Salt Lake Acting Company - New Play Sounding Series
BLEEDING HEARTS by Steve Yockey
New Play Sounding Series Free Reading
Monday, September 21, 2015 @ 7pm
Director: Shannon Musgrave
Cast: Olivia Custodio, Danny Egan, Brighton Hertford, Patrick Kintz, William Richardson
Stage Manager/Reader: Sarah Danielle Young
Sloane isn't sure why exactly her husband Timothy brought home a probably dangerous drifter. It's something about "doing a good deed." Of course, it's hard to think straight when her kleptomaniac neighbor keeps dropping by to chat and steal. And then things get violent. BLEEDING HEARTS is a dark farce about the disappearing middle class and the way people can slowly forget how to put themselves in each others' shoes.
A TINY TASTE OF KUSHNER
On Monday February 2nd, the words of Tony Kushner will once again reverberate off the walls here at the Salt Lake Acting Company. SLAC is proud to present TINY KUSHER, a series of five short one-act plays by Kushner that is presented in conjunction with the Tanner Humanities Center's lecture with Mr. Kushner on February 5 at Kingsbury Hall, with support from Lee and Audrey Hollaar. Kushner's work is no stranger to the SLAC stage; SLAC was one of the first regional theaters to produce ANGELS IN AMERICA in 1995. It was brought back to the SLAC stage in 2010 for the company's 40th anniversary. Keven Myhre, Executive Producer at SLAC and director of the 2010 re-envisioning of the play, said that ANGELS was the one play that "encapsulated SLAC's mission to produce vibrant new work in contemporary theater... [it] defined that moment in our history."
TINY KUSHNER, unlike ANGELS, won't keep you in your seat for seven hours. Out of the five short plays, all but one feature characters who really existed, including Laura Bush. In typical productions of TINY KUSHNER, only four actors play the multitude of these eccentric personalities, but SLAC will be using a total of twelve different actors for each play. Director Robin Wilks-Dunn says, "When I heard Tony Kushner was coming to Kingsbury Hall, I thought it would be a nice community event to do a reading of one of his scripts that hasn't been done in Salt Lake before. And I thought the perfect partner would be Salt Lake Acting Company."
If you have never had the chance to hear the words of award-winning Tony Kushner in person, TINY KUSHNER is the perfect opportunity for you. You'll get five different samples all for the price of nothing! Bon appetit, theater goers! It is not to be missed.
-Olivia Custodio
NPSS: The Vermillion Hand
BY CORT BRINKERHOFF
In rehearsal, L to R: Jaten McGriff, Cort Brinkerhoff, Colleen Baum, Melanie Nelson, Anne Stewart Mark
Monday, October 6, 2014 @ 7pm
Chapel Theatre
About the Play
Orrin Porter Steed, a seventeen-year-old drifter from Colorado City, is arrested for setting fire to a Mormon church. His caseworker, Faith, delves into his past to figure out why and attempts to reunite the boy with his estranged mother. Meanwhile, as Faith's marriage crumbles, she begins to seek solace from Orrin and finds herself questioning everything she believes in.
THE VERMILLION HAND began as a ten-minute play titled UGLY TO THE BONE. The play was commissioned by Plan-B Theatre Company and premiered at SLAM '06. It was then developed into a full-length script, and workshopped in a script-in-hand production. THE VERMILLION HAND was then re-written as part of Vagrancy's Writers' Group in Los Angeles and received a staged reading at its annual new play festival.
SLAC is proud to welcome Cort Brinkerhoff back to Utah to continue fine-tuning THE VERMILLION HAND in the place where it was first conceived.
About the Playwright
Cort's plays include THE BLUE HOUR, BULLET, THE BOMB PLOT, and THE NIGHTMARE ROOM, a play about the last days of British mathematician, war hero, and convicted homosexual Alan Turing. His works have been produced or had staged readings at The Vagrancy (Los Angeles, CA), Alive Theatre (Long Beach, CA), The Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Valdez, AK), Plan-B Theatre Company (Salt Lake City, UT), Piano Fight Productions (San Francisco, CA), USC, and the University of Utah. His ten-minute play NEUROSIS was published in Canyon Voices Literary Magazine, Issue 8 (Fall 2013). He wrote the screenplay for the independent feature BEYOND THE RYE, which will premiere in Norway in 2015. A native Utahn, Cort began his writing career in the 2003 Playwrights Group at Salt Lake Acting Company led by Julie Jensen and JT Rogers. He holds an MFA in dramatic writing from USC, where he currently serves as an Assistant Instructor. He lives in Los Angeles.
DIRECTOR - Anne Stewart Mark
CAST
Orrin - Jaten Lee McGriff
Faith - Melanie Nelson
Emma - Colleen Baum
Reader - Shannon Musgrave
2014-2015 Season Press Release
NPSS: Streetlight Woodpecker
SLAC's New Play Sounding Series presents a free reading of STREETLIGHT WOODPECKER by Shawn Fisher on Monday, April 28th at 7:00 PM.
ABOUT THE PLAY
STREETLIGHT WOODPECKER follows the story of Benji, an undersized Marine who has returned to his Irish-Catholic neighborhood in Philadelphia after being critically injured during battle. He bears not only the medals he earned but also the scars, and now that he has come home he must face the emotional wounds he avoided by going to war.
