Erik Ramsey shares teaching duties with Charles Smith in the M.F.A. Playwriting Program at Ohio University and is also head of the B.F.A. playwriting program. His latest play, Lions Lost (In Translation), has been developed at numerous regional theaters including Cleveland Public Theatre, American Stage, the Tony-award winning Victory Gardens and Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre. He is currently writing a historical drama about the surprising turn of events that boosted Joseph Smith from life as a small-time con-artist to Prophet of the Mormon Church. As a professional new play dramaturge he has consulted in the development of a number of award-winning plays—most recently Julie Jensen's Dust Eaters, nominated by the American Theatre Critics Association for best new play produced outside New York in 2005, and one of four finalists for the PEN USA 2006 Literary Awards for Drama. His two textbooks, The Art of Theatre: Then and Now and Experiencing the Art of Theatre, have recently been published by Thomson/Wadsworth (2006), and in January 2007 he was awarded a Kennedy Center Faculty Fellowship for his work in new play development.
