Samuel Hunter is an American playwright. He was born in the small town of Moscow, Idaho, and graduated with a BFA in playwriting from New York University. He then completed an MFA in playwriting at the University of Iowa and an Artist Diploma from Juilliard. His best-known play is The Whale, which won the Drama Desk Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play in 2013. The Whale was adapted into a movie in 2022. His other plays include Rest and Pocatello. Hunter received a MacArthur Genius Grant Fellowship in 2014. His work has been produced at Dallas Theatre Center, Seattle Rep, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
Hunter is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and an ensemble playwright at Victory Gardens. His work often features unlikely protagonists and explores regret, empathy, and disappointment. There are autobiographical elements in many of Hunter's plays: The Whale is set in his hometown of Moscow, Idaho, and Rest is set elsewhere in Idaho. Hunter also writes and produces the television show Baskets.
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