Mahonri Stewart

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Mahonri Stewart
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Born
Provo, Utah
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • Screenwriter
  • Novelist
  • Editor
  • Director
  • Theatre producer
  • Poet
  • Educator

Mahonri MacKay Stewart is a Kennedy Center award-winning playwright, screenwriter, novelist, editor, director, theatre producer, poet, and educator. His first play Farewell to Eden premiered at Utah Valley University on November 13, 2003, and was directed by James Arrington.[1] Farewell to Eden went on to receive second place for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival National Playwriting Award, as well as their National Selection Team Fellowship Award. The Artistic Director of the Festival, Gregg Henry, went on to say that, "Farewell to Eden was one of the best original plays I've seen."[2]. Over two dozen of his plays have since been produced, most of which have been published by Leicester Bay Theatricals, Zarahemla Books, and Prospero Arts and Media, most notably Legends of Sleepy Hollow, winner of the 2004 Ruth and Nathan Hale Comedy Playwriting Award; A Roof Overhead, winner of the Association for Mormon Letters Award for Drama; The Fading Flower; Swallow the Sun: The Early Life of C.S. Lewis; Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood; and The Drownéd Book: The History of William Shakespeare, Part Last. His screenplay Rings of The Tree, which was based on another of his plays that performed at UVU, was the winner of the 2011 LDS Film Festival's screenwriting contest. His first novel was A New Age of Miracles.[3], which was nominated for an AML Awards for Best Novel. His poetry is collected in the volume The Wild Path.[4]

Although some of Stewart's work is connected with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Stewart has publicly stated that he is "non-traditional" in his faith and that he is transitioning to Community of Christ,[5] a church with a connection to Mormonism's past, but which has more liberal, feminist, and LGBT+ friendly policies that better coincide with Stewart's spiritual, political, and personal beliefs than the LDS Church currently does.

Early Life and Education

Stewart was born in Provo, Utah. His writing, as well as his interest in theatre and film grew together from an early elementary school age, and he went on to write full length novels and plays in high school.[6] In college, Stewart attended Utah Valley University, where he was discovered and mentored by James Arrington, as well as Christopher Clark, who both were prominent playwrights, actors, and directors in the area.[7]

Later, Stewart would receive his MFA in Dramatic Writing (playwriting and screenwriting) from Arizona State University.[8]

UVU Productions

Utah Valley University (then Utah Valley State College) produced three of Stewart's plays: Farewell to Eden (directed by James Arrington), Legends of Sleepy Hollow[9] (directed by Christopher Clark), and Rings of the Tree.[10] [11]

Arrington also hired Stewart as his research assistant for March of the Salt Soldiers: The Utah War, but then Arrington promoted Stewart as co-writer and worked closely with Stewart to craft the play together. The play, directed by David Morgan, performed at UVU and toured to various locations in Utah. March of the Salt Soldiers was commissioned by the Utah War Sesquicentennial Committee to help recognize the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Utah War. [12]

During his years at UVU, a group of UVU students made a rare alliance with students from Brigham Young University to produce Stewart's Greek mythology inspired play Prometheus Unbound through BYU's Experimental Theatre Company.[13] Although not a student at BYU, Stewart was also invited by Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright and BYU playwriting professor Eric Samuelsen to participate in BYU's Writers/Dramaturgs/Actors program to develop his play The Fading Flower, which received a staged reading at the university.[14]

Stewart received a number of significant awards during this period, including the KCACTF National Playwriting Award (Second Place) and their National Selection Team Fellowship Award; first and second place for the Hale Center Theatre's 2004 Ruth and Nathan Hale Comedy Playwriting Award, for Legends of Sleepy Hollow and Farewell to Eden, respectively (as well as third place for his comedy Uneaten Cantaloupe the previous year); the LDS Film Festival's Best Screenplay Award for Stewart's adaptation of his play Rings of the Tree; UVU's Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Theatre Student of the Year Award; and UVU's Theatre Department's Theatre Student of the Year Award (2004) and Best Actor Award (2007).[15]

New Play Project

Soon after graduating with his bachelors degree from UVU, Stewart's next few plays found a home at New Play Project, a new works centered theatre group based in Provo, Utah. These plays included Swallow the Sun,[16] about the early life of fantasy author and creator or Narnia, C. S. Lewis; a play that Stewart had previously workshopped through BYU's WDA Program, The Fading Flower; [17] and Uneaten Cantaloupe, an "anti-absurdist" comedy. Here Stewart worked with other soon-to-be prominent playwrights and writers in the Utah literary community such as Melissa Leilani Larson and James Goldberg.

