Salt Lake Acting Company - will snider

Salt Lake Acting Company Presents Free Reading of New Play from DEATH OF A DRIVER Playwright

Summer, 1998. Once popular, Arrowhead Community Pool has seen membership decline for years. Retired pool president Dorothy Wilson blames video games and air-conditioning. But when new pool president Freddie Rosedale abolishes Dorothy's longstanding alcohol ban and installs a frozen margarita machine, the place comes back to life, and a battle begins. SWIMMING POOL is a dark ensemble comedy about American excess and restraint on the cusp of the 21st Century. 

Featured in the one-night-only reading are Sean Carter, Barb Gandy, Tamara Johnson-Howell, Dan Larrinaga, Tito Livas*, Morgan Lund*, Kimiko Miyashima*, Nicki Nixon, and Lane Richins*. Robin Wilks-Dunn (I’LL EAT YOU LAST, GOOD PEOPLE) serves as director, Natalie Keezer will read stage directions, and Katelyn Limber* is stage manager.

Founded in 1994, Salt Lake Acting Company’s New Play Sounding Series (NPSS) continues its record-breaking 25^th year with Will Snider’s SWIMMING POOL. The NPSS is the longest-running play reading series in Utah. Past works that have been workshopped in the NPSS to later receive full productions at SLAC (and elsewhere) include SILENT DANCER and HARBUR GATE by Kathleen Cahill, MERCURY by Steve Yockey, STAG’S LEAP by Sharon Olds, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS by Mike Daisey, A SLIGHT DISCOMFORT by Jeff Metcalf, and THE RECEPTIONIST by Adam Bock. Elaine Jarvik’s FOUR WOMEN TALKING ABOUT THE MAN UNDER THE SHEET, featured during last season’s NPSS, will receive its world premiere at SLAC in 2020.

SLAC's 2019 NPSS reading of FOUR WOMEN TALKING ABOUT THE MAN UNDER THE SHEET by Elaine Jarvik

SWIMMING POOL is free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made via SLAC’s website or by calling 801.363.7522.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

SLAC acknowledges the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation for their generous support of the New Play Sounding Series.

 SLAC's 49th season recently kicked off with Will Snider's political thriller, DEATH OF A DRIVER. The production was workshopped in SLAC's 2018 Playwrights' Lab and returns for a full production after its Off-Broadway world premiere this past spring. 

Reprising their roles from the lab production are Cassandra Stokes-Wylie* (Sarah) and Patrick J. Ssenjovu* (Kennedy/Man). Stokes-Wylie appeared most recently in SLAC’s Chapel Theatre during last season’s A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY UNIT AT MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER OF NEW YORK CITY and Ssenjovu makes his official SLAC debut after appearing in DEATH OF A DRIVER’S world premiere at Urban Stages.

Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)

• Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Cassandra Stokes-Wylie and Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Cassandra Stokes-Wylie and Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Cassandra Stokes-Wylie and Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Cassandra Stokes-Wylie and Patrick J. Ssenjovu in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
• Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography) Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie in DEATH OF A DRIVER at Salt Lake Acting Company. (McKenna Frandsen Photography)
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“Death of a Driver spans nearly twenty years through storytelling that moves with an electric connection and velocity. We’re drawn into the bond of trust and friendship at the play’s heart, as it’s influenced by the political forces surrounding the two characters,” said the production’s director Alexandra Harbold. “It is thrilling to have Cassie and Patrick reuniting in Death of a Driver, and I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to build on the foundational work they created in the 2018 Playwrights’ Lab.”

Joining Harbold on the creative team are Shawn Fisher** (set design), Kerstin Hallows (costume design), William Peterson (light design), Jason Jensen (sound design) and William Richardson* (stage manager)

 DEATH OF A DRIVER runs now through October 20. Tickets can be obtained online, in person at the SLAC box office, or by calling 801.363.7522.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

**The set designer of DEATH OF A DRIVER is represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 of the IATSE.