University of Utah

After over a year in hibernation, "Tartuffe," presented by the University of Utah Department of Theatre, will reach its audience on May 5, 2021. Originally scheduled to open in March of 2020, the production has been revived, re-staged and prerecorded for online streaming. Before filming could start, the university had to approve a strict safety plan. "For two weeks prior to the first rehearsal, our company were asked to commit to a 'work' quarantine, which continued until the last day," said Robert Scott Smith, assistant professor, director of "Tartuffe" and co-head of the U's Actor Training Program.. Other required safety measures included bi-weekly COVID testing, no live audience members and minimal production crew (all of whom remained masked and distanced throughout). Although the lack of an audience was disappointing, it allowed for more flexibility during filming; each scene could be performed and shot multiple times from multiple angles. Almost eleven and a half hours of footage is currently being edited down to the final two-hour runtime.

A group of University of Utah art students is reacting to the COVID-19 crisis with photography. They are basing their group project on a work of classical Italian literature: "The Decameron" by Boccaccio that aptly reflects the circumstances of a pandemic. The project photographically tells the stories of this time and the students are creating a book to document what it is like to live in this pandemic crisis.

The University of Utah's Department of Theatre will present Qui Nguyen's "She Kills Monsters" at Kingsbury Hall, by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Directed by Jamie Rocha Allan, this tale of friendship, loss and acceptance follows a young woman, Agnes Evans, as she grieves the death of her sister, Tilly. While exploring her sister's life, Agnes discovers that Tilly was a well-known Dungeons & Dragons player and dives into a fantastical world chock-full of supermodel elves, dominatrix warrior women and nasty ogres.

The University of Utah's Department of Theatre presents Homer's classic tale, "The Odyssey," adapted and originally directed by Mary Zimmerman from Robert Fitzgerald's translation. Directed by Alexandra Harbold, the production runs Nov. 8-17, 2019, in the Babcock Theatre in the lower level of Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 South and University Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. The large cast of 27 actors is assembled of University of Utah students.

The University of Utah's Department of Theatre opens the season 2019-20 with Frank Wildhorn's "Dracula, the Musical," a thrilling drama of suspense and unrequited love that will bring the undead to life. Directed and choreographed by Musical Theatre Program Head Denny Berry, the production runs Sept.13-22, 2019, at the Marriott Center for Dance.