Arizona State University

Stewart was accepted into the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at Arizona State University. At ASU, Stewart would be mentored by professional playwright Guillermo Reyes and professional screenwriter Philip Taylor.[18]

Taylor would later write of Stewart's time as his teacher's assistant and student, "As I stated in my evaluation report at the end of every semester, I wish I could have cloned him. He was far and away the most effective TA with whom I have ever worked. I also taught Mahonri in no less than four courses during his stay at ASU. This is when I began to appreciate his talent as both a playwright and screenwriter. It was exhilarating to see Mahonri's writing skills improve week by week as he hit a creative stride I have rarely seen in another writer, period, let alone a graduate student."[19]

In addition to its production through Binary Theatre Company, A Roof Overhead would also have a production in Utah, through Stewart's Zion Theatre Company. A Roof Overhead received the Association for Mormon Letters' award for Best Drama (that same year, Stewart also received their Lifetime Membership Award--later called the Lifetime Achievement Award-- for his work editing Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama, his playwriting, and his work through Zion Theatre Company).

Emperor Wolf, a young-adult fantasy/post-apocalyptic fairy-tale, would be Stewart's thesis play at ASU. The production was directed by ASU directing MFA graduate student Brian Foley. Previous to the ASU production, a shorter, one hour version of the play premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, performed by DaVinci Academy of the Science and the Arts through the Festival's high school division. The production was directed by Adam Slee.[20] Emperor Wolf is now being developed as a stop-motion animated film[21] by Motion Foundry Studios.

During this time, Stewart's play "The Death of Eurydice" (then called "Eurydice") performed in June 2011 at the Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies in Geneva, Switzerland, starring and directed by Rachel Baird.[22] Baird would then also direct and perform the play in June 2017 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in Los Angeles.[23]

Zion Theatre Company

While at ASU and afterwards, Stewart produced his plays (and those of other playwrights) through his newly founded Zion Theatre Company. Of his own work, ZTC produced a mixture of revivals and new plays, including Farewell to Eden;[24] [25] Rings of the Tree;[26] Legends of Sleepy Hollow;[27] Swallow the Sun: The Early Life of C. S. Lewis|C.S. Lewis;[28] The Opposing Wheel;[29] A Roof Overhead;[30] Prometheus Unbound;[31] Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood;[32]Evening Eucalyptus;[33] and a play written in iambic pentameter verse about the family and last years of William Shakespeare's life, The Drowned Book,[34] [35] which was nominated for the AML Awards|AML Award for Best Drama.[36] ZTC also produced plays from other playwrights and well known plays, such as The Hobbit;[37] The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe;[38] and Melissa Leilani Larson's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion.[39]

Playwright in Residence for the Noorda Regional Theatre for Children and Youth

Stewart returned to UVU to teach playwriting when Arrington was on sabbatical. While at the university, he also worked at the Noorda Regional Theater for Children and Youth as their playwright in residence, where he was their dramaturg, playwriting judge, lecturer, and developed two theatre for youth plays for their summer program, Trojan Children and Haunt, both directed by Dr. John Newman, the theater's chair. The plays used a mixture of Devised theatre|devised theatre and traditional playwriting approaches. [40]

Prospero Arts and Media/Vanguard Theatre Company

Currently, Stewart works as an educator at Venture High School, teaching playwriting/screenwriting, English, theatre, and mythology. [41] The school's theatre arm, Vanguard Theatre Company, premiered Stewart's plays Secrets of Sleepy Hollow (a sequel to Stewart's Legends of Sleepy Hollow) and Manifest.[42]

Stewart also founded Prospero Arts and Media, which "focuses on using theatre, film, literature, graphic novels, and other types of art and media to portray and explore the history and potential of humanity in dynamic and meaningful ways."[43] Prospero Arts and Media has published several works, including Stewart's plays, novels, and poetry, and premiered productions of Stewart's play Cyrano, From Nowhere (the play's run was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Frances Smeath's Shaking the Earth, about Elizabethan playwright (and possible spy) Christopher Marlowe.[44]