When his father’s suicide renders him homeless just days after his return, Benji moves in with his childhood friend Sam. Soon questions that threatened Benji throughout his youth resurface, questions about his manhood and his relationship with Sam, and he distracts himself with booze, pills, and reckless fighting. Meanwhile, as Sam tries to protect him from self-destruction, Benji plots to kill a woodpecker that loudly bangs the metal streetlights in the neighborhood.
Shawn Fisher (Playwright) original scripts include SCOPE, THE CROW SONG, CHUMMING, STREETLIGHT WOODPECKER, and DO NOT HIT GOLF BALLS INTO MEXICO which was a National Finalist for the MetLife Nuestras Voces Playwriting Award and the David M. Cohen National Playwriting Award. HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING, which had a rolling premiere at both Salt Lake Acting Company and Cape May Stage, won an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, was a national finalist for New York's Urban Stages Emerging Playwright Award, and was a nominee for both the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association and the Barrie & Bernice Stavis national playwriting awards. His work has been produced or had staged-readings at Cape May Stage, the Spanish Repertory Theatre (Off-Broadway), the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Urban Stages (Off-Broadway), and Salt Lake Acting Company, among others. Shawn is also the Co-founder and Director of the National Playwrights Symposium at Cape May Stage. He earned his MFA in Theatre from Brandeis University and currently serves as a Professor and Head of Graduate Studies in Theatre at Utah State University. He is a native of New Jersey and is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
Richie Call (Director) is thrilled to be directing a reading for the first time at SLAC. He was previously part of the cast of SLAC's presentation of Do Not Hit Golf Balls Into Mexico, also by Shawn Fisher. Richie's acting credits include work for American Globe Theatre and Gorilla Rep in New York, Mile Square Theatre in New Jersey, and Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Shakespeare, and the Old Lyric Repertory Company in Utah. Richie is currently an Assistant Professor of Acting at Utah State University, and he is serving as a Co-Artistic Director of the Old Lyric Repertory Company. He received an MFA in Acting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts and a BFA in Performance from Utah State University.
Stefan Espinosa (Benji) is thrilled to be joining SLAC on this project – there is truly nothing more exciting or artistically satisfying than helping to bring a talented playwrights' new work to life. A native of Tucson, Arizona,Stefan has been fortunate to perform with wonderful theatres across the country. Favorite past regional theatre credits include: The Importance of Being Earnest, Urinetown (PCPA); The Pirates of Penzance, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Pride and Prejudice (Arizona Theatre Company); Richard III, Henry V, Wild Oats (Wortham Theatre); Big River, Amadeus, Little Shop of Horrors, Lend Me A Tenor (Old Lyric Repertory); Camelot, The Mikado, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof (Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre) and Stefan will be playing Thenardier in UFOMTs upcoming summer production of Les Miserables. Stefan has a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Arizona, and an MFA in Acting from the University of Houston. Stefan also runs the Utah Festival Conservatory for the Performing Arts and is an adjunct member of the Theatre faculty at Idaho State University.
Jason Spelbring (Sam) is thrilled to be a part of SLAC's New Play Sounding Series. Jason is an actor, director and educator. He is currently an assistant professor of acting at Utah State University's Caine College of the Arts. Theatre credits include six seasons at the Tony Award winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Theatre Company, Santa Barbara and PCPA Theaterfest. This fall Jason will be directing Pierre Marivaux's The Game of Love and Change for the Caine College of the Arts. www.jasonmichaelspelbring.com
Angela Roundy (Elizabeth) attended Utah State University where she earned her BFA in Acting. While at USU she appeared in such productions as KING LEAR, JAMES and the GIANT PEACH, TARTUFFE, and ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. Her acting training began at the College of Eastern Utah where credits included THE CRUCIBLE, PICASSO at the LAPIN AGILE, and THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN. Angela also appeared in The Neil Simon Festival's production of COME BLOW YOUR HORN.
Richard Johnson (Matt) is thrilled to make his SLAC debut with a talented and seasoned cast of peers. Richard has been seen locally this past summer in THE ODD COUPLE with Old Lyric Repertory Company. California credits include AS YOU LIKE IT with New Village Arts/Moonlight Cultural Foundation, LOST APOLLONIA and PICTURING MY SISTER with New Village Arts/Playwrights Project, JACOB MARLEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL with Oceanside Theatre Company, and HENRY IV pt1 and THE TEMPEST with North Coast Repertory Theatre/MiraCosta College.
Lance Rasmussen (Reader) has performed for three seasons at the Old Lyric Theatre Company where he played in THE ODD COUPLE, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, and AMADEUS among others. He is about to graduate from Utah State University with a BFA in Theatre Performance. At USU he has acted in plays including CANDIDA, LEARNED LADIES, TALKING PICTURES, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD, and TWENTIETH CENTURY. He intends to pursue an MFA in acting.
NPSS: Road to Eden
Salt Lake Acting Company’s New Play Sounding Series Presents a Free Reading of
ROAD TO EDEN by Sean Christopher Lewis
Salt Lake Acting Company is pleased to offer a free reading of ROAD TO EDEN by Sean Christopher Lewis and directed by Robin Wilkes-Dunn on Monday, February 24, 2014 at 7 p.m. as part of the New Play Sounding Series (NPSS). An outreach program at SLAC, NPSS provides an essential testing ground where playwrights can see their work in progress and receive insightful feedback from the audience in a post-play discussion. We thank the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation for their support of this vital program.
