On Mentorship

Mar 01, 2024

Roger Q. Mason (Photo: Bronwen Sharp) and Steven Dietz (Photo: John Ulman)

Amelia French: Steven, you were kind enough to send Joey [Stocks] and me an excerpt from your forthcoming book, Doom Eager: Notes on Making Plays. Since Roger is on The Dramatist Committee, they got the chance to read it as well, and that was the impetus for this conversation.

In your chapter “Some Hard and Beautiful Truths,” you begin, “I write to you from year 43 of my playwriting apprenticeship.”

Steven Dietz: Yes, true.

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Roger Q. Mason

(they/them) is a writer and performer who uses the lens of history to disrupt the biases that divide rather than unite us. They are a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and Ma-Yi’s Writing Lab, as well as a lead mentor of The Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship, and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. Instagram: @rogerq.mason

Steven Dietz

’s recent premieres include Gaslight and Murder on the Links. He co-adapted his play Shooting Star for the recent Meg Ryan movie What Happens Later. His latest play, Vial Man (The Apothecary’s Story), will be part of the Ruth Easton New Play series at the Playwrights’ Center in March.