Event

Once again, the audience has the voting power: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia available this week in streaming video on demand format, as 4 choreographers set their sights on commission prize 

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While Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) is holding Regalia, its largest annual fundraiser, online for the second year ago, the event is no less audacious than its usual in-person format.  Four choreographers are assigned a group of dancers to create a short work (usually five but less than 10 minutes in length) in just four hours. … Read more

An unsurpassed, extraordinary opening night performance for the premiere of Carleton Bluford’s The Clean-Up Project, Plan-B Theatre’s newest production

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Just slightly past the midway point of the opening night performance in the world premiere of Carleton Bluford’s The Clean-Up Project, it was evident that another Plan-B Theatre production was having the usual very good opener. Bluford’s script, about a swift revolution that has transformed the country and flipped the power structure, is complex in … Read more

Two worthy Utah premieres: Salt Lake Acting Company’s Egress, Pygmalion Theatre Company’s Bella Bella

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SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY: EGRESS Aided by excellent acting in a small ensemble cast, the Salt Lake Acting Company’s Utah premiere of Egress, a play by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick nicely elucidates the metaphors about exits and safety that embody the narrative about the trauma and the steps toward recovering from a horrific breakup … Read more

Plan-B Theatre set to open 2022 season In Person. In Color. with world premiere of Carleton Bluford’s The Clean-Up Project

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This is the psychological balm of racial caste in America: If you’re Black and couldn’t overcome every obstacle to pull yourself up, it’s because you’re lazy and did not want to work hard. If you’re Black and you manage to be successful, it’s because of affirmative action and you didn’t earn it. Your failures and … Read more

Two excellent dance concerts: Ririe-Woodbury’s Fill in the Blank; Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge: Sounds Delightful

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The Utah Review offers reviews of two dance concerts: the live performance of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Fill in the Blank and Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge concert film.  RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: FILL IN THE BLANK In a word. Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Fill in the Blank concert was superb. Tremendous emotional intensity propelled the enthralling pace of … Read more

Sundance 2022: Eight short films emphasize excellent range of options featuring the best of international filmmaking

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This year’s Sundance Film Festival’s shorts offerings are filled with plenty of excellent options. The 59 short films for the 2022 program were selected from a record 10,374 submissions. Of these submissions, 4,701 were from the U.S., and 5,673 were international, representing 26 countries. The Utah Review selected eight shorts from around the world to … Read more

Sundance 2022: Sam Green’s 32 Sounds hugely entertaining, fascinating example of STEAM presentation into the wonders of sound

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Sam Green’s documentary 32 Sounds, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontiers program, is a superb example of a cross-disciplinary  STEAM presentation (that is, putting Art into STEM). Intelligent as it is hugely entertaining, Green has crafted an ideal film that will nourish anyone’s aspirations for a career or personal experiences, which integrate … Read more

Sundance 2022: Last Flight Home unforgettable documentary of unconditional love, profound devotion to ailing father who has prepared to die

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Generally, open discussions about death and dying in the U.S. are awkward at best and ignored at worst. It is often said that a son or daughter truly becomes an adult when they lose one or both parents. Yet, even when a parent has a prolonged illness and the inevitable is near, it remains difficult … Read more

Sundance 2022: Phoenix Rising and Evan Rachel Wood’s story hold up to rigorous documentary standards of long-form journalism

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In the few short days since Amy Berg’s documentary Phoenix Rising premiered at Sundance, many have been discussing on social media the details that actor Evan Rachel Woods provided about the abuse she endured during her relationship with Brian Warner a/k/a Marilyn Manson between 2006 and 2011, most notably her description of being raped on … Read more

Sundance 2022: Aftershock captivating documentary of stories of tragic irony transformed into dynamic cause for reforming unjust, racist maternal health system

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There usually are empirical realities confirmed by numerous sources and studies that validate statistics which make evident the rationale for major policy changes and corrective measures. Then, there are stories couched in those validated statistics that are so astounding in their irony that they compel immediate and widespread attention. In the captivating documentary Aftershock, which … Read more