List of Works

Plays

  • Farewell to Eden, Orem, UT, Utah Valley University/Utah Valley State College and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region VIII), California State University, San Bernadino, 2003.
  • "Immortal Hearts," Grove Theatre, Extreme Theater Festival, Pleasant Grove, UT, 2004.
  • Legends of Sleepy Hollow, Orem, UT, Utah Valley University/Utah Valley State College, 2004, and the Hale Centre Theatre, West Valley City, Utah, 2004 (Staged Reading).
  • Friends of God, Art City Playhouse, Springville, UT, 2006.
  • Rings of the Tree, Utah Valley University/Utah Valley State College, 2006
  • Prometheus Unbound, BYU Experimental Theatre Company, Provo, UT, 2008
  • Swallow the Sun: The Early Life of C.S. Lewis, New Play Project, Provo, UT, 2008
  • March of the Salt Soliders (Co-written with James Arrington), Utah Sesquicentennial Committee, Utah Touring Production, 2008
  • The Fading Flower, Brigham Young University's WDA Series (Staged Reading), 2007; Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Black Swan Reading Series (Staged Reading), Ashland Oregon, 2009; New Play Project, Provo, UT, 2009.
  • Uneaten Cantaloupe, New Play Project, Provo, UT, 2008
  • Immortal Hearts and Other Plays (Including "Immortal Hearts," "The Prince's House," "White Mountain," and "Eurydice"), Zion Theatre, Provo, UT, 2011
  • The Death of Eurydice Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies (FEATS), Geneva, Switzerland, 2011 (then titled “Eurydice”); and the Hollywood Fringe Festival, Los Angeles, CA, 2017.
  • The Opposing Wheel, Zion Theatre Company, Provo, UT 2012.
  • Rings of the Tree (Multimedia Version), Imminent Catharsis Media/Zion Theatre Company/Off Broadway Theater, Salt Lake City, UT, 2012.
  • Jinn and Other Plays (Including "Jinn," "The Snow Queen," and "The Death of Eurydice"), Off Broadway Theatre/Zion Theatre Company, Salt Lake City, UT, 2012.
  • A Roof Overhead, Arizona State University’s Binary Student Theatre, 2013; and the Little Brown Theatre, Springville, UT, 2013.
  • Emperor Wolf, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK – High School Division, 2013 (1 hour version); and Arizona State University, 2014 (full version).
  • Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood, Covey Center for the Arts and Zion Theatre Company, Provo, UT, 2014.
  • Evening Eucalyptus, Zion Theatre Company, Provo, UT, 2014.
  • Trojan Children, Noorda Regional Theatre Center for Children and Youth, Orem, UT, 2015.
  • Haunt, Noorda Regional Theatre Center for Children and Youth, Orem, UT, 2016.
  • Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, American Preparatory Academy, 2017.
  • The Drowned Book: The History of William Shakespeare, Part Last, Noorda Regional Theatre for Children and Youth (Staged Reading), 2016; and Zion Theatre Company, Provo, UT, 2017.
  • Secrets of Sleepy Hollow, Vanguard Theatre Company, 2019.
  • Cyrano, From Nowhere,' Prospero Arts and Media, 2020
  • Manifest, Noorda Regional Theatre for Children and Youth, 2016 (Staged Reading); and Vanguard Theatre Company, 2021.

Theatrical licensing for Stewart's plays is currently handled through Leicester Bay Theatricals.[45]

