Erik Ehn is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

known for proposing the Regional Alternative Theatre movement. The former

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of theater at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the ...

, the California Institute of Arts, he is the former head of playwriting and professor of theatre and performance studies at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. His published works include ''The Saint Plays'', ''Beginner'', and ''13 Christs''. Ehn is a playwright, educator and theorist of contemporary theater. Nearly a decade ago, he collaborated with Janie Geiser on ''Invisible Glass,'' which is itself inspired by

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

's short story, " William Wilson." It premiered at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (

REDCAT Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, California, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Named for ...

) in April 2005. His play ''Maria Kizito'' is based on the 1994

genocide in Rwanda The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa ...

and is the result of his research in that Central

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n country. Its premiere launched

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

's 7 Stages 2004–05 season. Ehn's work includes ''The Saint Plays'', an ongoing cycle of plays loosely based on the

lives of the saints A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

and biblical characters. Other plays include ''Book of Tink'', ''Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling,'' ''No Time Like the Present'', ''Wolf at the Door'', ''Tailings'', ''Beginner'', ''Ideas of Good and Evil'', ''13 Christs'' and an

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

's ''

The Sound and the Fury ''The Sound and the Fury'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, ''The Sound and the Fury'' was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immedi ...

''. Additionally, he co-wrote the musical ''Shiner'' with Octavio Solis. His dramas have been produced in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

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, and

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. In 2004, he served as

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

on ''Peach Blossom Fan'' - the inaugural production by CalArts Center for New Theater at REDCAT. Ehn's ''Soulographie: Our Genocides'', a series of 17 plays, was presented as a two-day marathon at

La MaMa La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (sometimes abbreviated as La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theater founded in 1961 by African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer Ellen Stewart. Located in the East Village neighborho ...

in 2012. Together the plays examine the relationship of 20th century America to

genocide in the United States The destruction of Native American peoples, cultures, and languages has been characterized as genocide. Debates are ongoing as to whether the entire process or only specific periods or events meet the definitions of genocide. Many of these def ...

, Central America, and East Africa. About half of the plays in the cycle incorporated puppetry. Although most of the plays in the cycle had previously been performed individually, the production presented them together for the first time. Ehn is co-founder and co-artistic director, alongside Lisa Bielawa, of the Tenderloin Opera Company in San Francisco and also an artistic associate of San Francisco's Theatre of Yugen. He is a co-founder of the RAT Conference, an international network of alternative theaters. He was a recipient of the Alpert Award in the Arts in 2002 and a

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

in 1997. Ehn is the founder of an annual conference called "Arts in the One World," which brings together performing artists, scholars, and human rights activists to investigate theater on the subject of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

. Ehn also travels to Rwanda and Uganda annually with students and other professionals, to explore the role of art in recovery from violence.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20050527133215/http://www.tcg.org/am_theatre/at_articles/AT_Volume_21/MayJune04/at_web5604_ehn.html *http://www.ratconference.com/
Profile and Production History at The Whiting Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehn, Erik 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Living people David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Brown University faculty