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Mat Smart comes from a family of scientists. Although he enjoys math and science, he chose two other programs at the University of Evansville: English and theatre. He earned both a BA in writing and a BS in theatre performance in 2001 before heading to San Diego to earn an MFA in playwriting from the University of California San Diego. Today, Smart makes his living as a playwright in New York City. This past year, his play, The Hopper Collection, was professionally produced by both the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston on their 900-seat main stage. Both productions were named Critics' Picks by the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle. This summer, the White Horse Theatre Company in Chicago will produce Keep Ishmael, a new musical for which Smart is writing the book and lyrics. He also has two commissions. "Getting paid to write plays feels great, but it feels even better to get paid for plays that I haven't even written yet! I also run a theatre in New York City, the Slant Theatre Project, with two other UE grads. We've had five successful productions so far and the New York Times called us 'the cool kids of downtown theatre.'" Smart attributes much of his success to his UE professors. "The professors helped me become a better thinker, a better writer and a better person. In world cultures, Dr. Carson taught me how to read philosophy and apply it to my own life. In an independent study, Dr. Brown was a mentor on my play, The Bebop Heard in Okinawa, which went on to be presented at a prestigious national event, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. At UE, the professors have the time to give you personal attention – you're not just a nameless face in a lecture hall – and that made all the difference to me." |
