Playwright, educator, and journalist David Dudley, the author of this issue’s feature on Arizona, left Tucson, Ariz., for Chicago in 2010 to join DePaul University’s playwriting program, and recently returned to his former city. When he started working on the story in February, he says, “I’d only been home for a few weeks. I didn’t know what I’d find. I was afraid that the scene hadn’t changed much.” But while reporting, he says, he “found a diverse bunch of people—some from here, others from elsewhere—who are making vital theatre. Everyone I interviewed was passionate about Arizona, theatre, and making new work here. With each conversation, I felt more and more like I was not only in good company, but that I was also home.”

Bay Area journalist Emily Wilson covers an array of topics including the arts, theatre, and education, but she says her profile of outgoing Magic Theatre artistic director Loretta Greco has been “one of the stories I’ve enjoyed working on most,” emphasizing how she “got to talk with people I admire about someone I admire.” After speaking with writers who’ve collaborated with Greco, Wilson says she was “struck by how they talked about her support for them and how the theatre gave them a home—something they said was not typical. So it was a joy to get to talk to these impressive playwrights about the extraordinary lengths Loretta went to in making sure they had what they needed, and how other theatres would produce their work because she had.”