A Complete Guide to the Plays of Samuel D. Hunter

Samuel D. Hunter’s plays have quietly shaped contemporary American drama. Known for their compassionate look at working-class lives in his native Idaho, Hunter’s works explore faith, loneliness, community, and redemption with remarkable empathy. Hunter (finally) just made his Broadway debut in 2025 with Little Bear Ridge Road, now running at the Booth Theatre.

"I never write a play thinking the play has like, a thesis statement," he recently told BroadwayWorld. "I think what I'm after with every single play is just catharsis. Just the experience of having gone through something that is hopefully profound."

Hunter’s voice has firmly entered the mainstream spotlight—making now the perfect time to revisit the plays that led him here...

A Bright New Boise

Set in a breakroom inside a Hobby Lobby in Boise, Idaho, the play centers on Will, a displaced member of an Evangelical church who takes a low-wage job and tries to rebuild his life while reconnecting with his estranged teenage son. 

Production History: Premiered in 2010 and won the Obie Award for Playwriting and quickly established Hunter as a major voice in American theatre. A 2023 Signature Theatre revival reintroduced the piece to New York audiences.

The Whale

Charlie, a reclusive and severely obese man living in rural Idaho, attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter as his health declines. The play grapples with grief, spirituality, and forgiveness with stunning tenderness.

Production History: Premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2012, starring Shuler Hensley, The Whale received critical acclaim and later reached a wider audience with Darren Aronofsky’s 2022 film adaptation, which earned Brendan Fraser an Academy Award.

Pocatello

Set in an Italian chain restaurant in Pocatello, Idaho, the play follows Eddie, a restaurant manager watching both his family and his town fall apart. Over awkward staff dinners and strained family conversations, the story captures the erosion of community and identity in small-town America.

Production History: Premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2014, starring T.R. Knight. It further cemented Hunter’s reputation for humane, character-driven storytelling rooted in the American interior.

The Few

A lonely Idaho truck-stop newsroom becomes the unlikely setting for a tense reunion between former lovers and business partners. As they publish personal ads for truckers seeking connection, their own complicated past threatens to derail their future.

Production History: First produced at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2014, the play showcased Hunter’s growing fascination with isolation and found family.

Lewiston / Clarkston

Twin one-acts that explore legacy, land, and the weight of American history through descendants of Lewis and Clark living in modern-day Idaho and Washington. The plays examine the myth of the American frontier—and the people still living in its shadow.

Production History: Initially staged separately, the plays were later paired in an immersive two-evening event at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2018.

The Harvest

Inside a spare church basement in Idaho, a group of young missionaries prepares for a life-changing trip to the Middle East. As doubts and desires surface, the play becomes a deeply sympathetic look at faith, purpose, and belonging.

Production History: Premiered at Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 in 2016, introducing many audiences to Hunter’s nuanced approach to religious themes.

Greater Clements

In a rapidly-emptying mining town in Idaho, Maggie, a former museum owner, faces the question of whether to leave her hometown forever. The arrival of an old friend forces her to confront memory, trauma, and the meaning of home.

Production History: Premiered at Lincoln Center Theater in 2019, starring Judith Ivey and Edmund Donovan. Nominated for multiple Drama Desk Awards, the production underscored Hunter’s ability to find drama in quiet stories of fractured communities.

A Case for the Existence of God

Two fathers in Twin Falls—one white and one Black, one struggling economically—form an unexpected bond through shared financial pressures and emotional vulnerability. Hunter offers a profound and poetic meditation on connection and dignity.

Production History: Premiered at Signature Theatre in 2022. The play won the 2022 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.

I Am Montana

Eben, fresh from a stint in the Israeli Army, returns to Montana for a road-trip to deliver a corporate presentation at a big-box store. Along the way he’s joined by Tommy (a concerned Best Friend) and Dirk (a meth-addicted co-worker who admires him), and Eben carries a flower, a suitcase, and a secret. 

Production History: First developed in a reading at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in 2007. The play went on to productions including London’s Arcola Theatre and Chicago’s Mortar Theater. 

Five Genocides 

Katie is determined to finish writing a book she never started — and in the meantime finds herself tangled with a new friend at the Fashion Bug, in-laws who are deluded, drunk and dog-obsessed, and a mounting sense of the world’s cruelty and injustice. A sharply absurdist piece that begins in mundane settings but undercuts with existential ache. 

Production History: Premiered at Clubbed Thumb’s SummerWorks festival at the Ohio Theatre in June 2010. 

Jack’s Precious Moment 

The play explores a carnival ride of sorts—Jack experiences an existential crisis atop the ride, contemplating a suicidal act in a moment of poetic clarity rather than sheer despair. Hunter describes its tone as darker absurdist comedy. 

Production History: Produced by Page 73 Productions in 2010 at 59E59 in New York. 

Norway 

Production History: One of Hunter’s earlier full-length works; initial productions and readings were mounted at Idaho regional theatres.

A Permanent Image 

Siblings Bo and Ally return to their Idaho childhood home for their father’s funeral; their mother Carol has painted the entire house white and is suspected of drinking. Through home-videos of the father and shifting alliances, the play explores what it takes to reconnect when the family has drifted apart.

Production History: Premiered at Boise Contemporary Theatre in November 2011, directed by Kip Fagan. 

A Great Wilderness 

Production History: Premiered in 2014; one of the trio of major 2014 plays that solidified Hunter’s reputation nationally. 

Rest

Production History: One of Hunter’s 2014 works; produced by South Coast Repertory among others. 

The Healing 

Production History: Premiered in 2016 with Theater Breaking Through Barriers.

Grangeville 

Two estranged half-brothers—Jerry, still living in Grangeville, Idaho and navigating a failing marriage and family obligations, and Arnold, who moved to Amsterdam to escape their past—reconnect virtually when their ailing mother becomes the catalyst. Memory, forgiveness and the stories we tell ourselves become central. 

Production History: World premiere Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre Company in 2025.

Little Bear Ridge Road

And aunt/nephew in rural Idaho reunite after a family death, wrestling with grief, responsibility, and their own diverging futures. 

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