Educational

Repertory Dance Theatre set to reprise Natosha Washington’s evening-length I AM… this week; dancers complete East Coast tour with Whitney Museum of American Art performances

by

EDITOR’S NOTE: This preview of Natosha Washington’s I AM, which Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) will reprise this week, was published in 2023, just ahead of the work’s world premiere. Just as essential as a choreographer’s skills in setting the most impactful movement upon a dance company in the studio is their capacity to trust the … Read more

Behind the scenes: Spy Hop’s award-winning PitchNic program set for Nov. 7 premiere of 22nd edition of four student produced films

by

PitchNic, one of Spy Hop Productions’ most exciting programs, returns for its 22nd edition this year and this year’s class of young Utah filmmakers is looking to build on a legacy where more than 95% of films that have been produced in the program have gone on to be screened at and win awards at … Read more

Fascinating, engaging parallels in art history: Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ inspired twin bill of Blue Grass, Green Skies, Photo-Secession

by

Double exhibitions have become a specialty well mastered at The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) and the latest examples produce one of the most fascinating engagements with art history in a fresh perspective that resonates effectively with contemporary visitors.  Blue Grass, Green Skies: American Impressionism and Realism from the Los Angeles County Museum of … Read more

A detailed rundown of the slate of films for the 2024 Utah Queer Film Festival of the Utah Film Center

by

The Utah Review has screened many of the films on this year’s slate for the Utah Film Center’s Utah Queer Film Festival. The following is a detailed run down of the entire slate of feature-length and short films. FEATURE FILMS Documentaries  The ABCs of Book Banning 2023/ USA/ Documentary (Sheila Nevins) While this MTV Documentary … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s 12th annual Free Elementary School Tour production for 2024-25 academic year features EllaMental by Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin

by

Within a few days after third grader Martin Richards from Boston was killed in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a photo which showed the boy holding a sign he created that read ‘No more hurting people. Peace’ went viral. He made the sign a year before, when an activist who was protesting the handling of … Read more

The birth of Utah’s tremendous art movement: Springville Museum of Art’s exhibition Salon 100: A Retrospective of 100 Spring Salons and the Students that Built Art City

by

When it comes to the founding of Utah’s tremendous art movement, its own “this is the place” moment occurred not in Salt Lake City nor Provo. Spanish Fork or Payson but instead in Springville, just about the same time as the town was being established in the 1850s. As Vern Swanson, retired director of the … Read more

Backstage at the 2024 Utah Arts Festival: Kids’ Art Yard to feature impressive array of hands-on activities focusing on the Great Salt Lake

by

In recent years, many artists and creative producers have been building a critical mass of public awareness about the Great Salt Lake and its existential crisis. In 2023, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company premiered an evening-length dance theater piece, To See Beyond Our Time. Earlier this year, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art presented an impressive multidisciplinary … Read more

Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ Pictures of Belonging exhibition impressively commands viewers to think anew about American modernism

by

In a 2007 essay, art historian ShiPu Wang wrote that the works of Asian-American artists “are more than painterly creations that exude ‘transcendental beauty’ beyond cultural boundaries.” He added, “Their meaning and significance constantly shift and expand under different sociopolitical circumstances, and they do not remain incontrovertible objects or artifacts.” In her 1990 book, Mixed … Read more

Finding Joy Together: Utah Film Center’s 13th Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Kids set for April 19-20 at Viridian Event Center

by

With an excellent slate of family feature- and short-length films from around the world with hearty, intelligent and imaginative stories, the Utah Film Center is geared up for the 13th Annual Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Kids on April 19 and 20 at West Jordan’s Viridian Event Center.  With the Salt Lake County Library as partners, … Read more

A brief but significant note: The omission of the history of slavery in The Lehman Trilogy

by

A friend who works in many roles in the performing arts community joined me for the opening of The Pioneer Theatre Company’s Utah premiere production of The Lehman Trilogy in The University of Utah’s new Meldrum Theatre. He agreed with the assessment in the accompanying review at The Utah Review, especially regarding the outstanding performances … Read more