‘One cannot fight what one cannot see’: Plan-B Theatre’s Full Color pops with heart, wit, poetry, intellectual depth, soul-bearing emotion

At the opening of Full Color, Plan-B Theatre’s 34th season opener, the setting is pleasant and inviting: eight people enjoying each other’s company and feeling comfortable at home, outside a tent in nature. As each person shares a story, the production’s epiphany expands organically, one narrative at a time. While the audience is welcomed to … Read more

Eight BIPOC playwrights and eight doppelgängers: Plan-B Theatre’s 34th season set to open with Full Color

Between 2010 and 2020, Utah’s population grew at a faster rate than in any other state and more than 52% of that growth occurred in minority populations. Today, more than 1 in 4 Utahns identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC), compared to 1 in 5 in the 2010 U.S. Census. As the … Read more

Reviews of 2 major theatrical events: Salt Lake Acting Company’s Utah premiere of Passing Strange; Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Iris Salazar’s Aftershock

SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY: PASSING STRANGE  Audiences might be well prepared for what the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar or the Motown soul musical The Wiz have to offer but are they really prepared for Passing Strange, a rock musical, with a nice bit of punk and gospel thrown into the mix, which examines the … Read more

April brings Utah premiere of Salt Lake Acting Company’s production of Passing Strange, Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Iris Salazar’s Aftershock

Early April brings new productions to Salt Lake City’s independent theater scene, including the Utah premiere of the award-winning musical Passing Strange at the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) and the world premiere of Plan-B Theatre’s production of Iris Salazar’s Aftershock.  PLAN-B THEATRE: AFTERSHOCK Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the March 2020 earthquake that … Read more

Expanding the theatrical library during the pandemic: Plan-B Theatre adds 7 short plays from Utah theatrical artists of color to the national Play At Home initiative; its free, public app

One of the most formidable challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic, where live productions have ground to a near-complete standstill, is to keep the engine of creating new work going, especially when it still is unclear when the performing arts will return to an appreciable state of producing work. One national project has been the #PlayAtHome … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s …Of Color fearlessly demolishes restraints on creative expression with four first-rate short plays

For a critic who sees the creation of art, in its broadest terms, as framing difficult questions that pull us out of our comfort zones, creative expression that is fearless in taking risks becomes the most meaningful to consider. In Utah, we put a premium on civility, politeness and gentility that tacitly signals restraint – … Read more

Plan-B Theatre to close out 28th season with Of Color, a potent creative statement of diversity and inclusion

In the heart of one of the country’s reddest states, it might surprise more than a few that some of the Utah Enlightenment’s finest arts organizations are putting substance behind the talk about diversity and inclusion. Women have pioneered two of the nation’s longest running contemporary dance institutions. The state’s arts and museums division was … Read more