At one point, in Matthew Ivan Bennett’s A French Toast, Lucy goes into an emotional frenzy. She unwittingly consumed alcohol, which shocks her with fear that she has broken the rules of her Mormon faith and is no longer worthy. Of course, it happened at the reception for her former husband’s gay wedding. At the … Read more
The marvelous Meanwhile Park outdoor theatrical venue in a neighborhood close to Liberty Park will be the perfect spot for Matthew Ivan Bennett’s newest play, the rom-com A French Toast, which opens next week. The four characters in the play are staying at À Côté du Palais, a small bed and breakfast in the south … Read more
PYGmalion Productions Theatre Company’s Utah premiere production of Tiny Beautiful Things, which is based on the bestselling book by Cheryl Strayed that was adapted for the stage by Academy-Award nominated screenwriter and award-winning actor Nia Vardalos, is a charming delight of chamber theater, with a quartet of actors who give the audience a soothing respite … Read more
A broad spectrum of emotions animates the superlative world premiere of Plan-B Theatre’s Just Add Water, directed by Penelope Caywood. At one point, the personified Great Salt Lake (played majestically by Latoya Cameron) encounters TBH who represents Brutal Honesty (Isabella Reeder, in a dazzling performance). Her words are painfully too on the nose: Once upon … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: For its 35th season, Plan-B Theatre has produced The Great Salt Lake Plays, part of Wake the Great Salt Lake, a temporary art project supported by Salt Lake City Arts Council, Salt Lake City’s Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. One is Just Add Water by Matthew Ivan Bennett and Elaine … Read more
The first weekend of the 10th Great Salt Lake Fringe (GSLF) is in the books. Shows for the second weekend resume Friday, Aug. 2 and run through Aug. 4 at the Alliance Theater, connected to the Utah Arts Alliance, at Trolley Square. The Fringe campus is accessible in the near downtown area, just north of … Read more
Becoming more popular than its precursor “dream on,” the slangy derisive “in your dreams!” quickly took hold in the 1980s, making it painfully aware that despite desiring so much for something to happen, it will never be. With eight miniature scenes by four Utah playwrights, presented to a tiny audience of six persons per performance, … Read more
In the introduction to her superlative biography Joan of Arc: A History (2014), Helen Castor wrote about her subject’s unique position as historical figure and as an epitome of Medieval Age culture, military history, politics and religious faith: “Unsurprisingly, the effect of Joan’s gravitational field – the self-defining narrative pull of her mission – is … Read more
This year’s selections in The Utah Review of the top ten moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2023, the ninth annual edition, were the easiest to curate in the nine years of publishing this annual list. Likewise, selecting the top moment among the ten was just as easy. In Utah, there are creative producers in … Read more
Welcome to the 17th episode of the Radio Hour series of Plan-B Theatre’s Radio Hour series, produced with KUER-FM’s RadioWest, hosted by Doug Fabrizio on KUER-FM (90.1). For the first time since 2014, a Radio Hour episode will have a live audience for its premiere. The episode, written by veteran Radio Hour scribe Matthew Ivan … Read more