‘Wild Rides and Wildflowers’ is worthy new entry in literary canon of Utah Enlightenment

Wild Rides and Wildflowers

By just mentioning death camas (a plant known very well especially by Western sheep ranchers) in their new book ‘Wild Rides and Wildflowers,’ two Utah Valley University scholars lead readers to several epiphanies, as they recount four years of press columns they wrote about riding the Great Western Trail on Mount Timpanogos. The plant becomes … Read more

As close to perfection as possible: Plan-B Theatre’s ‘3’ makes riveting case against perfection

Plan-B Theatre

In each of the short plays that comprise Eric Samuelsen’s latest work ‘3,’ Platonic notions of order and perfection are treated with stunningly effective realism. Plan-B Theatre’s latest premiere brings audiences close to the Mormon soldiers of ambition – women who crave validation, status and institutional acceptance and who desire getting something tangible or identifiable … Read more

NHMU exhibit demonstrates clearly Utah’s passion for making, eating great chocolate

solstice venezuelan chocolate

One of the best indicators of just how enthusiasm for fine chocolate has grown in Utah in less than a decade is the response to the chocolate exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. It’s not uncommon for the exhibit, which chronicles neatly the long cultural and anthropological history of … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s ‘3’ addresses the ‘casualties of perfectionism’ among Mormon women

3 by plan theatre featured image

Although he calls it an “odd quirk” in his writing process, listening to certain kinds of music has been quite helpful for Eric Samuelsen in shaping the rhythmic and thematic flows of his plays. For example, in a play-in-progress about 11th century papal politics, he finds listening to rock ‘n’ roll from the late 1950s … Read more

Clearing thoughts on a tough subject: Highly entertaining Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Clearing Bombs’

'Clearing Bombs'

NOTE: Les Roka appreciates Mark Alvarez, an attorney and immigration expert who happens to have studied economics as an undergraduate student, for reviewing Plan-B Theatre’s latest premiere, ‘Clearing Bombs’ which runs through March 2. There are still a few seats available for the remaining performances and ticket information can be found at www.planbtheatre.org. Photos courtesy … Read more

Utah ‘Transmormon’ film by OHO Media, VideoWest garners Artistic Vision Award at Big Sky Film Fest

Eri Hayward, today

‘The most striking thing about the crowd is their ordinariness: just a bunch of earnest suburban moms and dads, accompanied by young children still so androgynous-looking that the trans kids are indistinguishable from their non-trans siblings.’ — Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Rolling Stone Magazine, Nov. 7, 2013 Eri Hayward, the young Utah woman at the heart … Read more

For Utah school children, Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Different=Amazing’ aims to create new spaces for addressing bullying

Plan-B Theatre 'Different=Amazing'

The literary arts have emerged as a potent platform for addressing bullying. Recent books such as the compilation ‘Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories;’ ‘One,’ a picturebook by Katherine Otashi, and ‘The Misfits,’ in which one of the main characters is inspired by her interaction with J. K. Rowling’s books to form a political … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Clearing Bombs’ seeks to bring sense to the clash of economic principles

plan b theatre clearing bombs featured image

‘Having spent much of the past three years reading and writing about this subject, I wonder whether it is even worth engaging with these arguments. The aversion to government spending, and government activity generally, which animates many Americans isn’t actually based on economics, or logic: it is an emotionally driven belief system, founded upon a … Read more