Theatre
This fall, the Theatre Arts Program once again collaborated with the Sun Valley Playwright’s Residency and its 2025-2026 Resident Playwright, Tony Award Winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Stephen Karam. Students presented Karam’s play, “Speech & Debate.” Public readings took place in October and featured Boise State Theatre Arts majors, staff and alumni. These events offered students and the community a rare opportunity to engage with an acclaimed playwright.
Students traveled to Ketchum, Idaho, to read at the Liberty Theatre to a crowd of Sun Valley Playwright’s Festival attendees and gave a second reading at Boise Contemporary Theatre. The partnership between the Theatre Arts Program, the Sun Valley Playwright’s Residency, and Boise Contemporary Theatre continues to be fruitful and meaningful for our students.
Film
Boise State film students teamed up with Casita Nepantla, the campus organization dedicated to Latino and Chicano culture, to create a documentary about alum Bobby Gaytan (BA, graphic design, 2001). The documentary explores the life and work of Gaytan, whose murals bring vivid color and messages of inclusivity to public spaces throughout the region.
Gaytan, the son of migrant farm workers, spent his youth in Texas working in the fields and finding artistic inspiration in street art and graffiti. His works include “Groovin,” a painting of a young musician and his guitar on the side of the Alaska Center in Boise, a mural at the Hispanic Cultural Center in Nampa portraying small-town life and another at the Boise Co-op’s Meridian branch promoting fair trade.
The Gaytan project marks a milestone for the university’s growing film program: It was the first project in the program’s first documentary production class. The project offers hands-on experiences for students that will be valuable beyond their time on campus. Thanks to Casita Nepantla’s sponsorship, it also offers them a paycheck to film, edit, interview and hone their storytelling skills.
Creative Writing
Creative Writing Professor Mitch Wieland, one of the co-founders of the Creative Writing MFA Program at Boise State, was selected to be the 2026-2027 Idaho Writer in Residence by The Idaho Commission on the Arts. This is the state’s highest literary honor. The two-year Writer in Residence appointment involves serving as Idaho’s literary ambassador, conducting readings and outreach programs across the state. Arts Idaho selects the Idaho Writer in Residence through a highly competitive, peer-reviewed process. The appointment “recognizes an Idaho author’s exceptional achievement and ongoing commitment to fostering the literary arts statewide,” according to their website.
“As Writer in Residence, I hope to continue building connections among Idaho’s diverse literary communities,” Wieland said. “After nearly thirty years of teaching and writing here, I’m eager to give back—to help writers in every corner of the state find their voices and audiences.