About the Playwright

Phil Olson grew up in Edina, Minnesota, was All-Ivy in football and track at Dartmouth College where he majored in mathematics, tried out for the Chicago Bears, went on to get an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and pursued a business career while writing stage plays.

Phil has written 19 published plays that have had 450 productions in eight countries. Thirteen of his plays are published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, including: “A Nice Family Gathering,” "A Nice Family Christmas," “Mom’s Gift,” “Don’t Hug Me,” “A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol,” A Don’t Hug Me County Fair,” “Don’t Hug Me, I’m Pregnant,” “Don’t Hug Me, We’re Married,” "Don't Hug Me, We're Family," "A Twisted Christmas Carol," "Birthday Club," Love...or Best Offer" and “Polyester The Musical.”

His plays have won over 40 playwriting and theatre awards. Two of his plays have been adapted and optioned to made into feature films. Movie actor, Burt Reynolds, saw his play, “A Nice Family Gathering," and had it optioned. After his death, the director renewed the option. Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days) starred in a production of Phil's play, “Mom's Gift,” at the Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester, MI, and is also under option. Phil has also sold two screenplays and script doctored three screenplays that were produced. For more info, visit PhilOlson.com

  INTERVIEW with PHIL OLSON

  Written by Steve Peterson

  During high school and at Dartmouth you excelled and were recognized for sports.  After you graduated college

  you tried out for the Chicago Bears.  What happened to change that career choice?

  I wanted to be a pro football player, but the Chicago Bears didn’t have the same vision that I had.

  They placed me on waivers after a month in training camp. I then went to the University of Chicago

  Graduate School of Business and got an MBA. I could have tried out again the next year, but I decided

  to continue with graduate school. I looked at the math. The average career in the NFL is 3 years. Plus

  you get brain damage. When I look back on it, though, I should have tried out again. You only go around once in life.

  When did you first become interested in theatre?  How did the switch from a career in finance to playwriting come about?

  I was working in commercial real estate in Tampa, Florida when one of my clients asked me to perform in

  “shoot, don’t shoot” training films for the police department. I never acted before but I thought it might be fun,

  so I said yes. I acted in several industrial films playing different roles, a bad guy that gets shot, a husband in

  a domestic dispute, a senator that gets kidnapped. Because they weren’t scripted, I had to improvise my lines.

  I did pretty well improvising, got the acting bug, and started doing sketch comedy and theatre in Florida. It took

  off from there.

  When did you start writing plays and what intrigued you about playwriting?

  I started writing sketch comedy in Tampa, Florida. When I moved to Los Angeles, I wrote my first two-act play

  when I was 40. Prior to that, I had written a couple screenplays that didn’t get made, so I wrote a play. It’s much

  easier to get a play produced than a movie. My third play, “Don’t Hug Me,” was my first attempt at a musical. I

  started writing the book and the lyrics, but I didn’t have any experience writing music, so I asked my brother, Paul,

  if he would compose the music. My brother is a doctor, a nephrologist, living in Minnesota. He was in the band all

  thru college, and as it turns out, is very good at composing music. He’s written the music to all four “Don’t Hug Me”

  musicals. We are currently working on the fifth “Don’t Hug Me” musical that will open in 2014.

  When did you get involved with the Group Rep and mounting the world premiere of your plays there?

  I joined the Group Rep in 1994. Lonny Chapman gave me my first break as a playwright by mounting my first world

  premiere, “Crappie Talk,” in 1997. He then did the world premiere of my next play, “A Nice Family Gathering,” in 2000,

  “A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol” in 2006, “A Don’t Hug Me County Fair” in 2009, and now “Mom’s Gift” which opend

  December 6th, 2013.

  What are some of the topics and themes you approach with your work?

  I grew up in an emotionally reserved Scandinavian household in Minnesota. The closest we came to hugging was an

  arm’s length, pat on the shoulders, awkward hug. My father would tell us that he was the Norwegian who loved his wife

  so much, he almost told her. There’s a lot of comedy in that kind of upbringing. The themes in my plays revolve around

  emotionally reserved, non-communicative families, that in the end, learn that it’s okay to hug and to say, I love you.

  The DON’T HUG ME series of plays with music that you wrote with your brother have been very successful and performed throughout

  the country and have been published by Samuel French, as have a few other plays that wrote.  To what do you attribute the success of this

  series of plays?

  I think they play in so many cities around the country because the themes in the DON’T HUG ME musicals are universal.

  A lot of people can relate to someone in their life who is emotionally reserved, who has a hard time communicating their

  affection. Also, people like regional plays and musicals like “Greater Tuna” or “Pump Boys & Dinnettes.” The DON’T HUG ME

  musicals take place in a small town in northern Minnesota, and that quirky environment is appealing to people around the

  country. They’re also successful because of the small cast (five characters), and being able to use a sound track for the songs.

  You don’t need a band. So they are very inexpensive to produce.

  MOM’S GIFT already has buzz, having won numerous playwriting awards at contests and festivals throughout the United States. 

  What is MOM’S GIFT about?

  MOM’S GIFT is a comedy with a heart. Mom has been dead for 11 months and shows up at her husband’s birthday party

  as a ghost with a mission. Like Clarence in “It’s A Wonderful Life,” she has to accomplish a task to earn her wings. Only what

   the task actually is, is a mystery. There are so many things to fix. The problem is complicated by the fact that the only person

  who can hear or see Mom is her daughter who has been ordered by the court to spend Dad’s birthday with him as part of her

  Anger Management Program. One by one the family's secrets are peeled away revealing a shocking truth that surprises even our ghost.

  What do you want the audience to feel or take away from having seen your play?

  I want the audience to really enjoy the play. I want them to laugh and to cry, and to feel the emotions that the characters on stage

  are feeling. In a review for one of my plays, the critic said he went home and told his daughter that he loved her. That would be

  nice if they told someone they loved them after seeing MOM’S GIFT.

  What’s up next for you (in regards to your writing, acting, etc.)?

  I’m working with my brother on DON’T HUG ME, WE’RE MARRIED, the fifth in the DON’T HUG ME series. It will open in 2014.

  Is there anything else you want us to know about you (career) or the current production at the Group Rep?

  I hope that everyone comes out and see MOM’S GIFT. MOM’S GIFT has won more awards than any of my other plays at this

  point and people are telling me it’s my best work. It just might be. I’m very proud of it.