Indeed, life imitates art. On Oct. 8, a packed Browning Center for the Performing Arts room on the Weber State University campus in Ogden patiently waited for the first public performance of Plan-B Theatre’s Zombie Thoughts, the sixth play of its annual Free Elementary School Tour (FEST) program. Developed around the theme of generalized anxiety … Read more
In their respective season openers, two of Salt Lake City’s most distinguished dance institutions — Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Repertory Dance Theatre — gave more than ample proof of why their artistic excellence commands attention not just locally but also nationally and internationally. The Utah Review offers reviews of both season openers. RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: … Read more
Five years ago, when Matthew Greene’s first play was produced by Plan-B Theatre, Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea centered on how two characters (Steve, a young gay man, and Adam, whose Mormon mission was cut short by illness) in California develop a close friendship then struggle to preserve it as they come of … Read more
In Lebanon, a country of six million that is a little smaller than the area of Colorado, only the oldest residents can remember a time when their country has not held refugee camps. In the country’s dozen refugee camps which house upwards of one million, at least 175,000 Palestinian refugees live in extreme poverty. Those … Read more
NOVA Chamber Music Series will launch its 41st season this month with its Road to Night concert, a selection of works spanning the period of 1778-1899 that arise from intimate literary inspirations along with deeply heartfelt musical responses by composers to personal events in their lives. The concert also is a sincere reflection of NOVA’s … Read more
For the 2018-2019 season, The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation is between competition years but its series of four concerts features soloists who have made their imprint as some of the world’s best acclaimed pianists. The soloists include the 2002 Bachauer Gold Medalist, the 2005 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist, the 2015 Honens Competition winner and … Read more
Entering its 53rd season, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) always has been at the modern dance forefront in expressing the complexities of the past and the ever-shifting contemporary present. In the 1960s, the idea of Manifest Destiny still dominated the mindset of the American West although it was being obscured increasingly by the civil rights movement … Read more
At 11, Oliver Grey Kokai-Means already can claim that a play he created and wrote with his mother, playwright Jennifer Kokai, is being produced and will be viewed by thousands over the next month and half in Utah. Zombie Thoughts is the sixth play of Plan-B Theatre’s Free Elementary School Tour (FEST), which takes the … Read more
Just how adventuresome and experimental can Salt Lake City’s performing arts scene become? More so than some might expect. In the last few years, there have been numerous examples suggesting just how Utah’s pioneer legacy is translated and transformed into boundary-busting expressions. Per capita, Salt Lake City stacks up competitively to much larger metropolitan centers … Read more
We rely on skilled journalists and editors to make sense of a volatile news cycle. Forty years ago, Umberto Eco wrote about the artist who protests through form in The Open Work. In part, he suggested that the artist, while rejecting the current order and system, also accepts the world in its crisis terms. The … Read more