Erika Ahlin
A Cup of Joe with O | Nell Gwynn
Host Olivia Custodio sits down with actress Nell Gwynn to discuss the character of Gwen in "Rapture, Blister, Burn" by Gina Gionfriddo.
A Cup of Joe with O | Jeanette Puhich
Salt Lake Acting Company is excited to announce a new video blog series, called A CUP OF JOE WITH O. Keep an eye out for weekly videos with your lovely host, Olivia Custodio, where she will sit down with the actors and directors of the current productions here at SLAC.
In this week's episode, say hello to Jeanette Puhich, who plays Alice in RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN, by Gina Gionfiddo.
Ellen Fagg Weist | October 17, 2014 | Salt Lake Tribune
The articulately worded massacre threat that prompted feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian to cancel her Utah speech last week makes the provocative questions posed by the production of "Rapture, Blister, Burn" seem oddly prescient.
But maybe playwright Gina Gionfriddo's story about juggling ambition and family have been relevant ever since the first gatherer dropped the first "f-bomb" — feminism, that is — while demanding her hunter-partner split the work of caring for their young cave dwellers. And nagging him not to lose his ambition in the process.
I'LL EAT YOU LAST at Salt Lake Acting Company | Broadway World
Blair Howell | October 9, 2014 | Broadway World Salt Lake City
Seeing a virtuoso solo performance in a single-character show can leave an indelible impression. I can still remember many years ago watching Patrick Stewart in "A Christmas Carol," in which he played 40-plus Dickens roles. And a few months after seeing a spirited Lori Guiver perform as a singe character, Emily Dickinson in "The Belle of Amherst," Lori became my wife.
I will long remember Camille G. Van Wagoner's performance in Salt Lake Acting Company's irresistibly delicious production of "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers."
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3,000 Subscribers! SLAC Reaches New Heights
We are proud to announce that Salt Lake Acting Company has reached an all-time record breaking number of 3,000 subscribers and still counting. We are literally jumping up and down with joy over the growth of our subscriber base. This means our subscribers trust our work and recognize the importance of this theatre in the community. We are honored by their year round support. The growth in subscribers is in line with the growth of this organization. We have expanded our play development, arts education, and outreach programming. To support this growth we have also increased and invested in our staff to ensure everyone who attends a SLAC production or sees us out in the community feels welcomed, included, and excited to return. We'd like to let you know what we love about Salt Lake Acting Company:
"Salt Lake Acting Company represents possibilities. I love the artists and audience this theatre attracts and the magic we share." ~ Cynthia Fleming (Executive Producer)
"What I love most about SLAC is its brave and appreciative audience." ~ Keven Myhre (Executive Producer)
"I love coming to work every day, reading and working on exciting new plays with supremely talented artists, knowing that we have the most adventurous and savvy audience with whom to share the work." ~ Shannon Musgrave (Associate Producer/Director New Play Development)
"I love SLAC's commitment to producing bold new plays that are relevant to the Salt Lake community." ~ Janice Jenson (Associate Producer)
"The environment at SLAC is wonderful. I love working with the staff and patrons." ~ Nick Fleming (Audience Services Manager)
"What I love most about SLAC is our subscribers, they are always the most friendly and adventurous people (who see plays they've often never even heard of before!) I am absolutely honored to be able to work with them so closely. Working at SLAC is literally—the best." ~ Erika Ahlin (Director of Marketing)
"I love coming to SLAC knowing I get to help make programs like the free shows for Title I students or the University Professional Theatre Program possible." ~ Logan Froerer (Director of Development)
"What I love most about SLAC are the people that are drawn to this unique theatre, and the diverse perspectives and contagious excitement they bring. Both the people that work here and patrons that walk through the doors make coming to work a delight!" ~ Samantha Matsukawa (Audience Services)
"I love being surrounded by so many talented artists from every aspect of the field. SLAC is a wonderful place that encourages these artists to thrive and aspire to produce great work for the theatre and the community around us." ~Bobby Cody (Audience Services)
"What I love about SLAC is the patrons; SLAC is the only place I've performed where the audience thanks you for your performance and go out of their way to tell you how much they love the theatre company and the joy you have brought to their day." ~ Olivia Custodio (Audience Services)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It's because of you Salt Lake Acting Company is a wonderful place to belong.
Our very best to you,
Cynthia and Keven
Executive Producers
I’LL EAT YOU LAST serves up good dish | Utah Theatre Bloggers
Megan Crivello | September 23, 2014 | Utah Theatre Bloggers
SALT LAKE CITY — One person shows are not easy undertakings. A single performer has to be dynamic enough to capture the attention of an audience for sixty or more minutes with no other performer to assist them. Solo performances are the marathons of acting, at times a sheer act of perseverance and passion relying on memoir to chart a lasting journey. At its best, it is mesmerizing; at its worst, it is incredibly uncomfortable and regrettable. I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers at Salt Lake Acting Company definitely cast a spell over me.
