This year’s selections in The Utah Review for the top ten moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2025, the eleventh annual edition, stood out for being fearless, fierce and indomitable in human spirit. Wholly liberated, art ensures nothing is erased, censored or compromised. Reiterating the core premise of the Utah Enlightenment: In Utah, there are … Read more
Editor’s Note: In extending its tradition, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher and ELL coordinator at City Academy, asked two students to review Salt Lake Acting Company’s production of Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience, with script and lyrics by Mo Willems and music by Deborah Wicks … Read more
Let’s be honest. There is no better season for farce than the holidays at the end of the year. Ask any host who envisions the perfect holiday gathering only to see it unravel, thanks to clashing egos or the chaos of personal drama and fragile relationships. Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) has wisely chosen farce as … Read more
In fashioning complicated characters that encourage audiences to handle more than one thought about a person in their minds, playwright Jen Silverman has always deftly handled themes of isolation, paranoia and loneliness well while suggesting larger social epiphanies in her stories. That certainly is the case in The Moors (2017) and the latest Voodoo Theatre … Read more
PYGmalion Productions Theatre Company’s Utah premiere production of Tiny Beautiful Things, which is based on the bestselling book by Cheryl Strayed that was adapted for the stage by Academy-Award nominated screenwriter and award-winning actor Nia Vardalos, is a charming delight of chamber theater, with a quartet of actors who give the audience a soothing respite … Read more
At its tenth anniversary, the award-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen has ripened beautifully. Gen Z audiences, who are now adults, are processing the themes in an enriched mature perspective. Meanwhile, the newest generation of Gen Alpha theatergoers, many of whom have started college within the last couple of years as well as those either … Read more
In the superbly acted Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) production of Jen Silverman’s The Roommate, the result is a fascinating exploration on the sometimes overemphasized importance of a character’s likable and relatable traits. Directed by Teresa Sanderson, this richly entertaining production, nevertheless, ensures that the audience should not remain passive in comprehending and sorting out … Read more
A broad spectrum of emotions animates the superlative world premiere of Plan-B Theatre’s Just Add Water, directed by Penelope Caywood. At one point, the personified Great Salt Lake (played majestically by Latoya Cameron) encounters TBH who represents Brutal Honesty (Isabella Reeder, in a dazzling performance). Her words are painfully too on the nose: Once upon … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For its 35th season, Plan-B Theatre has produced The Great Salt Lake Plays, part of Wake the Great Salt Lake, a temporary art project supported by Salt Lake City Arts Council, Salt Lake City’s Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. One is Just Add Water by Matthew Ivan Bennett and Elaine … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For its 35th season, Plan-B Theatre has produced The Great Salt Lake Plays, part of Wake the Great Salt Lake, a temporary art project supported by Salt Lake City Arts Council, Salt Lake City’s Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. One is Eb and Flo by Elaine Jarvik, which is Plan-B … Read more