Friday, August 26 @ 7 pm
Saturday, August 27 @ 8:30 pm
By Melissa Leilani Larson
Director Dave Mortensen
COMPANY Emily Bell, Emily Burnworth, Elise Groves, Alex Ungerman
Claire and Brennan reunite after serving their mission years apart.
A wry, raw, and unspoken love story.
PLAYWRIGHT'S NOTE
For me personally, being judgmental is the sin that is the easiest to commit, and therefore the hardest to overcome. It's so easy to meet someone and put them in a box. Writing LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS was an attempt to look beyond boxes, categories, and blanket judgments, and to tell a simple story as honestly as possible.
PLAYWRIGHT MELISSA LEILANI LARSON
Originally from Hau'ula, HI, Mel is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter presently based in Provo. She holds a BA in English from Brigham Young University and an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Produced plays include LADY IN WAITING (Lewis National Playwriting Contest for Women winner); STANDING STILL STANDING (Mayhew Playwriting award, LDS Film Festival Screenplay Competition winner); A FLICKERING; MARTYRS' CROSSING (IRAM Best New Play); HOPE FALLS; THE CHURCH OF ST. PINKY AT KATY, TEXAS; and an adaptation of Jane Austen's PERSUASION, which enjoyed a sold-out run on the BYU season this March. LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS won the 2009 Association for Mormon Letters Drama award and is featured in the anthology OUT OF THE MOUNT: 19 FROM NEW PLAY PROJECT. Mel is adjunct faculty at BYU and UVU, and is a regular contributor to the Utah Theatre Bloggers. She thanks her family and friends for their support, particularly those who have embraced LITTLE HAPPY from the start.
DIRECTOR DAVE MORTENSEN
Dave is an independent producer and advocate for Utah theater based in Salt Lake City. He holds a BA in Theatre Studies from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in directing and dramaturgy. During the past 5 years, he has produced 19 plays including 11 new works by local playwrights. He is a co-founder of Mortal Fools Theatre Project in Provo, and the founder of UtahTheaterBloggers.com, a group of Utah theatre patrons and professionals dedicated to strengthening the Utah theatre community. By day, Dave can be found working for a software company helping businesses go paperless. He thanks Landon and Mel for introducing him to this script back in 2009 and is grateful to have had a small part in now bringing it to Salt Lake with such a stellar group of actors.
