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Plays and Musicals for All Audiences and Theatre Groups, Amateur, Educational, Professional, and Religious

Matthew Ivan Bennett • Author

Matthew Ivan Bennett • Author

MATTHEW IVAN BENNETT
… is a Resident Playwright of Plan-B Theatre, where he’s premiered several stage plays and radio plays in collaboration with KUER’s RadioWest, published with Leicester Bay Theatricals (SEE BELOW). He was a recent fellow at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico (Fall 2024). His work usually focuses on the sociopolitical while centering character and humor. His adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN won the Best Feature Program award from the Utah Broadcasters’ Association. His one-person play ERIC(A) won Best Drama at the United Solo Festival in New York. His road trip play, A\VERSION OF EVENTS is published with Stage Rights. His anti-bullying play DIFFERENT=AMAZING—for grades 3 to 6—is published with Leicester Bay Theatricals. With the O’Neill, he’s been a Finalist (LET DOWN YOUR HAIR, 2016) and Semifinalist (ART & CLASS, 2019). He’s won the Best Local Playwright award from PlayUtah and Salt Lake’s City Weekly honored with an Arty for writing Plan-B’s entire season in 2009. In 2014, he received the Holland New Voices award from Great Plains Theatre Commons and returned in 2019 to workshop his play ART & CLASS. His short plays have appeared at Pacific Play Company in Seattle, the Source Festival in DC, Monkeyman in Toronto, and Theatre Out in Santa Ana. His comedy A NIGHT WITH THE FAMILY ran at the Omaha Community Playhouse. His short film B+A appeared at Slamdance and his feature-length film THE WHOLE LOT was an Official Selection of the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, the Kansas City Independent Film Festival, the Mesa Independent Film Festival, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, the Mumbai Indie-Fest, and the New York International Reel Film Festival in 2022 and 2023. In 2015 and 2016, he was a screenwriting finalist at the Austin Film Festival. In Utah, he’s worked as a playwright and/or actor with the Salt Lake Acting Company, Pygmalion, Sackerson (devised pieces: A BRIEF WALTZ IN A LITTLE ROOM and THE WORST THING I’VE EVER DONE), and Wasatch Theatre Company. His rom-com FROM JUNE TO AUGUST was the Official Selection for Meanwhile Park’s second season in Salt Lake. Matt served 13 years as Assistant Business Manager for Pioneer Theatre Company, as well as reading for their Play-by-Play series, and was previously a part-time Literary Manager for The Constructivists in Milwaukee. His poetry has been published with Sugar House Review, Western Humanities, Utah Life, and Unearthed. Matt earned his Bachelors in Theatre from Southern Utah University—where he also acted for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s educational tours of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW as Grumio, and A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM as Puck. Matt is a member of Futurescapes and the Dramatists Guild.

Visit Matthew at his website: https://matthewivanbennett.com

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