Novels

  • A New Age of Miracles, Prospero Arts and Media, 2020

Poetry

  • The Wild Path, Prospero Arts and Media, 2020

References

  1. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri (May 2013). Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama. Zarahemla Books. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-9883233-1-5.
  2. ↑ Howell, Blair (April 20, 2013). "Theatre Review: 'Farewell to Eden' Richly Rewarding Character Study". Deseret News. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  3. ↑ Clark, Dennis. "Stewart, "A New Age of Miracles : A Mormon History Novel" (Reviewed by Dennis Clark)". DAWNING OF A BRIGHTER DAY Twenty-First Century Mormon Literature. Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  4. ↑ "the wild path". Amazon. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ Saal, Mark (May 5, 2020). "Ogden Writer's First Novel Looks at the Early Years of Mormon Founder Joseph Smith". The Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  6. ↑ Saal, Mark (May 5, 2020). "Ogden Writer's First Novel Looks at the Early Years of Mormon Founder Joseph Smith". The Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  7. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri. Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama. Zarahemla Books. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-9883233-1-5.
  8. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri; Taylor, Philip; Reyes, Guillermo (2014). "Foreword 2". Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood. Prospero Arts and Media. ISBN 9781072267997.
  9. ↑ Lincoln, Ivan M. (October 11, 2004). "No mystery about what's new on stage". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  10. ↑ Foote, Amber (September 5, 2007). "Branching out: Mahonri Stewart's 'Rings of the Tree' takes root at UVSC". Daily Herald. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  11. ↑ Lincoln, Ivan M. (September 2, 2007). "Drama making debut at UVSC". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  12. ↑ Sundquist, Mel. "March of the Salt Soldiers". The Review. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  13. ↑ "BYU Experimental Theatre Club to premiere "Prometheus Unbound" July 31-Aug. 9". Brigham Young University. July 17, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  14. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri. Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama. Zarahemla Books. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-9883233-1-5.
  15. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri. Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama. Zarahemla Books
  16. ↑ Hardy, Roger L. (May 20, 2008). "'Swallow the Sun' compelling conversion story". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  17. ↑ Clark, Cody (May 28, 2009). "New play explores LDS Church founder's forgotten son". The Daily Herald. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  18. ↑ Taylor, Philip; Reyes, Guillermo; Stewart, Mahonri (September 21, 2019). Jimmy Stewart Foes to Hollywood. Prospero Arts and Media. pp. Foreword 2. ISBN 9781072267997.
  19. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri; Taylor, Philip; Reyes, Guillermo (2014). "Foreword 2". Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood. Prospero Arts and Media. ISBN 9781072267997.
  20. ↑ Stewart, Mahonri; Foley, Brian (24 January 2021). Emperor Wolf: A Post-apocalyptic Fairy tale. Prospero Arts and Media. ISBN 979-8631440739.
  21. ↑ "Film". Mahonri Stewart's Portfolio. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  22. ↑ "FEATS 2011" (PDF). Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies.
  23. ↑ "The Death of Eurydice". Hollywood Fringe Festival.
  24. ↑ Hansen, Erica (Jan 10, 2010). "'Farewell to Eden' returns to Utah". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  25. ↑ Warne, Russell (16 April 2013). "SAY HELLO TO FAREWELL TO EDEN". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  26. ↑ Guthrie, Paige (8 February 2012). "Conventions Clash in Rings of the Tree". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  27. ↑ Fulton, Ben (October 6, 2011). "A Halloween 'sleeper' in Provo". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  28. ↑ Hardy, Rodger L. "Swallow the Sun Compelling Conversion Story". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  29. ↑ Warne, Russell (3 September 2011). "The Opposing Wheel Shows Promise Despite Production Faults". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Press Release: Mahonri Stewart's "A Roof Overhead" Premieres". A Motley Vision. 12 April 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  31. ↑ Christensen, Ben. "Ancient Greek + Christian + Mormon = Zion Theatre Company's Prometheus Unbound". Front Row Reviewers. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  32. ↑ Hebda, Johnny (4 April 2014). "Join the Ride as Jimmy Stewart Goes to Hollywood". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  33. ↑ Warne, Russell (11 November 2014). "Evening Eucalyptus is a Theatrical Walkabout". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association.
  34. ↑ Johnson, Andrea. "Zion Theatre Company's The Drown'ed Book is Immersed in Love". Front Row Reviewers. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  35. ↑ Stirling, Hillary (28 August 2017). "Review of Mahonri Stewart's The Drown'ed Book". Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  36. ↑ Rappleye, Christine (May 21, 2018). "Association for Mormon Letters 2017 Award Finalists Announced". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  37. ↑ Hanson-Barnett, Elise (17 March 2012). "THE HOBBIT GIVES YOU PUPPETS, AND DRAGONS, AND GOLLUM, OH MY!". Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  38. ↑ Mustoe, Jennifer. "Zion Theater Company's Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe is Magical". Front Row Reviewers. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  39. ↑ Henry, Kara. "Zion Theater Company's Persuasion Would make Jane Austen Proud". Front Row Reviewers. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  40. ↑ Newman, J.D.; Stewart, Mahonri; Gourley, Wendy; Chapple, Drew (June 2, 2021). Noorda Theatre Youth Plays: Five Age Appropriate Scripts for Young Actors. Leicester Bay Theatricals. ISBN 979-8588681926.
  41. ↑ "Mahonri Stewart - English". Venture High School. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  42. ↑ "Vanguard Theatre presents Manifest by Mahonri Stewart". Venture High School.
  43. ↑ "About Us". Prospero Arts and Media. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  44. ↑ Hoelzer, Kaitlin (June 17, 2019). "Theater review: Elizabethan spies play dirty in new Utah-produced play, 'Shaking the Earth'". Deseret News. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  45. ↑ "Mahonri Stewart: Author". Leicester Bay Theatricals. 30 December 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2022.

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