Accessibility Coordinator, Audience Relationship & Outreach

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Check out this great preview article for HIR in the Salt Lake Tribune!

 The Salt Lake Tribune | Ellen Fagg Weist | February 7, 2018

Ash Crystal is excited to join the SLAC Playwright’s Lab for the second consecutive year. She was raised in Utah and is continuing her education in theatre as a stage manager in her hometown. Ash has been involved in a variety of projects with Utah Opera, Pinnacle Acting Company, PYGmalion Theatre, Lyric Repertory Company, Fusion Theatre Project, and more. In recent years she has developed a taste for fringe and developmental theatre, leading her to assistant technically direct the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival and collaborate in more projects as she finishes her BFA in Technical Theatre.

Director of Audience Engagement

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Topher is delighted to return to SLAC. Favorite credits include HARBUR GATE, R+J: STAR CROSS'D DEATH MATCH, COURSE 86B IN THE CATALOGUE (SLAC), THE ICE FRONT, ADAM AND STEVE & THE EMPTY SEA, BORDERLANDS (Plan-B), DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, THE PRIVATE EAR, THIS BIRD OF DAWNING (Sting and Honey), THE WORST THING I'VE EVER DONE (Sackerson), THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY, TWELFTH NIGHT, ROMEO AND JULIET, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (Grassroots Shakespeare), NEXT TO NORMAL (UVU), and HAMLET AND OPHELIA GO SWIMMING (Edinburgh Fringe, SLC Fringe).

Regional: ABIGAIL/1702 (Merrimack Rep, Boston); PERIBAÑEZ (Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh) [co-directed with Megan Monaghan Rivas]; JOHANNA: FACING FORWARD (Cleveland Public); WIT and MARIELA IN THE DESERT (Aurora Theatre, Atlanta); IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT (Halcyon Theatre, Chicago), THE NEW WORLD (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), and others.

He is a co-founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons, a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, an associate member of Stage Directors & Choreographers, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Tlaloc is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz (with honors) and the University of Washington’s Professional Directors’ Training Program, with advanced training from SITI Company, Cornerstone Theater, and the Sir John Gielgud Fellowship in Classical Directing at the Court Theatre in Chicago.

Shannon Robert serves on the design faculty at Clemson University, and is a proud member of USA 829. She received the M.F.A. in scene design from Florida State University and studied at the Moscow Art Theatre Conservatory in 1991. Shannon was director of theatre and head of design at William Carey University and serves as a member of the Hollins University M.F.A. Playwriting Faculty (in the area of design). She served KCACTF as Region IV design chair, regional vice chair, and on national design committees. Shannon served on the board of directors and executive committee of SETC. She managed the paint/craft departments of The Spoon Group Productions in NJ/NY, and fabricated props/painted for the Broadway productions of THE GRINCH, GREASE, XANADU, LEGALLY BLONDE, INHERIT THE WIND, THE PIRATE QUEEN, CORAM BOY, THE COLOR PURPLE, JERSEY BOYS, SPAMALOT, and HAIRSPRARY. With Technical Theatre Solutions, she painted for the national tours of CINDERELLA, IN THE HEIGHTS, and MAMMA MIA. She has designed for The Warehouse Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Theatrical Outfit, Salt Lake City Acting Company, The Tennessee Williams Festival (Provincetown - current) Actor’s Express, Mill Mountain Theatre, Brian Clowdus Experiences, New Stage Theatre, Auburn University Theatre, Texas Tech University Theatre, Middle Tennessee State University Theatre, Southern Arena Theatre, University of Southern Mississippi, The Peace Center (Gala) and the University of West Georgia. She has worked internationally as a designer, consultant, and respondent. She served as design consultant for Albert and Associates Architects for The Saenger Theatre renovation, and as the Productions Unlimited consultant for the Upstate Children’s Museum featured climbing sculpture. Shannon was the Associate Artistic Director and Scene Designer in Residence for The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC. She received Atlanta’s 2014 and 2016 Suzi Bass Awards for best set design for a musical for MARY POPPINS and IN THE HEIGHTS.

Jennie Sant's previous shows at SLAC include SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY, REYKJAVIK (reading), PLAYWRIGHTS LAB 2016 & 2017, HARBUR GATE, BULLSHARK ATTACK, STUPID FUCKING BIRD, TWO STORIES, BLACKBERRY WINTER, I’LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS, VENUS IN FUR, MANNING UP, PERSIAN QUARTER and, ANGELES IN AMERICA I & II.  Other credits include, The Petite Palace WONDERLAND and PRINCESS WENDY, COPA Theatre, ANNIE, Pioneer Theatre Company, NEXT TO NORMAL, LES MISERABLES, THE PRODUCERS, PAINT YOUR WAGON, DOUBT, A MIDSUMMER NIHTS DREAM, THE FOREIGNER and VERTICAL HOUR. She has also worked for Salt Lake Shakes and Utah Contemporary theatre. 

