Keith Engar

Keith Maurice Engar was a producer, director, actor, writer, and teacher. He began his career at KSL radio at the age of 16. He contributed to the theatre department at the University of Utah beginning in 1951, where he was a professor and chairman of the department from 1964 to 1981. He founded and managed KUED and KUER (the University of Utah’s television and public radio stations) and was director of radio-TV services. He was also dean of the College of Fine Arts. He also organized the U. Classic Greek Theatre Festival and directed the first production.

He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Utah, and his PhD from the University of Minnesota.

Engar also served as executive producer of Pioneer Theatre Company. He was founder and member of several national broadcasting and theater organizations. The green room of the Pioneer Memorial Theatre was renamed the Engar room in his honor in 2004. He directed “Promised Valley” productions for five years.

The Utah Governor’s Award in the Arts proclaimed him a “pioneer, innovator and artist who enhanced art to its highest degree.”[1]

Engar was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his callings included MIA general board member, chairman of the Church General Activities Committee, and bishop. He wrote Church productions “All in Favor” (1967) and “Right Honorable Saint” (about the life of Karl G. Maeser, 1975), and “Montrose Crossing,” a thoughtful look at the exodus from Nauvoo.

Born in Preston, Idaho, on April 2, 1923, he passed away on February 9, 1994. He and his wife, Amy, were the parents of four children