Les Roka 2022Les Roka

I am a native of Toledo, Ohio, having received my Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism in 2002. In addition to teaching at Utah State University and the University of Utah, I have worked extensively in public relations for a variety of organizations including a major metropolitan university, college of osteopathic medicine, and community college. When it comes to intellectual curiosity, I venture into as many areas as possible, whether it’s about music criticism, the history of journalism, the practice of public relations in a Web 2.0 world and the soon-to-arrive Web 3.0 landscape, or how public debates are formed about many issues especially in the political arena. As a Salt Lake City resident, I currently write and edit a blog called The Selective Echo that provides an entertaining, informative, and provocative look at Salt Lake City and its cosmopolitan best. I also have been the U.S. editorial advisor for an online publication Art Design Publicity based in The Netherlands. And, I use social media tools such as Twitter for blogging, networking with journalists and experts, and staying current on the latest trends in culture and news. I also have been a regular monthly contributor to a Utah business magazine, and I have recently conducted a variety of editing projects involving authors and researchers throughout the country and the world, including Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Lebanon, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. I’m also a classically trained musician who spent more than 15 years in a string quartet, being involved in more than 400 performances.

Brad Parry, vice chair of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, tapped for inaugural Schnitzer Prize of the West, for restoration project involving Bear River Massacre site

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To the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Wuda Ogwa is  the name of what we call Bear River. During the winter in 1863, near where Preston, Idaho is located, between 400 and 450 tribal members were killed in one of the deadliest massacres of Native Americans in U.S. history.  Since 2018, when the tribe … Read more

Putting the spotlight on the Utah dance ecosystem, Ballet West’s Choreographic Fest VII set for Donald Byrd world premiere, works by guests Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, SALT Contemporary Dance

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In Utah, dance wears the empress crown in the performing arts. Choreographers and guest dance artists from around the world know well just how broad and deep the dance ecosystem in Utah is, as evidenced by the numerous commissions that have been set on local companies in ballet and contemporary dance over many decades. For … Read more

With bustling, brilliant musicianship, Pioneer Theatre Company’s Utah premiere of Come From Away sparkles in hospitality

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Back in its heyday before jets capable of making the transoceanic long haul became common, Canada’s Gander airport was “basically a pump-and-go station,” as journalist Andrea Sachs described in a 2019 Washington Post feature. “Locals would hitchhike up to the airport to buy ice cream and search for famous faces waiting to reboard, such as … Read more

Impressively harmonious artistic manifesto propels Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts

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In recent years, a continuous string of major exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) has augmented their visual brilliance with overarching themes that speak potently to the evolving gateway role of museums. These exhibitions exemplify an unprecedented degree of sensitivity about the intersecting  spheres of the artist as a messenger of enlightenment … Read more

PYGmalion Theatre Company set to close season with world premiere of Andrea D. Peterson’s (plan c)

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When she was writing (plan c), which the PYGmalion Theatre Company will open this weekend in a world premiere production, playwright Andrea D. Peterson originally thought of titling this new dark comedy, The Day My Vagina Met Richard Gere. In a recent Stage Whisper: Whisper in the Wings podcast interview, she said,  “I was at … Read more

Torment in finding the ‘threshold of the divine’: Exceptional collaboration by Sackerson, Lil Poppet Productions of John Logan’s Red

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I think of my pictures as dramas… They have been created from the need for a group of actors who are able to move dramatically without embarrassment and execute gestures without shame. Neither the action nor the actors can be anticipated, or described in advance. They begin as an unknown adventure in an unknown space. … Read more

Two excellent dance productions: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Link Series, Thayer Jonutz, Out of the Ashes; Samba Fogo’s Chama Do Coração (The Burning Call Of The Heart) 

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The first part of spring has brought numerous dance productions of note. The Utah Review features two recent examples. REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE’S LINK SERIES: THAYER JONUTZ, OUT OF THE ASHES It always is an audacious enterprise for modern dance artists to perform truly as their authentic selves in works choreographed by others, but that sense … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s regional premiere of Murder Ballad delivers the musical goods with provocative, feisty flair; the right lurid touches

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One does not go to Murder Ballad, the wonderful musical by Juliana Nash and Julia Jordan, looking for meaty inventive and intelligent plot elements of a whodunit story. Man and Woman end their relationship, Woman meets New Man but still has feelings for first Man, cheats, and yada yada yada, the situation escalates, ending in … Read more

Capping a blockbuster 60th anniversary season, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Anthology set to be dramatic tribute to history, farewell to dancers Ursula Perry, Caleb Daly

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Capping a blockbuster 60th anniversary season, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Anthology takes on the challenge of curating a handful of works from a catalog approaching 450 in number to emphasize the historical significance of modern dance that is more than 125 years old. With 40% percent of works of historical significance that have been restaged on … Read more

A ravishing evening filled with heart-bursting emotion and endless adrenaline in West Side Story: Broadway and Beyond, Ballet West’s quadruple bill of Utah premieres

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For the ravishing opening night of Ballet West’s quadruple bill connecting the Broadway stage to classical ballet, one could not have launched this unforgettable evening of Utah premieres better than with Alison Olsen playing the last ten bars of Debussy’s Syrinx for solo flute as the prelude for Jerome Robbins’ Antique Epigraphs.  Intimate, delicate and … Read more