David Kranes is a writer of seven novels and three volumes of short stories--most recently, (novel) Abracadabra (2017) and (stories) The Legend’s Daughter (2013).  His 2001 novel, The National Tree, was made into a film by Hallmark, which aired in November, 2009.  His short fiction (appearing in such magazines as Esquire, Ploughshares, Transatlantic Review) has won literary prizes and has been anthologized.  Over 40 of his plays have been performed in New York and across the U.S. (in theaters such as The Actors’ Theater of Louisville, The Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theater Club, Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park), and his Selected Plays was published in 2010.  His most recent theater venture was contributing a play to an evening (with the prompt of “bravery”) of six short plays—3 by American playwrights; 3 by Iraqi playwrights.  His play, A LOSS OF APPETITE was performed (with an honoring of his body of work) at Salt Lake Acting Company in April, 2014.  He has written for radio, film and for dance companies.  The opera, ORPHEUS LEX, for which he wrote the libretto, was performed at New York City’s Symphony Space in February of 2010 and again, recently, in Salt Lake. For 14 years, he directed the Playwrights' Lab at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute.  In 2015, he was asked to recreate a national-in-scope version of this Playwrights’ Lab for Salt Lake Acting Company.  The SLAC Playwrights' Lab has been a resounding success.  Two new novels, abracadabra and Crap Dealer will appear in 2017 and 2018.  Mr. Kranes is an award-recognized mentor and continues mentoring whenever and wherever he can (most recently, in Provence, France).

City Weekly | Kylee Ehmann | January 31, 2018

There are a million and one reasons why a person might get an abortion. Maybe they were assaulted and the pregnancy is deeply unwanted. Maybe they have a medical condition making pregnancy extremely dangerous. Or maybe they just don't want to be pregnant. Despite more than four post-Roe v. Wade decades and millions of people taking advantage of legal abortion services for myriad reasons, Americans have a hard time shaking away the miasma of shame surrounding the procedure.

This lingering stigma is exactly what inspired Remarkably Normal, produced by the Salt Lake Acting Co. in partnership with Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. Written in 2016 by playwright Jessi Blue Gormezano, the performance features real-life stories shared through the 1 in 3 Campaign (1in3campaign.org), a grassroots movement dedicated to talking about people's abortion experiences. The campaign is inspired by the oft-repeated statistic that one in three women will have an abortion during their lifetime (according to the American Journal of Public Health, as of 2017, the statistic is now 1 in 4). The production represents part of Planned Parenthood's annual fundraiser, and also marks the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. All proceeds from the performance go directly to Utah's Planned Parenthood.

Some of these stories are remarkably matter-of-fact: a college sophomore speaks frankly about her abortion freeing her to pursue an athletic career; a young career woman gushes gratitude over not being pregnant. Others are incredibly raw and painful: A mother talks about the severe physical trauma of her first pregnancy, while teenagers write about being pushed into sexual situations they weren't ready for. All share the larger goal of breaking the silence around abortion. Katrina Barker, communications and marketing coordinator for Planned Parenthood, says hearing these stories gives a human face to dry statistics and abstract morality arguments.

"I believe strongly that the arts can touch hearts and minds in ways that a lecture can't. This play is able to bring together a wide variety of stories andperspectivesin a concise and compelling way," she says. "I think anyone who sees it will walk away with a greater appreciation for the complexity and diversity of circumstances that bring women to the choice to terminate a pregnancy."

Remarkably Normal tells true experiences through a lightly staged reading, complete with music and transitions. But for Cynthia Fleming, SLAC executive artistic director, one of the most interesting parts of the show comes in the setup: Each character is being interviewed, and the audience is the interviewer.

"As an audience member, you're not going to actively be asked to do or be something," Fleming says. "But I think it creates a little more of an intimate conversation between the audience and the actor and the character."

The show's 11 roles are portrayed by a mix of professional actors and high-profile Utah women like Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City; Mindy Young, development director for Equality Utah; and Theresa Martinez, sociology professor at the University of Utah. Olivia Custodio, development director for SLAC, says while it's always the actor's responsibility to inhabit a character and make it their truth, there's something more powerful going on here.

"You can really feel that connection much more when you know that it is a real person," Custodio says. "And to be honest, I think that's a big responsibility, because these people gave their permission for their stories to be used, and it makes it really special when you know you're doing this on behalf someone else for everyone else who may not have had the opportunity or courage to speak their truth yet."

Producing Director Janice Jenson considers documentary-style theater an important experience for the audience as well. "I think as an audience member and as a community member to know that this is someone's actual story, there's power in that, and I think that it empowers you to tell your own story," she says.

Fleming, Custodio and Jenson all acknowledge the importance of Planned Parenthood and the comforting presence it's had in their lives. While it's likely most attendees of Remarkably Normal don't need to be convinced of Planned Parenthood's value and are similarly committed to the organization's community presence, Barker says the night will still provide a valuable experience in allowing people to speak their truth.

"I feel confident the audience will leave feeling uplifted, and with a greater appreciation for the importance of comprehensive reproductive health care and access to abortion services," Barker says. "I hope they will be more willing to speak up for those rights with their friends and family and get more involved in the political process to protect those rights."