He performs dual roles as playwright, arts lobbyist

Locally, Dan Hunter is known best as an arts advocate. As executive director of Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Hunter works the State House, lobbying for funding. But that's just one side of him.

In his native Iowa, Hunter, who once worked on a farm, developed a following for his spoof songs, plays, and books, including ''Let's Keep Des Moines a Private Joke." His new play, ''Red Elm," runs through Dec. 18 at Boston Playwrights' Theatre.

Q: What is ''Red Elm" about?

A: It's about a family. It's a little bit like the story of Esau and Jacob in the Bible. A man is trying to come to terms with his life. He thinks he's dying and his son is trying to get control of the farm. There is a second son in the play. He's dead, but he still has a strong hold on the father's mind because he's built him up to be his hero.

Q: What sort of performing did you do in Iowa?

A: I used to do a lot of farm shows. Agricultural shows. Cattle feeders. Iowa Soybean Association. I sang songs that I wrote.

Q: What were they called?

A: ''Corn Bean Rotations." . . .''The Ballad of the Iowa Pork Queen." It's all satire humor. . . . I worked my way up to being a head herdsman on a daily farm. That meant I was the guy who did the milking. That'll make advocacy work look good to you.

Q: Not many people in your audience will know about farming.

A: They don't have to. This is really about family. It just happens to be set on a farm in Iowa.

Q: Is there anything similar between your work with legislators and your writing?

A: I think it has to do with understanding the motives of other characters and having empathy. I think [House Speaker] Sal DiMasi could become a good playwright.

Q: How about Mitt Romney? Has he got it in him?

A: I think he's on another career track.

Q: Are people surprised when they find out Dan Hunter, that guy who runs MAASH, has a play?

A: They are. They see you in one context and don't see you in another. When I was at the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, I was the director -- a cabinet-level position -- but I was known in Iowa as a humorist. Why is a humorist the head of a state cabinet position? I said then I was an artist when I took the job and I'll be an artist when I leave the job, so I'll be an artist when I'm on the job.