Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Marry Christmas’ delivers unexpected gift of emotional energy

In a year of many high marks for Plan-B Theatre, the month of December, normally a quiet period for this performing arts company, has become especially memorable. Julie Jensen’s smashing ‘Christmas with Misfits’ played a sold-out run drawing much well-deserved acclaim. Likewise, tickets also sold out for Elaine Jarvik’s ‘Marry Christmas,’ an ensemble piece celebrating … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s ‘Christmas with Misfits’ more than an apt flipside for the holidays

baby jesus collection plan b theatre misifts chirtsmas featured image

Plan-B Theatre’s productions normally are masterpieces of minimalism in staging and subtle lighting but for its latest premiere of Julie Jensen’s ‘Christmas with Misfits,’ director Cheryl Ann Cluff wisely decided to celebrate the occasion of the play’s theme with an overflowing bounty of holiday décor props. In the opening, when actor Jeanette Puhich bursts forth … Read more

Monumental, urgent lesson for today’s environmental movement in rediscovering ‘The Story of My Heart’

It is inexplicable how some of the most gifted, passionate and prescient pioneers of form, expression, and ideals in the arts and letters world languish in obscurity before someone rediscovers and revives their work, which often is more relevant now than during the period in which it was created. The words of a nearly forgotten … Read more

Audience gives rousing approval to Spy Hop’s PitchNic films now ready to hit national indie film festival circuit

There is no doubt the quartet of new short films from Spy Hop Production’s 12th annual PitchNic premiere – two fiction and two documentaries – which were screened last week before a sold-out Jeanne Wagner Theatre audience will find plenty of life on the independent film festival circuit in Utah and around the country. All four … Read more

Torrey House Press releases rich harvest of American West novels on themes to recover, reclaim and redeem

Sometime after the composer John Luther Adams moved to Alaska, as he has described it, to “get away from the world” and “to help save the wilderness,” he realized that his art of music matters as much as any familiar forms of activism. He wrote, “Art is slow. And it often begins in solitude. In … Read more

The Pushers By SB Dance

By 8:15 pm on Friday night of Pride Festival Weekend, the Rose Wagner Black Box Theater was transformed from a performance space into a tableaux of actors, fans, and benefactors. The crowd surged in for the opening night of The Pushers, an original performance by SB Dance. The audience knew few details in advance about … Read more

Utah Opera’s The Abduction from the Seraglio

Utah Opera’s final performance for the 2013-2014 season is The Abduction from the Seraglio, a comic opera by Mozart full of cheery scenery and cheeky laughs.  While the production is lighthearted, the music contains some of the most difficult arias in opera.  The Abduction opened to a full house on Saturday night at Capitol Theater … Read more

‘And The Banned Played On’ a perfect coda to Plan-B Theatre’s memorable season

One of Plan-B Theatre’s most distinctive strengths is to produce work that compacts so many compelling layers of insights, meanings, and epiphanies into narratives that quickly move within a frame often lasting no more than 70 or 80 minutes. With its latest edition of ‘And The Banned Played On,’ which played to a packed Jeanne … Read more

For Plan-B Theatre, ‘The Season of Eric’ is high point of artistic satisfaction for performers, audiences alike

NOTE: This is the first of three installments about Plan-B Theatre’s season. The second installment will highlight the upcoming ‘And The Banned Played On’ event which will be held May 3 at The Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts. ‘So: the Season of Eric. And I’m Eric; apparently sufficiently known (or at least notorious) to … Read more