In 1848 a group of Mormon pioneers flee to the Mexican Territories of Utah to escape their oppressors. In 2013 a Mormon family's life is forever changed when a woman, who came to this country much like their ancestors did, mysteriously risks her life to save their rebellious son. ROAD TO EDEN tells two riveting stories which take place at the same place in Iowa but at two very different times. While the group of pioneers are forced to flee from Missouri and Executive Order 44 which authorizes the murder of any Mormon, a mother, father and son in 2013 are faced with the threat of gang violence. Both groups will be offered help in the form of a bold, strong Mexican woman and both will get way in over their heads.
ROAD TO EDEN explores themes that are complicated in a most thought provoking way. How does one distinguish the word of God from the whim of man? When is it okay to doubt? When is it good to trust? What choices would we make in the face of life-threatening danger? How far can fear push us?
This free reading offers a unique opportunity to hear a new play by an excellent cast and take part in a post-play discussion in which the playwright welcomes comments, questions and feedback from the audience.
THE PLAYWRIGHT
SEAN CHRISTOPHER LEWIS can be heard as a commentator on NPR'S This American Life. His plays have won the Kennedy Center's Rosa Parks Award, the 2010 National New Play Network's Smith Prize, the NEA Voices in Community Award, a Puffin Foundation Artists Award, a Barrymore Award from the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, a Central Ohio Critic's Circle Citation for Best Touring Production, a Central Ohio Critic's Circle Citation for Best New Work, a National Performance Network Creation Fund Grant, the William Inge Fellowship and more. He served as National New Play Network Emerging Playwright in Residence at Interact Theatre in Philly and as Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Arts Center in Independence, Kansas. His work includes MAYBERRY (Hancher Auditorium, Bucksbaum Performing Arts Center, Iowa Arts Center); KILLADELPHIA (Baltimore Centerstage, Woolly Mammoth, Interact Theatre, Cape May Stage, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Touchstone Theatre, Hartbeat Ensemble, Drilling Company, Riverside Theatre, CSPS/Legion Arts, John Jay University/Gerald W. Lynch Theatre, Available Light Theatre, Revolutions International Theatre Festival); JUST KIDS (Available Light Theatre, Sandglass Theatre, Working Group Theatre, Pontine Theatre); I WILL MAKE YOU ORPHANS (Uno Festival of Solo Performance, Available Light 01 Festival, Equinox Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Center for Independent Artists, Galapagos Art Space, Hyde Park Theatre, TIXE Arts Center, Bowery Poetry Club);THE GONE CHAIR (Penn State University's Cultural Conversations Festival, Openstage Harrisburg's Flying Solo Festival, Riverside Theatre); MILITANT LANGUAGE (National Premiere at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Halcyon Theatre of Chicago, Bang and Clatter in Cleveland, and Theater for the New City in NY, published by Original Works Publishing); THE APERTURE (Cleveland Public Theatre); THE HOMESCHOOLING OF JONATHAN ANDERSON (Drilling Company NYC, Luna Theater and Theatre of Note); SURVIVING THE BABY (Riverside Theatre); THE TEACHER SHOW (Revolutions International Theatre Festival) and GOODNESS (Project Y Theatre, Clockwise Theatre). He has been a playwriting fellow at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference and has had his work developed at the PlayPenn New Play Conference, Lark New Play Development Center, Orlando Shakespeare Festival's Harriet Lake Festival of New Work and at the National Center for New Plays at Stanford University. He is currently under commission with Davenport Theatricals, Interact Theatre, Hancher Auditorium, Available Light Theatre and Adirondack Theatre Festival. Internationally he has collaborated on MAJNOON SAITARA with the Ashtar Theatre of Palestine and with the International Theatre and Literacy Project he worked on JOURNEY TO THE DREAM a new play by high school students in Tanzania, East Africa. In 2011 he collaborated and directed WE STOOD UP for the Centre X Centre International Theatre Festival in Rwanda that incorporated the performances and stories of 23 orphaned survivors of the genocide. Lewis is also a noted actor, working Off Broadway at the Pearl Theatre, in NYC at La Mama ETC, regionally with companies like the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, in television and feature films from COMEDY CENTRAL'S Upright Citizen's Brigade to GOD'S COUNTRY and his work has been nominated for the Fox Foundation Fellowship and the Princess Grace Theatre Fellowship.
THE DIRECTOR
ROBIN WILKS-DUNN is back at SLAC after directing GOOD PEOPLE and DOTTIE: THE SISTER LIVES ON. She recently directed LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER and THE GOOD BODY for Pygmalion Theatre Company. Robin is script supervisor, co-writer and director for a children's touring show for the Intermountain LIVE campaign. Robin has directed several staged readings at SLAC, most recently David Kranes' THE LAST WORD. Other productions she has directed at SLAC include BOOM, PEARL, ONE LAST DANCE and NAPOLEON'S CHINA. She reads scripts for the Sundance Theatre Lab and works as Outreach and Education Coordinator for Kingsbury Hall.
NPSS: Two Stories
Salt Lake Acting Company’s New Play Sounding Series Presents a Free Reading of
TWO STORIES
by Elaine Jarvik
Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) is pleased to offer a free reading of TWO STORIES written by Elaine Jarvik and directed by Keven Myhre on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013 at 7 PM as part of the New Play Sounding Series (NPSS). This is a special opportunity to experience an exciting new play by local playwright, Elaine Jarvik. An outreach program at SLAC, NPSS provides an essential testing ground where playwrights can see their work in progress and receive insightful feedback from the audience in a post-play discussion. We thank the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation for their support of this vital program.
