Samuel D. Hunter

Samuel D. Hunter (born 1981) is an American playwright living in New York City.

Hunter was born and raised in Moscow, Idaho. He is best known for plays A Bright New Boise, which won the 2011 Obie Award for playwriting, and The Whale, which won the 2013 Drama Desk Award and the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. He is also the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship. He has also been a guest lecturer at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Fordham University, and other universities.

Hunter is also a writer and producer for the television show Baskets. A film adaptation of The Whale, written by Hunter and directed by Darren Aronofsky, was released in December 2022 and received two Academy Awards.

Produced plays

 * Five Genocides (2010)
 * Jack's Precious Moment (2010)
 * A Bright New Boise (2010)
 * Norway (2011)
 * A Permanent Image (2011)
 * The Whale (2012)
 * Pocatello (2014)
 * The Few (2014)
 * A Great Wilderness (2014)
 * Rest (2014)
 * Clarkston (2015)
 * Lewiston (2016)
 * The Healing (2016)
 * The Harvest (2016)
 * Lewiston/Clarkston (2018)
 * Greater Clements (2019)
 * A Case for the Existence of God (2022)
 * Little Bear Ridge Road (2024)

Awards and honors

 * 2008–2009 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York Fellowship
 * 2011 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Play
 * 2011 Obie Award for Playwriting
 * 2012 Whiting Award
 * 2013 Resident Playwright at Arena Stage
 * 2013 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theatre (Broadway and Off-Broadway)
 * 2013 Drama Desk Special Award
 * 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play
 * 2014 MacArthur Fellowship
 * 2015 Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Idaho
 * 2019 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Play
 * 2013–2020 Resident Playwright at New Dramatists
 * 2020 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Play
 * Premiere Writer-in-Residence at Signature Theatre Company
 * 2022 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play
 * 2023 Critics Choice Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
 * 2023 BAFTA Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
 * 2023 Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award