About H.E. Dunkle
Howdy! I'm H.E. Dunkle. The best way to describe what exactly I do is "page and stage storyteller." I write scripts for live theatre performance, help produce live theatre performances, and write short stories, poems, and books!
Some fast facts about me:
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I have a B.A. in English and Theatre Studies from the University of Sioux Falls
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My full-time "side-quest" is working as a substitute teacher in my city's public school district
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I have worked on roughly 35 collegiate and community theatre productions within the last five years
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My favorite place to write is a Scooters coffee shop
About My Work
A lot of my stories stem from very personal, authentic topics. I want each story I create to leave the audience with something to think about, and oftentimes, something to inspire them to keep going.
My first name is Hope, and my last name, Dunkle, is a respelling of the German word dunkel. . . dark. Yes, my name literally mean "hope in the darkness." But no, I don't write a lot about that theme just because it's my name. I write about it because it's a big part of who I am, how I'm still here, and what I wish to leave behind.
Whether it be a sprawling saga set in a fantasy sci-fi adventure series, or a play set in the home of a mom and two sisters, I keep speaking on the concept of hope in the darkness, the light at the end of the tunnel, because there have been so many moments in my own life where I've clung to art to keep going. Listening to musical soundtracks, reading a book, seeing a play. Stories have often been that light in the darkness for me. So I create my own stories to inspire that same light in others.