No less than 11 productions are opening this week around the region:
"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU," Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, looks at life in the uninhibited Vanderhof household, where there are no rules and chaos is the (dis)order of the day. It's playing April 10-21 in the U.'s Babcock Theatre.
Directed by John Woodhouse, the cast includes Dana Lee Scott as Alice, the only "normal" person in the family; Abraham M. Adams as Tony, her equally conservative boyfriend; Marilyn Stout as Penny, Alice's mother; Whitby Hertford as Grandpa, and Christian A. Gentry as Paul, who creates fireworks in the basement.
The Babcock Theatre is located on the lower level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East. Performances will be 7:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday, April 10-13, and Thursday-Saturday, April 18-20, and 7 p.m. on two Sundays, April 14 and 21, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. Tickets range from $6 to $11. For reservations, call 581-7100 or 581-5888 or ArtTix at 355-2787, or purchase tickets from any ArtTix outlet.
"CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN," Christopher Sergel's stage version of Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey's popular book, is being presented by the Bountiful Performing Arts Center in its new Black Box venue — located in the old Bountiful City Jail at 745 S. Main. Directed by Charlene Adams, the play takes a quaint look into the lives of the 12 Gilbreth siblings and their trials of living with a demanding "efficiency-expert" father.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. April 11-13, 18-20 and 26-27, with matinees at 2 p.m. on April 13 and 20. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, students and children. Group discounts (12 or more) are also available. For reservations, call 294-SHOW (7469).
CHRISTOPHER SERGEL also adapted Harper Lee's acclaimed 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" for the stage. It will be performed on Wednesday, April 10, as part of the SCERA Center's "Spotlight Series" of staged readings (originally scheduled for April 20 — a typographical error in the SCERA's season brochure). Rosanna Ungerman is directing the readers' theater-style performance in the SCERA's Showhouse II venue. Tickets are $4 for children and $9 for adults.
ONE-ACT PLAYS will be presented during the annual "Short Attention-Span Theatre" series at Utah Valley State College and Westminster College's "Spring One-Act Festival."
— UVSC's lineup of original, student-written 10-minute plays will include Tracy Hill's "Out of Sync," directed by Jennifer Dandy; Kira Norman Mackay's "Afghanistan Nights," directed by Kenneth Brown; Brytt Cloward's "Docile Takeovers," directed by Jonny Craddock; Cole Hooley's "On the Road Again," directed by Randy Seeley; Meg Hite's "What Criminals Do," directed by David St. Julian; Joseph Arrington's "Respectin' Da Nile," directed by Brittany Howard; Dominique Replogle's "Face Value," directed by Nate Ingles, and T.A. Shaw's "Through the Heart," directed by Steven Driggs. One new original faculty work, James Arrington's "Streetwise," directed by Randle King, will also be on the program.
Performances in UVSC's Black Box Theatre (Room 627 of the Gunther Trades Building) will be 7:30 p.m. April 11-13, 15 and 18-20. Tickets are $8 for general admission, $6 for students, senior citizens and children, and $4 for UVSC students. For reservations, call the school's Campus Connection at 863-8797.
— Westminster College's festival of seven student-directed, one-act plays is centered around the theme of diversity. Two different programs will be presented on alternating nights.
Megan Terry's abstract "Calm Down, Mother," directed by Stephanie Johnson and Shannon Martell, Terrence McNally's military satire, "Next," directed by Quinn Keiger and Amber Hamilton, David Ives' comedic "Sure Thing," directed by Don Farmer and Ashley LaPine, and Ernest Thompson's anti-romantic comedy, "The Valentine Fairy," directed by Emily Shepard and Luke Johson, will be staged on April 10 (previews), 12 and 19.
Robert Patrick's though-provoking "Camera Obscura," directed by Amanda Waterhouse and Jodi Bennett, Paul Elliott's suicide spoof, "Ledge, Ledger and the Legend," directed by Chris Garrison and Alisha Kerby, and Louis Catron's touching "Where Have all the Lightning Bugs Gone?" (directed by Doug Jolley and Michelle Leo), will be presented on April 11 (previews), 13 and 20. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts, 1250 E. 1700 South. The performances are free of charge and no tickets are required.
The theater department cautions that some productions contain mature themes and language. For further information, call 832-2441.
PLAYWRIGHT NEIL SIMON is well-represented this week with his rarely produced "God's Favorite" (1974), playing April 12-May 4 in the Heritage Community Theatre in Perry, and his 1966 comedy, "Star-Spangled Girl" (which also just opened last week at Hale Centre Theatre), running April 11-17 in the Geary Theatre at College of Eastern Utah, Price.
— "God's Favorite" is loosely based on the Book of Job (in this version, the prodigal son's family lives in a Long Island mansion). Performances are 8 p.m., Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and children. For reservations, call 435-723-8392.
— "Star-Spangled Girl," centered around a pair of liberal, underground magazine publishers and the ultra-conservative competition swimmer who moves in next door, will play at 7:30 p.m. April 11-13 and 16-17 in CEU's Geary Theatre. Tickets range from $2 to $7. For reservations, call 435-613-5334.
THE BABCOCK PERFORMING READERS will have an evening of international prose and poetry that goes "Around the World in 80 Minutes" at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, in the U.'s Union Building Little Theatre. Eight readers will present a variety of literature from England, Poland, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Scotland and Norway, plus selections from African-American authors.
Michael Jesse Bennett will read from British poets of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries; Maria Wrotniak of Poland will read excerpts from a contemporary Nobel Prize winning Polish author; Fred Buchanan will present poetry from his Scottish homeland; Cora Allen will read works by African-American poet Sonia Sanchez; Blake Erickson will read a Portuguese folk poem — accompanied by guitar; Joyce Skidmore will present Norse tales of trolls; Richard Russell will recite from Wilhelm Busch's "Max and Moritz"; and Lauraine Stephen will focus on native Australian prose by Kate Grenville. Mavis H. Steadman is directing.
The public is invited, free of charge. Free parking is available in the lot directly east of the Union Building. Refreshments will be served.
"THE MISER," French dramatist Jean Moliere's five-act farce in prose, will play April 10-13 in Snow College's Crane Theatre in Ephraim. Curtain is 8 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4.50 for senior citizens, high school students and youths. Snow College students are admitted free with current activity card. For reservations, call (435) 283-7411.
TWO MURDER MYSTERIES are "Hail to Thee, Dear Alma Murder," on April 12 in the Snowbird Resort, performed by Chameleons, the Whodunit Company, and "Forever, Amen," presented by Hunt Mystery & Company on April 13 under the auspices of the Sevier Arts Council in Richfield.
— The Chameleons' mystery-dinner event will be held in Snowbird's Cliff Ballroom at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for children; call (800) 640-2002 or 933-2110.
— Hunt Mystery & Company'saudience-participation comedy is scheduled for two performances — a matinee at 1 p.m., and an evening show at 7 p.m. — at Frontier Village, 1625 N. Main, just off the I-70 exit to Richfield. Tickets are $15 for the matinee and $20 for the evening show. Advance reservations are required. Call 435-893-0457 or 800-662-8898.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com