TWO STORIES is a look at two neighbors, two families, two cultures and the conflicts and misunderstandings that can occur on two different sides of a fence. Jodi Wolcott is a newspaper journalist trying to find her footing in a 24-hour news cycle, while her husband Kevin, after losing his job, is quickly using up their savings on his failing donut shop. When a Pakistani family—Amir and Hasna Masori, their three children, and Amir’s mother Bashira—moves in next door, Kevin and Jodi welcome them with open arms and a pot of chicken masala. Jodi is only too excited to befriend the matriarch of the family, Bashira, a widow who has recently arrived in the United States. Bashira opens up to Jodi, revealing her feelings about her image-conscious daughter-in-law and her eye-rolling grandchildren, and she reveals the reason she left Pakistan so suddenly. With Jodi’s newspaper job on the line, Bashira’s life becomes the fodder Jodi needs to write her next big story.
As Jodi is faced with a choice between friendship and self-preservation, tensions in the neighborhood build as well. Amir and his wife have plans to remodel their house into a large, two-story French chateau that will change the look of the neighborhood and will cut off the Wolcott’s light and view. “Why is my desire for space any less important than your desire for a view?” asks Amir. “Because we were here first,” answers Kevin. Jodi is then caught in the middle, afraid to alienate the Masoris but wanting to keep them from building their addition. Religious and ethnic tensions escalate. Rocks are thrown, a gun is fired, hate crime charges are filed and a fence of prejudice and misunderstanding is built.
The story that Jodi eventually writes about Bashira angers Amir, who is mortified that his family’s privacy has been breached. He accuses Jodi of using his mother’s story and friendship for her own gain. When Jodi’s newspaper colleague, a younger Hispanic reporter, comes to the Wolcotts’ house to write a story about the incident, Jodi is suddenly face-to-face with her prejudices and her own vulnerability at the hands of the media.
TWO STORIES began as a personal war of aesthetics for playwright Elaine Jarvik in 1990 when her neighbor built a faux-stone wall that Elaine felt destroyed the bucolic nature of their wooded lane. What stayed with her, years later, was how helpless she felt to challenge her neighbor’s aesthetics, and how immature she acted in response, retaliating by putting rocks in his mailbox. This unlikely genesis for her play created an outlet for her to explore her professional life as a journalist, her feelings about property and aesthetics, and the ways in which good people can behave badly as they try to protect what they think is theirs. During her career as a newspaper reporter, Elaine covered ordinary people and celebrities, immigrants and the descendants of Mormon pioneers. In writing their stories she often asked herself, “Am I telling the story right? Am I hurting anyone?” Sometimes she woke in the middle of the night worried that she had misspelled someone’s name, or, worse, had not represented these very real people—her “sources”—accurately. It is from these concerns about story and property that TWO STORIES was born.
TWO STORIES is a powerful work that tells an American story with universal appeal. Elaine has created a neighborhood that can exist in any city in the country, with unique characters that promote dialogue and reflection. SLAC has a reputation for producing and championing the work of new plays. At the heart of the theatre’s mission is a dedication to valuably contributing to the American theatre field, as it has for the past 43 years. SLAC works with living playwrights to support the development and continued life of new plays beyond SLAC’s stage. SLAC is equally committed to the important voice of Elaine Jarvik’s TWO STORIES and will work to ensure its continued life.
This free reading offers a unique opportunity to hear a new play by an excellent cast and take part in a post-play discussion in which the playwright welcomes comments, questions and feedback from the audience.
THE PLAYWRIGHT
ELAINE JARVIK
Elaine’s 10-minute play DEAD RIGHT was produced at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in 2008 and has recently been anthologized in the high school textbook, Bedford Introduction to Literature. Her full-length play (a man enters), co-written with her daughter, was produced by Salt Lake Acting Company in 2011, and her play THE COMING ICE AGE was produced by Pygmalion Theatre in 2010. Jarvik has spent most of her writing career trying to report the facts, first for the Deseret News and more recently as a freelance journalist, earning national awards for reporting.
THE DIRECTOR
KEVEN MYHRE
Keven received the Mayor's Artists Award in the Performing Arts in 2009. He was awarded the 2008 City Weekly Award for directing THE CLEAN HOUSE and MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS at Salt Lake Acting Company. His other directing credits at SLAC include BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, RED, ANGELS IN AMERICA: PARTS I & II, THE OVERWHELMING, RABBIT HOLE, I AM MY OWN WIFE, BAD DATES, KIMBERLY AKIMBO, GOING TO ST. IVES, WATER LILIES, THE MEMORY OF WATER, TWO-HEADED, THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE, C'EST MOI in MERE MORTALS and THREE DAYS OF RAIN. Keven has designed all of SLAC's sets and many of the costumes for the last 18 years. He has also designed 16 sets for The Grand Theatre. He designed sets for ACCORDING TO COYOTE, WEST SIDE STORY, CROW AND WEASSEL, and SOUTH PACIFIC at Sundance Theatre. His designs have also been seen at Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Utah Musical Theatre, Egyptian Theatre, Kingsbury Hall and the Babcock Theatre. His work for the Utah Arts Festival includes site design for the 20th anniversary. He received a BFA from the University of Utah and a MFA in Theatre from the University of Michigan.
