Samuel Hunter, an Iowa Playwrights Workshop alum, penned the screenplay of the Darren Aronofsky-directed film The Whale, based on his 2012 play. Hunter used some of his personal experience growing up gay and attending a fundamentalist religious school in Idaho as inspiration for The Whale, which tells the story of a reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher who tries to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
On this episode, we listen back to a 2023 conversation with Hunter. We learn about the characters and relationships in this play-turned-film, its response and recognition and his cherished experiences as a student at the University of Iowa's MFA program in playwrighting. Hunter will be speaking at the University of Iowa on Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Iowa Memorial Union.
Then we listen back to a 2025 conversation with Emili Johnson, who created a blog and podcast about the Black experience in Iowa. She discusses her experience growing up in Iowa and what is in store for future podcast episodes. The first episode of Season 3 of the podcast was released Oct. 19, 2026.
Portions of this episode were originally produced in Feb. 2023 and Aug. 2025.
Guests:
- Samuel D. Hunter, award-winning playwright, screenwriter
- Emili Johnson, educator, founder, Black. Girl. Iowa.
