Chicago-born playwright Craig Sodaro wrote his first play in grade school, and he admits it would have closed after the first night—if it got that far. But persistence paid off: by high school he was penning experimental dramas with titles like The Dismembered Pencil. At Marquette University he studied playwriting and had several shows produced by the university theater company, shows that didn’t close after the first night.

With a degree in journalism and English, Sodaro began a 33-year teaching career that included a lot of writing for and directing student and amateur adult productions. While working summers as an interpreter at a national historic park, he formed the Frontier Outlaw Troupe to present weekly melodramas at the park. The first of the popular comedies was Forlorn at the Fort, and that became Sodaro’s first published play when it appeared in Plays Magazine.

Shortly after that, Sodaro sold his first full-length play, Tea and Arsenic, and since has written over 200 plays published by various publishers throughout the country. His works have been translated into several languages and have been produced in every state and many countries around the world, including Sri Lanka, China, Mongolia, South Africa, and Dubai. He has also written four nonfiction books for Capstone Publishers on the history of war, the Marine special ops, Civil War spies, and hot rods.

Now living in Phoenix with his wife Sue, Sodaro writes full-time. They have four grown daughters, and their only pets are the hummingbirds that feed on the patio.