CAST
Joel Applegate, Kathryn Atwood, Brenda Sue Cowley, Shane Mozaffari and Nicki Nixon with Marin Kohler as the reader.
NPSS : Permanent Collection
By Thomas Gibbons
A free Reading April 22, 2013
7:00 pm
The Salt Lake Acting Company joins the National New Play Network, and over 25 partnering theatres across the US, in celebrating NNPN's 15 anniversary with a nationwide theatre event: a staged reading of NNPN's first Rolling World Premiere, Permanent Collection by Thomas Gibbons.
THis reading also celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which supports three theatres that choose to mount the smae new play within a twelve-month period. The result is a "Rolling World Premiere".
COMPANY
THOMAS GIBBONS (Playwright) is playwright-in-residence at InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, which has premiered eight of his plays: Pretending to America, 6221, Axis Sally, Black Russian, Bee-luther-hatchee, Permanent Collection, A House With No Walls, and Silverhill. Other plays include The Exhibition and Homer. His plays have also been seen at the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, off-off-Broadway at Blue Heron Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Florida Stage, Unicorn Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Center Stage, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Kirk Douglas Theatre/Center Theater Group, Aurora Theatre, Madison Repertory Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre, and many others. He is the recipient of seven playwriting fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Roger L. Stevens Award from The Fund for New American Plays, the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award, the NAACP Theatre Award, two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Permanent Collection was the pilot selection of the National New Play Network’s Continued Life of New Plays Fund, and A House With No Walls was a subsequent selection. Both plays, along with Bee-luther-hatchee, are published by Playscripts.
BRIEN JONES (Sterling North) is thrilled to again be part of the cast supporting the Salt Lake Acting Company's New Play Sounding Series (NPSS). He has been featured in the cast for prior NPSS readings including GRANT & TWAIN (Harrison Terrell), THE OVERWHELMING (Joseph Seromba), FRANKINCENSE (the Reader), and COURTING DISASTER (Kaman Holmes).
Brien has also had the good fortune to appear in several Salt Lake City theater productions including MISS EVERS' BOYS (Dr. Brodus) with the EttaGrace Black Theatre Company at The Grand Theatre, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (The Bus), LOVE! VALOR! COMPASSION! (Gregory), and BOYS IN THE BAND (Bernard) with Wasatch Theatre Company, MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS (Sam), A SOLDIER'S PLAY (C.J. Memphis), JITNEY (Turnbo), and HOME (Cephus Miles) with People Productions SLC, and A RAISIN IN THE SUN (Joseph Asagai) with the University of Utah Babcock Theatre.
Brien's "big boy job" is the Executive Vice President for Business Development and Continuing Education for an international association of business valuation and financial forensic analysts. He dedicates this performance to his stepfather the Rev. C.C. Hines and his mother Annie Hines who always challenged and encouraged him to discover how freeing it is to speak for himself ... what he believes.
TONI BYRD (Ella Franklin) has been acting and directing in the Salt Lake Valley for over 30 years. Her recent acting credits include Tituba in THE CRUCIBLE, Sadie Delany in HAVING OUR SAY, Louise Seger in ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE. Toni was last seen in a reading of Kurt Proctor's A TURQUOISE WIND at SLAC. She is the cofounder of the EttaGrace Black Theatre Company.
KENT HADFILED (Paul Barrow) is thrilled to be appearing with Salt Lake Acting Company for the first time and working with his U of U schoolmate Robin Wilks Dunn. Pioneer Theater Company credits include THE ODD COUPLE (Roy), DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (Nazi Officer), 12 ANGRY MEN (Juror #2), world premiere of Charles Morey's THE THREE MUSKETEERS (O'Reilly), and as one of the first PTC interns. Graduate of the University of Utah's Actor Training Program; member Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Co. under the direction of Michael Kahn and Rebecca Guy; AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Fogg) Meat and Potato Theater Co.; DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE (Gordon) Wasatch Theater Co.; KING LEAR (Kent), PROOF (Robert) guest artist Utah State Theater; INTO THE WOODS (Cinderella's Father) Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater; ST. GEORGE AND THE RELUCTANT DRAGON (Dragon) Unicorn Children's Theater; NOISES OFF, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, CASH ON DELIVERY, RELATIVE VALUES, AN INSPECTOR CALLS, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and more during the course of 8 seasons with Old Lyric Repertory Co. Kent is a proud member of Actor's Equity.
TOM JACOBSEN (Alfred Morris) "If only I looked as young as that old headshot! It is a pleasure to be back at SLAC." It has been since the mid 90's that Tom has performed at Salt Lake Acting Company. He is excited to once again work with beloved friends on a familiar stage. "It doesn't get better than this."
ANGELA TRUSTY (Kanika Weaver)
STEPHANIE HOWELL (Gillian Crane) has appeared in BORDERLANDS, THE END OF THE HORIZON, THE ALIENATION EFFEKT, and BASH with Plan-B Theatre Company. She has also acted in all 9 (soon-to-be 10) 'SLAMs (Plan-B's annual 24-hour-hour theatre festival.) Other local credits include ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, BIG RIVER, FORUM, and SOUTH PACIFIC at Pioneer Theatre Company. Additional favorite roles include Cassie in A CHORUS LINE, Amy in COMPANY, and Susie in W;T. Stephanie is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Theatre Arts and is a member of Actor's Equity. Film/television credits include: DAYS OF OUR LIVES and PECULIARITIES. Stephanie is also an aerialist and has performed locally with Revolve Aerial Dance.
