PATRICK BALIANI is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the UA Honors College and an acclaimed playwright. His teaching awards include the University of Arizona Foundation Leicester and Kathryn Sherrill Creative Teaching Award, the Honors College Five Star Faculty Award, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Academic Preparation for Excellence in Teaching (APEX) Award. He has twice received the Humanities Seminars Superior Teaching Award. Patrick’s original plays have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Prescott, and Tucson. He has also translated, adapted, and produced classic works from the Italian, including Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and Dante’s Purgatorio. He was awarded the National Repertory Theatre Foundation National Play Award, the Arizona Theatre Company Genesis New Play Award, and has received fellowships and grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, and other arts organizations.