About Josef Evans

Josef Evans is a playwright, composer, lyricist, librettist and dramaturg based in Minnesota. He was a longtime artistic associate at Minneapolis’ Bedlam Theatre, is a current associate with Open Eye Theatre and a founding artist of the zAmya Theater project, an ongoing collaboration between professional artists and individuals who have experienced housing instability. His plays have been seen locally at History Theatre, Heart of the Beast, Illusion, Pillsbury House, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Walker Art Center, the Guthrie and more. Josef holds a BA in English and Theater from the University of Notre Dame, is a graduate of the University of Washington (Seattle) playwriting program, and has trained with numerous notable artists, including Edward Albee, Augusto Boal, Mame Hunt, Marsha Norman, Mary Lathrop, Liz Lerman, the Los Angeles Poverty Department and Michael Rohd, among others. He (along with the creative team from Open Eye’s production of Nothing is Something) was a 2015 Ivey Award winner for Overall Artistic Excellence.

His career began with a focus on community-engaged performance - he received CLEARCorps/USA’s distinguished service award from Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1999 in Washington, DC for his work in developing a national theater initiative centered on environmental justice issues. He was a 2000 fellowship finalist for Anna Deavere Smith’s Institute for the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University, and co-founder of the Out of the Shadows Initiative, an effort to foster arts programming at Twin Cities shelters and social service providers. Josef’s work over the years has included both plays and musicals for the traditional professional stage and creations with a diverse collection of non-theatrical organizations, including Americorps, St. Stephen’s Housing Services, American Lung Association of Washington, 3M Corporation, the Minnesota Zoo and others. Most recently, he completed a trilogy of outdoor musicals commissioned in partnership with Open Eye Theatre and Minneapolis’ Bakken Museum that played to sold-out runs from 2021-2023. He is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild.