Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906) was a Norwegian dramatist and is considered the father of the modem drama. He first won worldwide attention with A DOLL'S HOUSE (1879). His next play, GHOSTS, dealt openly with the topic of venereal disease and aroused great opposition. He replied to his critics by writing AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (1881), where he showed that an individual may be right while society is wrong. His other plays include PEER GYNT (1867), THE WILD DUCK (1884), ROSMERSHOLM (1886), THE LADY FROM THE SEA (1888), HEDDA GABLER (1890), THE MASTER BUILDER (1892), LITTLE EYOLF (1894), JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN (1896), and WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN (1899).

Eric Overmyer is a playwright and a television writer and producer. He graduated as a theater major from Reed College in 1973. His plays include ON THE VERGE, THE HELIOTROPE BOUQUET, IN A PIG'S VALISE, DON QUIXOTE DE LA JOLLA, NATIVE SPEECH, MI VIDA LOCA, IN PERPETUITY THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE, and DARK RAPTURE. Mr Overmyer has written extensively for television, including for Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire and Law & Order, and has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. He received an Edgar Award for the television feature Rear Window. Overmyer was also a co-creator of the HBO series Treme, about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans.