. One act. Produced by Bloomington Playwrights Project, Bloomington Indiana.

1990s

• Accommodations. Produced at BYU, 1993. Subsequently published in Sunstone magazine. Won AML annual award in drama, 1994. Directed by Thomas Rogers.^[15]
• Gadianton.^[16] Produced at BYU, 1996. Directed by Robert Nelson. Subsequently published in Sunstone. Won AML award in drama, 1997. Subsequently produced at University of Louisiana at Monroe.
• The Seating of Senator Smoot. Produced at BYU, 1996. Directed by Robert Nelson.^[17] The play was also videotaped and broadcast on KBYU.
• Without Romance. Produced at BYU, 1997. Subsequently produced at Mormon Arts Festival.
• The Christmas Box. Adapted from the novel by Richard Paul Evans. Produced as a musical at BYU, Pardoe Theater, 1997. Directed by Rodger Sorensen.^[18]
• Coughlaugh. A theatrical experiment in one act. Blaine Sundrud directed a production at BYU in 1998. Later produced in 2010 at Brigham Young University.
• The Way We’re Wired. Produced at BYU, 1999. Won AML award for drama, 1999. Subsequently produced by Nauvoo Theatrical Society in Orem, directed by Eric Samuelsen.

2000s

• A Love Affair with Electrons. Produced at BYU 2000. Directed by Eric Samuelsen.
• Three Women, 3 one act plays on Mormon women, VIP Arts' Little Brown Theatre, Springville, 2001.^[19]
• What Really Happened. Produced at BYU, 2001.^[20]
• Peculiarities. Several one acts, produced in several iterations. Tony Gunn directed four one acts in Springville, 2005. Plan B Theatre produced three one acts, including Kiss, which was not included in the production Tony Gunn directed. Jerry Rapier directed a film version, with all six short plays included.
• Family. Produced at BYU in 2005. Directed by David Morgan. Won AML award, also published in Sunstone. Subsequently produced at Dixie College in St. George, UT, in 2006.
• Miasma. First done as ten-minute play for Plan-B Theatre Company SLAM, 2005, as The Butcher, The Beggar and the Bed-time Buddy. Subsequently produced as full-length play at Plan-B, 2006, published in Plays From Beyond the Zion Curtain.
• Blood Pudding, 10-minute play, done for Plan-B Theatre Company SLAM, 2006.
• Behind the Blue Door, 10-minute play, done for Plan-B Theatre Company SLAM, 2007.
• Burning Desire, 10-minute play, done for Plan-B Theatre Company SLAM, 2008.
• Perfect Circle, 10-minute play, done for Plan-B Theatre Company/Theatre Arts Conservatory Student SLAM, 2009.
• Inversion. Produced by Theatre Arts Conservatory, Salt Lake, Rose Wagner, 2008.
• Intersection. Produced by Theatre Arts Conservatory, Salt Lake, Rose Wagner, 2009.

2010s

• Amerigo. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, 2010. Subsequently published in More Plays from Behind the Zion Curtain.
• Borderlands. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, 2011. Directed by Jerry Rapier.
• He and She Fighting: A Love Story. New Play Project in Provo, 2011. Directed by Davey Morrison-Dillard.
• The Plan. Brinton Black Box Theater in the Covey Center for the Arts, Provo UT, 2011 ^[21]
• Nothing Personal. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Rose Wagner, 2013. Directed by Jerry Rapier.
• Radio Hour Episode 8: Fairyana. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Rose Wagner, 2013. Directed by Cheryl Ann Cluff.
• Clearing Bombs. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Rose Wagner, 2014. Directed by Eric Samuelsen.
• 3. Produced by Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Rose Wagner, 2014. Directed by Cheryl Ann Cluff.

Upcoming plays

• Kruetzer's Sonata: Opens October 2015, Jerry Rapier directing.

References

External links

• Eric R. Samuelsen at the MLCA Database
• Reviews at AML review database
• Mormon Iconoclast, Samuelsen's blog
• Samuelsen on the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications wiki
• Eric Samuelsen at doolee.com, The Playwrights Database
• Eric Samuelsen at MormonWiki