Salt Lake Acting Company announces its 49 ¾ season, including streaming, in-person productions, digital film series, world premieres

Major anniversaries always call for big celebrations. For an independent performing arts company, a golden anniversary not only demands an extravaganza but it also is a moment to highlight the triumph of resilience in demonstrating to the community that local cultural enterprises are indispensable for elevating the social conscience and inspiring others to join creative … Read more

Utah arts organizations make transition to online, interactive, live stream platforms, during coronavirus pandemic

Several major arts organizations in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area have adapted their programming and classes to streaming and interactive platforms. Initial responses and numbers of participants also have been encouraging, indicating that arts and culture are just as essential (if not more so), even as regular routines have been upended by the coronavirus … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s Utah premiere of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2, worthy sequel to Ibsen classic

Nora Helmer likely would be pleased at how far Norway has come in gender equality. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, Norway ranks second, eclipsed only by Iceland, and has closed 84 percent of its gender gap. Meanwhile, the U.S. ranks just 53rd. However, the Forum concludes, “But there is still an … Read more

Fascinating, innovative, collaborative: Top Ten Moments of the Utah Enlightenment for 2019

Since The Utah Review started publishing in 2014, the emphasis on the Utah Enlightenment has dominated the coverage of what is new and original in the arts and culture landscape locally. Utah’s natural beauty always has appealed strongly as a branding asset. But, as we have covered the arts and cultural scene, there is no … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s Pete the Cat is superb Utah premiere of popular off-Broadway show

Never underestimate the discriminating influence of the young reader and children’s audiences in the performing arts. Few markets in the literary publishing industry are as competitive as children’s books. The most successful stories may start with a fantastical, even wacky, premise but they also give a magical resonance to a common childhood experience. They are … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company’s world premiere Form of a Girl Unknown brings exceptional performances

The world that Amali Wilson is about to experience as an adolescent who has just begun her menstrual cycle is, on one hand, a turbulent one marked by police brutality, sexual assault, discrimination and disenfranchisement. On the other hand, it is a resilient, vibrant one where Black women are at the forefront socially, politically and … Read more

Salt Lake Acting Company opens 49th season with riveting Utah premiere of Death of a Driver

The riveting counterpoint between Kennedy, a Kenyan driver for hire, and Sarah, a well-intentioned American engineer who leads a road construction project in the African country, animates the astutely integrated strands of historical, political, moral, social and economic ideas and philosophies that underpin the exceptional Utah premiere of Will Snider’s Death of a Driver, as … Read more

SLAC’s Saturday’s Voyeur stays robust, spicy, naughty enough in 41st year

If there ever was a congregational vote to sustain the creative leadership that has made Saturday’s Voyeur, the annual summer theatrical tradition of the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC), a resilient success year to year, it would be merited for the team of Allen Nevins and Nancy Borgenicht. The 41st edition, which runs through Sept. … Read more

Silent Dancer’s unique staging in Salt Lake Acting Company premiere resonates with good Jazz Age sensibilities

In 1931, as the Great Depression’s grip tightened, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the obituary for the flimsy age of roaring confidence and youth-driven abandon that had been “jolted” out of existence when the stock market crashed in 1929. In an essay titled Echoes of the Jazz Age, he wrote, “It was an age of miracles, … Read more

A war story for women: Salt Lake Acting Co.’s “The Wolves” mesmerizes as coming-of-age tale on a soccer field

Scene from The Wolves (dav d daniels dav d photography)

In the Pulitzer-finalist play “The Wolves,” nine teen-agers burst onto a stage made of Astroturf, in braids and pigtails, and launch into overlapping backchat about tampons vs. pads, the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, and how to pronounce Hermione, as they stretch for an upcoming soccer game. As an audience member of this mesmerizing play … Read more