It's not the first time Hodgin has found personal connections in directing Jensen's plays. "The first time I directed her 'Last Lists of My Mad Mother,' my own mother had just passed away about four months earlier from Alzheimer's. The second time I directed it — just last year — I was more distanced, but Julie really has a handle on these types of things.

"I can't remember, maybe it was 15 years ago, when I produced the first show of hers that had come to my attention ('White Money'). She is a remarkable talent, and I am so impressed with her as a playwright and a person. As far as writing women's roles, I don't think anyone else can do it better. I have never met anyone who I think has that sort of singular focus that Julie does. Other writers are sometimes sidetracked by other themes."

Most of Hodgin's involvement with Jensen's plays has been through the Mill Mountain Theatre's Norfolk Southern New Play Festival, which he founded. After that company axed the new-play festival, Hodgin moved west. He is now an associate professor of theater at the University of Idaho in Moscow and is producing artistic director of the Idaho Repertory Theatre.

Both the university and IRT teamed up last year to do a workshop production of "Billion Dollar Baby" featuring Patty Duke. "We did it along with four or five other shorter plays. Julie did significant rewrites based on the audiences' reaction during the public readings.

"When Julie first brought the script into that rehearsal process, it was about two hours long. She pared it down to about an hour and 25 minutes, and now (the version that Salt Lakers will see) it's another 10 minutes shorter."

Hodgin noted that local actress Dee Macaluso is dealing very well with the changes, including some rewrites just the day before this interview. "Her background includes being an improv actor, and someone told me that Dee had also taught improv acting, and I don't doubt that. She has a remarkable facility for making changes, and her work as a stand-up is also good."

The director is also pleased with the way Jensen handles the rewriting process. "What is on the page — and she's a very smart writer — is Julie's capacity to rewrite. She has a sense of 'that's not working,' and rather than keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole, she keeps changing it."

Although he's lived and worked most of his life in the East and the South, Hodgin has quickly adapted to his relocated life in northern Idaho. One big plus is that he's much closer to his two children — his son in Denver and a daughter in Oakland, Calif.

He's also had the opportunity to work with the Missoula Writers Colony and the Phoenix Theatre's New Play Festival. In addition, Hodgin has served as a National Endowment for the Arts site visitor and as a member of the NEA's Creativity Panel.

But he said the move to Idaho has enabled him to do more freelance directing.

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E-mail: ivan@desnews.com