Les RokaLes 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.

A fine ode to motherhood and theatre in world premiere performance at Pygmalion Theatre Company of Julie Jensen’s Mother, Mother: The Many Mothers of Maude

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When a play’s story arises from events or figures of Utah history, playwright Julie Jensen, whose works have been produced outside of Utah more frequently than any other local playwright, always succeeds in crafting a credible fictional narrative with a scrupulous eye toward framing the script’s framework with historical accuracy. In her award-winning play, Two-Headed, … Read more

Superb acting, design, directing mark world premiere Plan-B Theatre production of Morag Shepherd’s My Brother Was A Vampire

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In Morag Shepherd’s two-hander My Brother Was A Vampire, the banter between siblings of Callum and Skype is often crisp, tart and sardonic but the music, lighting and sound design in the play are the elements that truly bring forth the darkness, vulnerability and brutality underlying their story. There is nothing milquetoast in the outstanding … Read more

Ballet West’s Rodeo underscores alchemy of good artistic programming for profoundly moving evening

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review is pleased to present this review by guest writer Chris Myers of Argyle Arts. Good artistic programming can result in a performance that is more meaningful than the sum of its already formidable parts. Paired properly, works interact with one another, providing new perspectives and highlighting themes that might otherwise … Read more

Andrey Gugnin, 2014 gold medalist in Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation competition, returns to SLC Nov. 11 with Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Ravel works

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Russian pianist Andrey Gugnin has good reasons to love Rachmaninoff. At the age of 28, in 2014, Gugnin took the gold medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation Competition in 2014, with his performance of the composer’s Third Piano Concerto. Two years later, after winning the gold media at the Sydney International Piano Competition, … Read more

Reviews roundup: Bachauer’s Schubert piano sonatas, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Connect with Beauty, Westminster College Performing Arts’ Pushing Boundaries, Ebola Cherries’ Digital Drag Is Dead

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Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation: Kuok-Wai Lio The 2022-23 concert series of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation opened with a masterly display of holistic musical emotion in Kuok-Wai Lio’s presentation of Schubert’s final three piano sonatas. A 2005 Bachauer gold medalist, Kuok-Wai delivered a memorable valedictory performance of these works, showing his profound admiration … Read more

Popping every kernel of song, dance and comedy perfectly, Broadway-bound Shucked receives a splendid world premiere at Pioneer Theatre Company

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There has been a smattering of musicals on and off Broadway which not only had stories based in rural America but also had country music and songs as part of the book and score. They include rousing shows such as Pump Boys and Dinettes, Floyd Collins, Smoke on the Mountain and A Good Old Fashioned … Read more

Pygmalion Theatre Company set to open 2022-23 season with world premiere of Julie Jensen’s Mother, Mother: The Many Mothers of Maude

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In the summer of 1914, The Green Book Magazine, then a widely followed periodical about the American theater, published installments by Annie Adams Kiskadden, who wrote about her life as an actor in Utah and in New York City. But, the real draw of these autobiographical installments was her daughter, the more famous performer of … Read more

Spy Hop Productions to mark 20th anniversary of PitchNic with Nov. 3 premiere of four student-produced short films

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PitchNic, one of Spy Hop Productions’ signature programs,is marking its 20th anniversary this year and is doing so in the manner it knows best, with young Utah filmmakers making their creative debuts in impressive fashion. In its two decades, the PitchNic film program at Spy Hop Productions has succeeded because student filmmakers first learn the … Read more

Plan-B Theatre sets world premiere in Nov. 3-13 run of Morag Shepherd’s My Brother Was A Vampire

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In the 2004 novel, Let the Right One In, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, which later was adapted into Swedish and American films as well as a theatrical production, a preteen boy becomes friends with a new neighbor, whom he realizes is a vampire. It is a fine example of a story that bridges … Read more

From Missouri to Utah: Alisa McCusker joins the Utah Museum of Fine Arts as senior curator

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Among the museum curator’s most valuable skills is to demystify and make accessible to exhibition visitors the opportunity to interpret the stories behind the creation of great works of art, whether they were made 500 years ago or even within the past several months. For her doctoral dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, … Read more