Kurt Robert Engh is a theater-maker with the goal to expand the framework of what "theater" is in order to adapt the art form to a twenty-first century audience. He transposes experimental practices to narrative stories, addressing how contemporary audiences consume live performance. He is specifically interested in exploring Midwestern identity, creating characters as complicated as real people, and taking advantage of the metaphysical space of the stage. He likes testing the endurance of audiences and uncovering ways to contextualize a physical space in a digital culture. He borrows more from concerts, obscure YouTube videos, contemporary film, restaurants, clubs, and social media than he does classical theater.
Kurt wrote and self-produced an anti-romcom "Only Ugly Guys" in June 2024 at Open Eye Theatre, which reviewer Cherry and Spoon called "funny, clever, inventive, and very modern." He produced, adapted and directed "Naïve. Super" at Norway House in September 2023, with a new actor at each performance, experiencing the play for the first time. He hosts "Running Errands," a short-play incubator for writers/directors/actors to experiment with new ideas at Bryant Lake Bowl (March/May/July/September 2023 and beginning again quarterly October 2024).
Dave Osmundsen is a queer and Autistic playwright whose work has been seen and developed at BLUEBARN Theatre, the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, Purple Crayon Players, Great Plains Theatre Conference, the William Inge Theatre Festival, Clamour Theatre Company, Premiere Stages, the Valdez Theatre Conference, and more. His play Light Switch was a Distinguished Achievement recipient of the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award. A recipient of the Blank Theatre/Ucross Foundation's inaugural Future of Playwriting Prize, his plays have been published by The Dionysian, Canyon Voices, Exposition Review, Concord Theatricals, Broadway Play Publishing, and more. MFA: Arizona State University.
