Retired SMSU?theater professor William Hezlep pens the last two plays in series

MARSHALL – Marshall area residents might be surprised to know there is a playwright living among them. Dr. William Earl Hezlep, theater professor emeritus at Southwest Minnesota State University, has written more than 30 plays. He has recently completed what he calls his “swan song” – the last two plays in his “Travelers” adventure series.

The plays, “Dracula’s Coffin” and “Murder at Midnight,” are plays for children published by Players Press.

“Those two are probably the last two,” he said.

The plays are performed nationally and locally. “Murder at Midnight” was performed in The Black Box Theatre last April during the writers’ festival at SMSU.

Some of his plays have been nominated or have won awards. “Nessie,” the first in his “Travelers” series, was the winner of the fourth annual Neighborhood Arts Playwriting Contest in Minneapolis in 1978. “Ghost Town” was the winner of the Children’s Playwriting Contest in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1981. It was performed there as well.

“‘Ghost Town’ was very successful,” said Hezlep.

Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr., who is famous for appearing in “The Wire” and “Law and Order” and is currently appearing in “Pete’s Dragon,” graduated from Southwest under Hezlep’s tutelage. He wrote a letter of recommendation for Hezlep who was under consideration for a playwriting award.

“I am very pleased to provide this letter of recommendation on behalf of William Earl Hezlep.” the letter said. “It gives me great pleasure to express my admiration and respect for his diverse body of work as a writer, teacher, mentor, and professional man of the theatre. Although William Earl Hezlep has written many plays, I feel ‘1105 Braddock’ is one of his best, and I urge you to consider it for the Relentless Award.”

His adventure series was sparked by traveling the world with his children.

“Everywhere I went with the kids, I’d get an idea, whether it was Egypt, the Cayman Islands,” he said. “For the ‘Treasure of the Mayans’ we were in Cozumel and then we went over to Chichn Itz.”

The main characters, Erin and Dirk, are named after Hezlep’s children. Other children in the plays are named after grandchildren such as Elizabeth, Will and Amanda.

“They like them,” he said. “They think they’re fun.”

The plays are meant to be performed by students in “middle school close to high school,” Hezlep said.

Hezlep said playwriting is an “avocation” rather than a vocation – something he has done for fun over the years starting in the 1970s.

“Very few have made money,” he said. “It’s been fun more than anything.”

The only way he knows if the plays are being produced is when he receives the occasional royalty check in the mail.

Hezlep started his academic career studying journalism, but after appearing in a few plays, switched to theater, obtaining his master’s and then Ph.D.

“I did some film acting in Detroit – industrial films,” he said. “Being an actor helps create the characters.”

Hezlep said he likes to the make the plays “entertaining while also educating. I try not to beat a message in there, but there are positive messages about behavior.”

Hezlep said writing the plays and having them published has given him a sense of “fulfillment and accomplishment.”