DIRECTOR
ROBIN WILKS-DUNN is pleased to be back at SLAC again after directing last season's DOTTIE: THE SISTER LIVES ON! She recently directed LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER and THE GOOD BODY for Pygmalion Theatre Company. Robin is script supervisor, co-writer and director for a children's touring show for the Intermountain LIVE campaign and will direct it again for the Spring tour. Robin has directed several staged readings at SLAC, most recently David Kranes' THE LAST WORD. Other productions she has directed at SLAC include the premiere productions of BOOM, PEARL, ONE LAST DANCE and NAPOLEON'S CHINA. She reads scripts for the Sundance Theatre Lab and works as Outreach and Education Coordinator for Kingsbury Hall. Robin's work has been seen on stages across Salt Lake Valley for years and hopefully for many years to come!
NPSS: Devil Dog Six
by Fengar Gael
Free Reading December 3, 2012
Company: Sean Carter, William Ferrer, Nell Gwynn, Bijan Hosseini, Paul Kiernan, Nicki Nixon, Josh Thoemke
Director: Alexandra Harbold
Salt Lake Acting Company is thankful to the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and the Dramatists Guild Fund for their generous and vital support of our New Play Sounding Series program.
Playwright's Notes
The inspiration for Devil Dog Six came from a friend who relishes the mathematics of handicapping, and took me to racetracks all over the country. Naturally I noticed there were very few women jockeys or trainers, so after some research and interviews, the play evolved, and because I admire the magnificent horses themselves, I couldn't exclude their presence in the play. I especially loved the Fairgrounds race track in New Orleans, and read in a book of interviews called Women in the Sport of Kings that southern male jockeys make it especially hard on women trying to break in.
For me, Devil Dog Six is primarily about raw, untamed ambition gone awry. This is a very American theme since we live in a capitalist republic which encourages competition at all levels of society and sometimes fosters the mentality that the ends justifies the means. So what better than a horse race to exemplify the spirit of racing to the finish at all costs, even the price of personal ethics and integrity.
Devil Dog Six takes place in Louisiana, and there is an interracial love affair between a jockey and her groom. Race and social status are also very American themes, and racial bigotry and a form of virtual apartheid still exists in parts of the south and major American cities, and affects relationships at every level of the class structure. This is true at the racetrack and in every other business in America.
About the structure: I'm weary of linear-seqential domestic realism, and believe audiences are eager to experience plays that take risks in their stories, themes, and styles, and are truly theatrical. My plays also tend to have metaphysical dimensions for which I'm often dismissed as delusional, but I can't seem to help myself, and am always grateful when the audience gallops along for the ride.
Company
FENGAR GAEL (PLAYWRIGHT) Ms. Gael has had her plays developed and produced at various theatres including the Sundance Playwrights Lab, New York Stage and Film Company, the InterAct Theatre of Philadelphia, the Moxie Theatre Company, New Jersey Repertory, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Seanachai Theatre of Chicago, Kitchen Dog Theatre of Dallas, The Theatricum Botanicum Seedlings, the Tangent Theatre and AboutFace Ireland New Play Festival, and in New York City: MultiStages, The Abingdon Theatre Company, Collaborative Arts Project 21, Playwrights Gallery, Reverie Productions, and the Flux Theatre Ensemble. Ms. Gael is a recipient of the Playwrights First Award, The Craig Noel Award, as well as commissions from South Coast Repertory, New Jersey Repertory, the InterAct Theatre, (through the National New Play Network), and a playwriting fellowship from the California Arts Council. Most recently, The Usher’s Ball was given a showcase production at the Collaborative Arts Project 21's Shop Theatre; The Cantor's Tale was produced at the Hunger Artists Theatre Company, directed by Jill Johnson; and The Buttonhole Bandit was produced by the Edna Manley College of Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica. In February, 2012, The Gallerist (A Tale of Desecration and Desire) was produced at the Rorschach Theatre in Washington D. C.; this October Devil Dog Six was produced at The Venus Theatre in Laurel, Maryland; in November, The Island of No Tomorrows, as coproduced by MultiStages and the Interart Development Series in New York under the direction of Lorca Peress. Ms. Gael is currently a writer in residence at CAP 21 with the composer, Dennis McCarthy, continuing work on their musical, Soul on Vinyl.
ALEXANDRA HARBOLD (DIRECTOR) Previously at SLAC, she directed the world premieres of (a man enters) and The Persian Quarter. Other directing credits: Betrayal, Three Days of Rain, Rabbit Hole, and Romeo and Juliet (Pinnacle) and SLAM (Plan-B). Acting: Circle Mirror Transformation, Dancing at Lughnasa, Six Years, The Seagull, Ice Glen. Most recently, she directed a reading of Spark for Pygmalion Productions and served as Dramaturg on Pioneer Theatre Company's Of Mice and Men; also at PTC: Assistant Director on Emma and the Player Queen in Hamlet. Education: Masters, University of London Goldsmiths; BA, Middlebury College; SITI Summer Intensive; and Midsummer at Oxford. Current and upcoming projects: SENSES 5, a collaboration with Robert Scott Smith (The Leonardo), A Slight Discomfort, and The Eccentrics (University of Utah, Studio 115).
