In the upcoming comedy Plan-B Theatre premiere of Singing to the Brine Shrimp, Lorina, a rather unhelpful dramaturg, asks Allison, a playwright from Utah who is in New York City for a Meet the Playwrights event, “So what size playwright do you want to be?” Allison, 35, is unsure about what that means. So, Lorina … Read more
One of the major stories from Sundance this year has been the spotlight on youth activism, creative expression and passion for enlightenment. Giving Voice, a documentary directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, is a marvelous new entry in the canon highlighting those stories. A particularly memorable passage is the beautiful string of excerpts … Read more
In the second chapter of his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan wrote about the “human-centered conceit” and the work of Copernicus and Galileo proposing to “displace us from cosmic center stage.” It was the image of the earth as a mere orbiting dot that the … Read more
Since The Utah Review started publishing in 2014, the emphasis on the Utah Enlightenment has dominated the coverage of what is new and original in the arts and culture landscape locally. Utah’s natural beauty always has appealed strongly as a branding asset. But, as we have covered the arts and cultural scene, there is no … Read more
Welcome to another edition of a dark, twisted Christmas tradition with Circle, the 14th episode of its Radio Hour series as part of Plan-B Theatre’s partnership with RadioWest, hosted by Doug Fabrizio on KUER-FM (90.1). Circle will premiere Friday, Dec. 13, at 11 a.m. during the live RadioWest Friday broadcast. This will be the sixth episode in the series’ … Read more
Never underestimate the discriminating influence of the young reader and children’s audiences in the performing arts. Few markets in the literary publishing industry are as competitive as children’s books. The most successful stories may start with a fantastical, even wacky, premise but they also give a magical resonance to a common childhood experience. They are … Read more
NOTE: On Friday, Dec. 13, at 11 a.m., The Utah Review will live blog the only live performance of Radio Hour Episode 14: Circle, produced by Plan-B Theatre and KUER-FM’s RadioWest program. Tune into KUER-FM 90.1 and follow The Utah Review during the broadcast. “Yes, we’ve been doing Christmas lately, but it’s always ‘dark’ or ‘twisted’ … Read more
The craft of making chocolate is a temperamental passion. Driven to capture all of its magical potential, a chocolatier pursues the creative process with an uncompromising attitude, even sometimes sacrificing what previously mattered as most familiar or cherished in their life. The chocolatier relentlessly pursues that perfect intersection of taste, texture, and purity of ingredients, … Read more
We often do not think of the stories about pioneers and settlers in the American West in the context of the aftermath of violence and the trauma of coping with the indelible markings of witnessing violent incidents that occurred more frequently than what we might have perceived. We do not imagine the repeated hammering effects … Read more
In the stupendous world premiere Plan-B Theatre production of Camille Washington’s Oda Might, there are so many brilliantly executed moments of foreshadowing. Early in the play, the Patient (Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin) says she could sleep through group sessions and “daydream about the crowds on the J train.” Reminiscing about how she lost “half of her virginity” … Read more