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Count Your Many Blessings | VOYEUR actor Eb Madson
They say that the second year of living in New York is the hardest. By that time, the rose-colored glasses have faded and the hype of living in one of the world's greatest cities is gone. That definitely was the case for me. In this last year, I worked several jobs just trying to keep afloat, been mugged at knife point, was pick-pocketed on New Years, probably was the sickest I have ever been in my life, had no money, and not had much luck in the audition room. Which is why when I got the call asking if I would like to come be a part this year's cast of Saturday's Voyeur, I didn't have to think twice. Last year, I had such an amazing time I would have to be crazy not to do it again. I made so many great friends, I got to work with some of the state's most amazing talent. The staff at SLAC is incredible. I was honored to get my equity card because of Voyeur 2013. So many great things came out doing "Voyeur" last year; it would be hard to top that experience. But, the universe works in mysterious ways. By coming back, I have been blessed in so many ways. So let's count the many blessings and name them one by one.
1. I get to see my family. I love my family, and now that I am out in New York I don't get to see them as much as I like. Now I get to spend an entire summer with them...AGAIN! My nieces and nephew are bigger, smarter, and even more rambunctious. Spending time with my sisters and my parents is always great.
2. I get to work with my sister. Yeah, in case you didn't you know, the Madson family is slowly taking over SLAC. First me, now Shea. She just graduated from the U of U with a degree in sound design and is the sound mixer for "Voyeur". Which is really cool because I was the one that suggested she look into a career in sound design and now we finally get to work on our first professional show together. I can't tell you how incredibly cool it is to see her up in that booth and how proud it makes me.
3. Getting to work with cast mates from last year. Justin, Alexis, Austin, Connor, Leah, and Janessa all were in "Voyeur" with me last year and getting to work with each of them again is so great. Each of them are so incredibly talented at what they do and to share the stage with them is truly an honor.
4. I get to work with some new amazing actors. This year "Voyeur" added Jaron, Hayden, Angie, and Olivia to the cast. The talent here in Utah really is amazing and I am simply blown away by each of the actors. Working with them and getting to know them for the last couple of months has been so much fun.
5. Latoya! Not many people know that Latoya and I have been friends for a really long time. We went to high school together (Go Darts). We shared the stage many times in those days. Since high school, we went our separate ways in pursuit of bettering ourselves as actors. I went to the U of U and Ohio University and Toya headed down south to Southern Utah University. It's been 11 years since we have been on stage together and all I can say is some things never change. She is still an incredible performer and an even more incredible friend. Sharing the stage with her again has been awesome.
6. Working with Cynthia, Kevin, Elena, Janice and Kristina. I worked with all these guys last year (except Kristina) and each of them is amazing in their own way. Cynthia is such a fun director and so fun in the rehearsal room. Kevin Mathie is not only one of the most talented people I have ever met in my life, but he is the nicest person you will ever meet in your life. If there was an award for nicest guy in the world, Kevin would win it every year. Elena Dern is so talented in so many ways, and has the patience of a saint when it comes to going through choreography. As for Janice and Kristina, they have in my opinion the hardest job in theatre and never get any of the credit for what they do. As Stage managers they are literally the glue that keeps everything together and with those two its super glue. Both are super sweet, and so good at their work.
7. Improv. I have been doing improv for years, but I don't get to play that much in New York, so whenever I am back in Utah you will be sure to see me play with Quick Wits out in Midvale or Off the Wall up in Ogden. I love those guys and going on stage with them is like a family reunion. Plus, this summer I got to workshop my idea for a new long form format up in Ogden. "Improv Against Humanity!" An improv show that is based on the popular card game "Cards Against Humanity" and it is so much fun to do. I can't get enough of it.
8. Food. Whenever I talk to people about Utah I can't help to talk about our food culture. So many gems are here in Utah, and you can't keep me away from them while I am here. If only I could keep away the pounds I gain.
9. Saying goodbye to my childhood home. My parents recently moved, but by coming and doing "Voyeur" I got to come home and spend one last month in the house I grew up in. The place where I saw my sister get married. Where my brother would chase me through the halls. Where I had my first kiss. So many memories, I would have never of got to relive.
10. Getting to perform. Work as a young actor can be hard and I am just happy to be on stage again. There is nothing like getting in front of an audience and taking them on a journey. To make them laugh, to make them cry, or just make them think of something they may not thought of before. It's the most satisfying experience ever and, how I make my mark on the world. It's in my soul to perform, and I am so honored to be on that stage and perform for all of SLAC's awesome patrons.
