Literature

In gorgeous jewel box production, Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Janine Sobeck Knighton’s The Beatrix Potter Defense Society becomes creative testament of courage

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Collectively, the words ‘fear’ and ‘afraid’ or some variant appear at least 30 times in the script for Janine Sobeck Knighton’s new play The Beatrix Potter Defense Society, in a gorgeous jewel box of a production by Plan-B Theatre. Set in 1882 on the grounds of England’s Wray Castle, Ambleside (Cumbria), in the Lake District, … Read more

Ballet West’s Family Classic Series revives Aladdin this weekend in three performances

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For this weekend’s Ballet West revival of Aladdin as part of the company’s Family Classics Series, audiences will have an excellent opportunity to see some of the rising stars of ballet’s newest generation. For example, in 2018, when Aladdin was last presented, it featured many current Ballet West artists in early roles, including Principal Artist … Read more

Plan-B Theatre set for world premiere of Janine Sobeck Knighton’s The Beatrix Potter Defense Society

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In her posthumously published The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson, the marine biologist whose writings on environmentalism and conservation are as relevant as ever, wrote, “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the … Read more

Torrey House Press series: Teow Lim Goh’s Bitter Creek excels in epic poem form for its edifying power as historical testament

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Why do we no longer turn to epic poetry to portray the majesty and tragedy of history? Michael Auslin, writer and editor, explained, “No art form – and History is ultimately an art – can portray the pathos and grandeur of history quite like epic poetry. Could its return somehow bridge the divide between academics … Read more

Torrey House Press series: Craig Childs’ The Wild Dark riveting masterpiece of creative nonfiction on stargazing with a full-dark sky

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in an ongoing series of features highlighting authors and new books published by Torrey House Press in Utah.  In an Ecological Society of America article published more than 20 years ago, Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich wrote, “Lights follow roads, and the proportion of ecosystems uninfluenced by altered light … Read more

Like a perfectly fitted glass slipper: Cinderella showcases Ballet West at the heights of its artistic strengths

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“Out of old tales, we must make new lives,” the great literary scholar Carolyn Heilbrun once wrote. For London audiences still feeling weary after World War II, the Cinderella fairy tale took on a spectacular new life in the ballet choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton to the music of Sergei Prokofiev.  Seventy-seven years later, Ballet … Read more

Sundance 2025: Come See Me in the Good Light is generously intimate portrait of Andrea Gibson and the art of performance poetry

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Shortly after they were inaugurated as Colorado’s poet laureate in 2023. Andrea Gibson explained in their Substack Things that Don’t Suck their response to their own question: “How can I accept a two year position when I cannot promise I will live two years?” Gibson wrote, “But no one can promise that, friends. I’ve been … Read more

Sundance 2025: The Librarians documentary packs a riveting punch on the alarming surge of book banning

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A powerful symbolic image in Kim Snyder’s The Librarians documentary, which has received its premiere at Sundance this year, is a librarian who, at the start of the film, stays in the shadows of anonymity but as the stories about the alarming accelerated campaign to ban books from libraries around the country pile up, at … Read more

Sundance 2025: How to Build A Library documentary is rich, compelling, edifying story about post-colonial dynamics in Nairobi

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When the McMillan Library, the oldest in Nairobi and the second oldest in Kenya, was opened in 1931, it was never intended to be used by Africans. Not until Kenya established its independence in the 1960s did that change. Named for the American-born millionaire Sir William Northrup McMillan, who came to Kenya in the early … Read more

Pioneer Theatre and Arizona Theatre companies’ co-production of fresh adaptation of Dial M for Murder classic thriller is riveting, gobsmackingly good

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If World War II had not intervened, Frederick Knott might not have written a play like Dial M for Murder. Before the war, Knott, a talented tennis player at Cambridge, had set his sights on Wimbledon. However, after serving in Britain’s Royal Artillery during the war, he saw writing mainly for the purpose of making … Read more