SEAN CARTER (ACTOR #1) Sean is ecstatic to be back at Salt Lake Acting Company, where he was last seen in “Angles in America” as Belize. Sean has performed in several venues along the Wasatch Front to include Hale Centre Theatre, The Grand Theatre and The Egyptian Theatre Company. In addition to Belize, some of his favorite roles include Willie Johnson in “Miss Evers’ Boys,” and Papa Ge in “Once on This Island.” Sean would like to thank the production team, cast and crew, and his friends and family for their continued support.
JOSH THOEMKE (ACTOR #2) Josh last appeared on the SLAC stage in The Persian Quarter, in dual roles. He was most recently featured in Meat & Potato's production of Aliens: The Puppet Musical, in six roles. Devil Dog Six marks his third collaboration with Andra Harbold. When not acting, he plays and sings in the Celtic band, Bad Colleen, usually seen at Scottish festivals and St. Patty's Day celebrations.
PAUL KIERNAN (ACTOR #3) Is proud member of Actor's Equity Association. Locally has been seen at the Pioneer Theater in; Hamlet, 12 Angry Men, Is He Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Our Town, The Tempest, Of Mice and Men and Amadeus among others.
SLAC productions include; Freedomland, Skin in Flames, The Beard of Avon, The Memory of Water, Six years and End Days. He was last seen with Salt Lake Shakespeare as Brutus in Julius Caesar and as Falstaff in Henry IV. He has toured with the one man play A Slight Discomfort, written and lived by Jeff Metcalf. Regionally; Romeo and Juliet, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Cyrano in Cyrano at the Hangar Theater; MacBeth, As You Like it, The tempest and The Taming of the Shrew, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival; Merry Wives, You Can't Take it With You and Amadeus at Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival; Twelfth Night, Much Ado, Hamlet, Richard III, As You Like It, Taming of the Shrew, Henry V and Every Christmas Story Ever Told with The Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Much Ado with Kentucky Shakespeare. Film and TV include; The
HBO series From The Earth to the Moon, Luck of The Irish, Go Figure, The Cell 2, Gold Coast, Rosanne among others. He received his MFA in Acting and Directing from Brandeis University in Boston.
WILLIAM FERRER (ACTOR #4) William Ferrer has lived in the Salt Lake City area for about 13 years. He has spent much of that time teaching in the city's schools. Ferrer has also performed as a storyteller in the region. After years away from acting, he returned to theater in 2002 and has performed with Salt Lake Acting Company, Pygmalion Productions and worked extensively with People Productions. Ferrer has also appeared in a number of feature and independent films shot in the area. He plans to continue acting and directing in both the theater and film mediums.
NELL GWYNN (ACTOR #5) Nell Gwynn is very happy to be back at SLAC after playing Veronica Novak in "God of Carnage". Other SLAC credits include "The Persian Quarter" and "Angels in America". She most recently completed the filming of playwright David Johnston's "Mothra is Waiting", directed by Kevin Newbury and hitting film festivals in 2013. She is currently employed by the Sundance Institute for the 2013 Film Festival.
NICKI NIXON (ACTOR #6) is thrilled to be returning to Salt Lake Acting Company’s directed readings for the third time with the talented Andra, the previous two premiering THE AGONY AND ECSTACY OF STEVE JOBS, as well as Kathleen Cahill’s MONSTER HEART. She also had the privilege of playing Antigone in TOO MUCH MEMORY at SLAC. She was most recently seen in Pygmalion Theatre Company’s reading of SPARK as Lexie. She was happy to play Annelle in STEEL MAGNOLIAS with Pinnacle Acting Company. Other local credits include Michella in Off Broadway Theatre’s TRANSMORFERS and Princess Justine in PUSS 'N BOOTS at the Children's Theatre. She is a proud graduate of Weber State University’s Theatre Arts program, where some of her favorite roles include Tess in SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, Angie/Dull Gret in TOP GIRLS, and Eve in WAITING FOR THE PARADE. She was also given the opportunity to perform as a Weird Woman in MACBETH at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
BIJAN HOSSEINI (READER) Bijan would like to thank Andra, Kev, Cyn and the rest of the SLAC family for this - and so many other -opportunities. Bijan has worked with the Salt Lake Acting Company (Too Much Memory, Charm, The Persian Quarter NPSS reading), Plan-B, PYGmalion, Sting & Honey, the Babcock, the Classical Greek Theatre Festival, Pinnacle, Around The Globe, Wasatch, UTAC, Holiday Arts, and SLCC. He was last seen as Polixenes in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" and is still touring with PYGmalion and Art Access' production of "The Mysterious, Happy Life of Brown Bag". Bijan is represented by TMG.
NPSS: Turquoise Wind
by Kurt Proctor
FREE READING Monday, October, 29, 2012
Director Keven Myhre
Company Toni Byrd, Brenda Sue Cowley, Heidi Klein, Annette Wright, Cassandra Stokes-Wylie
Salt Lake Acting Company is thankful to the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and the Dramatists Guild Fund for their generous and vital support of our New Play Sounding Series program.
Playwright's Notes
Turquoise Wind came from a dream I had while I was in the final stages of writing Roundup (my cowboy poet play). I've always felt like it is the counter to that first play - not a sequel, obviously, but rather its other half.
