Janet Preus

 

 

Janet Preus’ plays include The Gift, a musical with Ed Kee and T.W. Hale; Snip, Snap, Snute, a family musical with Margi Preus and Dieter Frank; Hank & Jesus, with Bryan Cumming; Welcome to Hell, Please Choose from the Following Options, with Jane Sanderson and Josh Will; Water from Snow, a contemporary musical with Robert Elhai and Fred Steele, now in development.

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Her work has been produced or developed by Nautilus Music Theatre; Stages Festival of New Musicals, Chicago; Pantochino Productions; ThinkSelf at Open Eye Figure Theatre; New Musical Theatre Exchange; Little Lifeboats; and others.

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She has been awarded grants from the McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and has co-produced projects awarded grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Minneapolis. She was one of 10 recipients nationwide awarded a scholarship to attend the 2015 Dramatists Guild Conference in La Jolla, Calif. She’s won national songwriting awards, and state awards in print and broadcast journalism. She has several personal essays and dozens of magazine articles published.

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She is a member of The Playwrights Center, Dramatists Guild of America, a founding member of New Musical Theatre Exchange, and a board member of the Minneapolis Writers Workshop. 

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She earned a bachelor’s degree in English education from Luther College, Decorah, and in speech and theater from Hamline University, St. Paul. She earned a Master of Liberal Arts (theater concentration) from Moorhead State University.

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She has many years of experience teaching and directing educational theater and reviewed Twin Cities (Minnesota) theater for www.howwastheshow.com for many years. (www.janetpreus.com)