Today, we're proud to announce the in-person offerings of Salt Lake Acting Company's 50th Season, dedicated to its patrons and supporters with the theme, “Community Over Everything.” The 21/22 season opens with the long-awaited world premiere of Elaine Jarvik’s Four Women Talking About the Man Under the Sheet. A 2020 Kilroys Honoree, the meta, semi-historical piece was originally set to open March 13, 2020, but instead shut down on March 12th due to the pandemic. Original cast members Colleen Baum, Latoya Cameron, Susanna Florence, Tamara Howell, and Yolanda Stange are all set to return when the production resumes September 29 through October 31, 2021.
From December 3 through 30, 2021, the Utah premiere of Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” by Mo Willems and Deborah Wicks La Puma will mark SLAC’s return to in-person children’s theatre. The family-friendly musical, a season subscription add-on, will once again be presented through SLAC’s Title I Arts Education Program both in-person and virtually to Kindergarten through second graders across the state and country.
SLAC’s subscription season will next include the Utah premiere of Egress, by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick. The new work received a virtual reading as part of SLAC’s New Play Sounding Series Festival this past March, and will have receive a fully-staged production in SLAC’s Upstairs Theatre from February 2 through March 6, 2022.
Spring 2022 will bring SLAC audiences a Utah premiere fifteen years in the making with the musical odyssey Passing Strange by Stew, Heidi Rodewald, and Annie Dorsen. The rarely-produced theatrical gem transcends theatrical genres and follows a Black artist simply referred to as “The Youth” around the world on a bohemian journey of self-discovery. Passing Strange was also nominated for 7 Tony Awards.
Wrapping up Salt Lake Acting Company’s 50th Season is the second iteration of #SLACabaret. The production will once again serve up fresh takes on timely Utah in a lively, community-focused atmosphere.
Current season subscribers will receive renewal information in the beginning of August. They are invited to renew starting August 11th by phone or in-person at #SLACabaret. SLAC’s Audience Relationship Team is available remotely Monday-Friday 11am-5pm at 801-363-7522 or . In-person support and extended hours are available during showtimes of #SLACabaret, which runs from August 11 through September 12, 2021.
Season Statement from SLAC's Executive Artistic Director, Cynthia Fleming
Welcome to Salt Lake Acting Company’s 50th Season, a time to celebrate—now, more than ever— “Community Over Everything.” I may have run out of ways to describe what we’ve collectively lived through this past year-and-a-half, but I will never stop expressing gratitude on behalf of SLAC to the community that kept us thriving during 2020 and 2021.
SLAC’s 50th Season. Of course, it’s significant because its the 50th, but it’s also the start of something new. As you will see upon arrival to our beloved Marmalade Hills home, we’ve stayed busy during our temporary closure. Thanks to our partners at Third Sun, ASSIST Community Design Center, Maddox Construction, and of course cityhomeCOLLECTIVE for their partnership in making SLAC a more beautiful—and most importantly—a more accessible place.
You will also see, from our work onstage, that the heart of Salt Lake Acting Company still beats the same, but that heart is stronger. We’re stronger for the resilience shown by SLAC’s community: its board, staff, artists, and patrons alike. We’re stronger because the world is changing and we as a theatre company are embracing those changes with open arms.
We’re honored to bring you the long-awaited and much-rescheduled Four Women Talking About the Man Under the Sheet, as well as the long-overdue Utah premiere of 7-time Tony nominee Passing Strange. Both of these productions need and deserve a Utah audience.
We’re honored to continue to nurture new works into full productions with Egress, which many of you experienced virtually during our New Play Sounding Series Festival. We’re also honored to return to bringing K-2nd graders and Utah families professional children’s theatre with Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”
Finally, we’re honored to have YOU in our audience. What lessons will come out of these past 18 months? I don’t think we fully understand, and won’t for a long time. But I do know that we will all look back on this time and our upcoming season as landmark moments in our lives. May our shared experiences forever hold a place in our hearts and provide a better way forward as as community.
With love and gratitude,
Cynthia Fleming
Executive Artistic Director