I moved to Utah from New York City. "Why, in the name of everything holy, would you do that?!" you may be screaming at your computer. I am not Mormon, I would rather take a nap in my bathtub while watching "Toddlers and Tiaras" than go hiking, and if I tried to ski my bones would shatter like the saltines squished at the bottom of your Wendy's chili to-go bag. My friends, I will be honest with you. I dreaded moving to Utah. I so enjoyed the fact that I could walk outside of my NYC apartment and have six different Starbucks to choose from on the same corner as my nail salon. I realized quickly that when Utahans said a building was "three blocks away" what they meant was not my customary three NYC blocks, but really more like 3,470 miles. #Inconvenient. It was a culture shock, dear ones. But, graduate school was calling to me at the University of Utah, and so, here I came to this alien planet.
My mom took me to see Saturday's Voyeur last summer and I remember thinking, "THERE ARE OTHERS. I AM NOT ALONE." It was an encounter of the fourth kind, the hilarious kind. I laughed myself silly (a little too silly, thanks to the Riesling) and was jealous of the fun all of the actors were having up on stage. After the show, my mom said, "You should audition next year!" to which I had a hearty chuckle. Saturday's Voyeur surely would have no use for an opera singer. I put the thought out of my head. Months passed...(cue montage of my school life accompanied by an upbeat pop song.) Then, one fateful day, I saw that SLAC was holding auditions for Saturday's Voyeur 2014 and I thought to myself, "What the hell. The worst thing that can happen is that they laugh in my face and pelt me with rotting vegetables." Well, they did laugh in my face. In a good way! I think I realized that that audition was unlike any I had ever done about halfway through my operatic version of a Lil Jon rap song. I certainly had never sung the "F word" in any opera audition, let me tell you that much.
Well, folks, the rest is history. I am a proud member of this year's Voyeur cast and I am literally having the time of my life. And you know what the most surprising thing that came out of all of this is? A love and appreciation for Utah. Through this show, I have gained an understanding and sense of humor about all of the quirkly Utah-isms that makes this state one in a million. I have met some of the coolest and most talented people who make me laugh every single day and I finally feel a sense of belonging in this city.
So, please, come see Saturday's Voyeur. You'll laugh and feel like part of a family that shows love by gently poking fun at each other. Being in Voyeur is an experience that has truly changed me for the better. Although I still will probably never go hiking.
It's not easy being a beauty queen. It may look like a glamorous life but there's a lot that goes into winning the high high honor of being crowned Miss Riverton*. It's not all fun and games, there's the constant trying on of gowns, perfecting that award winning smile, nail painting, hair dying, learning how to vaguely answer a question I don't fully understand, and so much more, not to mention the lugging around of enormous fake melons. As the former Miss Riverton, I can't understand anyone's confusion when I had to let off a little steam. It's a lot of pressure to represent a big city like Riverton. Everyone in the city, state, and country was looking up to me expecting me to change the world and I just couldn't handle it anymore. If I needed to throw a couple pipe bombs at some houses then who's gonna stop me!?!? Well, apparently the court will. Having to resign from my title and serve community service at the Church Office Building is totally humiliating. Maybe I'll become a feminist.... I don't really know what it is but seems like it could be fun. Or maybe I'll become a lesbian and then no one can stop me from throwing bombs or wearing doc martins or doing whatever the hell I want.
*Leah Hassett plays Miss Riverton in SATURDAY's VOYEUR 2014
The Get-Us-Heard Address | Voyeur Actor Justin Ivie
The Get-Us-Heard Address
Written by Justin Ivie
June 2014
One score and sixteen years ago our founding mother brought forth to this unsuspecting state a new musical, conceived in comedy, and dedicated to the proposition that no cow is too sacred for roasting.
Now, we at SLAC are engaged in rehearsals for another great summer of Saturday’s Voyeur, testing whether this company, or any company so insane and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met in the chapel six days a week—come to dance, and to sing and to seek out the punchiest line deliveries so that this irreverent bacchanal once again might live. It is altogether thrilling and possibly delusional that we do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not satirize, we can not caricature, we can not lampoon this state. Those beautiful, bombastic, ridiculous Utahns, living and dead, who frolic here, have practically parodied themselves - far above our poor powers to send-up or takedown. The conservatives and blowhards who run our state will little note, nor likely understand what we have to say here, but we can never forget what they do here. And it’s better for us to laugh than to cry! It is for you, the beleaguered but sane denizens of our fair community, to be inebriated here - and to laugh at the noble buffoonery which those gasbags have so seriously advanced. It is for us, the company, to tackle the enormous tasks remaining before us—that from these glorious idiots we take-the-piss, and mine the last full measure of comedy gold—that we here highly resolve to learn every note, every step and every line—that these jokes shall not die in vain—that this very serious comedy, under the noses of the G.O.P. and the C.O.B., shall have a new birth of hilarity—and that satire of those people, by these people, for you people, shall not perish from SLAC’s stage.
We open June 27th. Performances sell out fast, so don’t wait! Get your tickets now!