Shortly after finishing the first draft of TW, I submitted it to Denver Center theatre where it was picked up by one of their partner theatres for a staged reading. That reading took place at the Aurora Fox theatre under the direction of Angela Astle. The feedback from the audience there was terrific, but they agreed that something was missing just prior to the end of the play. The resolution before the denouement, if you will.
At the same time that I had given the play to Denver Center, I had also given it to Chuck Metton at Utah Shakes. Chuck took it back to his readers and I was invited to be one of three playwrights in their New American Playwrights Program for August of 2012. I spent a week in Cedar City in rehearsals with the actors and director as well as Chuck and with the help of a drive up into the mountains, several naps for dreaming, and the voices of the actors in my head, I found the resolution that the play needed. In the process, I found that the ending needed to change as well. The audience response in Cedar City was great and the feedback very helpful. After each reading I would take notes and make a few tweaks before the next day. A word here, a clarification there.
I'm very excited to bring it home to the SLAC audience and to put it in the mouths of the women who inspired that initial, magical dream.
Company
KURT PROCTOR (PLAYWRIGHT) Kurt Proctor started his professional theatre career at Salt Lake Acting Company. Long time subscribers may remember him as "that guy who's in all the readings." Eventually performing several times in SLAC full productions, he branched out into directing, producing (as one of the founders of Utah Contemporary Theatre), and playwrighting. His plays Roundup and Treading Water have both had full productions. Turquoise Wind was developed at the Aurora Fox Theatre in Denver and as part of the New American Playwrights Project at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, where Kurt was one of the playwrights in residence for the 2012 program. When he is not working in theatre, he moonlights as an Air Traffic Controller (the longest acting job he's ever had!) Kurt is very pleased to bring Turquoise Wind home to the SLAC audience.
KEVEN MYHRE (DIRECTOR Executive Producer) was chosen to receive the Mayor's Artist 
Award in the Performing Arts for 2009. Keven was awarded the 2008 City Weekly Award for directing THE CLEAN HOUSE and MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS at Salt Lake Acting Company. His other directing credits at SLAC are RED, ANGELS IN AMERICA: PARTS 1 & 2, THE OVERWHELMING, RABBIT HOLE, I AM MY OWN WIFE, BAD DATES, KIMERBLY AKIMBO, GOING TO ST. IVES, WATER LILIES, THE MEMORY OF WATER, TWO-HEADED, THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE, C'EST MOI in MERE MORTALS, andTHREE DAYS OF RAIN. Keven has designed all of SLAC's sets and many of the costumes for the last seventeen years. He also designed sixteen sets for The Grand Theatre, including ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE, JOHNNY GUITAR, MY FAIR LADY, SONG OF SINGAPORE, MORNING'S AT SEVEN, and GODSPELL. ACCORDING TO COYOTE, WEST SIDE STORY, CROW AND WEASEL, and SOUTH PACIFIC were designed for Sundance Theatre. His designs have also been seen at Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Utah Musical Theatre, Egyptian Theatre, Kingsbury Hall and the Babcock Theatre. His work for the Utah Arts Festival includes site design for the
20th Anniversary. He received a BFA from the University of Utah and a MFA in Theatre from the University of Michigan.
TONI BYRD (TONI) is both actress and director. In the past 30 years she has been involved with productions at SLAC, PTC, The Egyptian Theatre, Theatre Works West and the Grand Theatre. Ms. Byrd is the cofounder of the EttaGrace Black Theatre Co.
BRENDA SUE COWLEY (LISA) has been working professionally as an actor in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas since 1991. A member of Actor's Equity, Brenda has spent much of her time on the boards of the Salt Lake Acting Company. Originally from Portland Oregon, Brenda holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Northwest Nazarene University, and is the owner of Ninth Avenue Salon.
HEIDI KLEIN (DAWN) was happy to be a part of the reading of Nora Ephron's Love, Loss and What I Wore at Salt Lake Acting Company. She was recently seen in Sting & Honey's The Winter's Tale as Perdita. Previously she performed with Salt Lake Shakespeare Company's Twelfth Night (Viola) and in Measure for Measure (Isabella). A graduate of the University of Utah's Actor Training Program, some of her favorite productions were The Comedy of Errors (Adriana), The Duchess of Malfi (Duchess), Three Sisters (Natasha) and Bright Ideas (Lynzie).
ANNETTE WRIGHT (CHARLETTE) is soooooo excited to be doing her boyfriend's play!! After seeing it in Cedar City this summer, she just knew it was ready for more audiences!. Annette has been a part of this since Kurt first wrote it and told her there was a part for her. Thats all it takes, I'm there. I hope you enjoy this play as much as I do.
CASSANDRA STOKES-WYLIE (READER) was most recently seen in SLAC's reading of LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE, as Mrs. Givings in THE VIBRATOR PLAY with Pygmalion Productions, and Elizabeth Proctor in THE CRUCIBLE at the Grand Theatre. Other local credits include various characters in THE GOOD BODY with Pygmalion, the Reader for ANGELS IN AMERICA: PART 2, PERESTROIKA at SLAC, Shudder and Stella in THE HARVEY GIRLS during SLAC's Fearless Fringe Festival, Anna in Utah Theatre Artists Company's production of BURN THIS and the Governess in their production of THE TURN OF THE SCREW. Cassandra is a graduate of the Actor Training Program at the University of Utah and spent a season with the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre's acting internship program where she performed in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, THE CHERRY ORCHARD, STATE OF THE UNION and understudied their one woman show THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD.
