Four plays are opening this week on college and university campuses along the Wasatch Front:
"QUILTERS," a homespun musical of tales from the American frontier, told from the aspect of women's quilts, will play March 14-29 in the Grand Theatre, located on Salt Lake Community College's South City Campus, 1575 S. State. Robin Wilks-Dunn is directing a cast that includes Jan Williams Smith, Julie Glenn, Narlene Mathie, Elizabeth Hale, Katrina Fisher, Ashlee Lapine and Jennifer Tanner.
Originally developed by actress-writer Molly Newman and composer-lyricist Barbara Damashek for the Denver Center Theatre, "Quilters" revolves around one pioneer woman and her daughters, for whom quilting was both a practical chore and a means of expressing their feelings about their life and times on the Western frontier. Kevin Mathie is musical director for the production, with Keven Myhre as guest set designer and James M. Craig as lighting designer.
Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Tickets range from $10-$18.50, with $2 discounts for senior citizens and half-price tickets for all students (kindergarten through college). For reservations, call 957-3322.
In connection with the production, SLCC and the Grand Theatre are holding several related events — a quilt show, a storytelling session and a quilting symposium.
"SHORT ATTENTION-SPAN THEATER," Utah Valley State College's fourth-annual festival of original 10-minute plays, will be March 14-24 in the Black Box Theatre (Room 627 of the Gunther Trades Building). The project is the brainchild of theater chairman James Arrington, who notes that for this year's lineup, more than 100 scripts written during the previous year were submitted. The selections are read and pared down by nine student directors.
This year's crop of plays range from farce to profoundly dramatic and include Jeff Johnson's "The Chick Magnet"; Ryan Templeman's "Shaken, With a Twist of Lemon"; Nancy Farrer's "On Ice," Todd Hamblin's "Silence of the Elephants," Tatum Langton's "The Surface," Daryn Peck's "Wonders of Death," Don Markland's "Getting to Know You" and Paul Furner's "the Cross of Doors," with one faculty spotlight — James Arrington's "Hope as a Leak."
Tickets are $8 for general admission, $6 for students and senior citizens and $4 for UVSC students. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays. For reservations, call the Campus Connection at (801) 863-8797.
"THE TROJAN WOMEN," Euripides' classic Greek tragedy, is being staged in Brigham Young University's Margetts Theatre with a blend of drama and modern dance.
Directed by Barta Heiner and choreographed by Caroline Prohosky, "The Trojan Women" begins after the legendary Trojan War has ended, with Queen Hecuba and her surviving women gathering in Troy, waiting for the Greeks to determine their fate and the fate of their children.
The cast includes Laura Reyna as Hecuba, Heidi Hathaway as Helen (whose kidnapping by Greeks ignited the war 10 years earlier), Susanna Winters Florance as Cassandra, Bryn Fairclough as Andromache, Carl Schmeil as Talthybius and Derek Willis as Helen's husband, Menalaus.
Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, March 12-29, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on March 22. Tickets are $12 for the general public and $9 for BYU faculty, staff and students. There will be half-price previews on Wednesday and Thursday, March 12-13. For reservations, call (801) 378-4322.
"YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN," the Broadway musical based on the late Charles Schulz's popular cartoon, is being presented March 10-24 at Emerson-Smith College's Museum for the Arts as part of a monthlong celebration of "The American Cartoonist." The production is staged by the Trinity Repertory Company, with Josh Francis in the title role, Brittany Hatch as Lucy, Bryan Montemayor as Linus, Charley Gardner as Schroeder, Katie Young as Sally and Eric Blood as Snoopy.
Performances will be 8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. There is no set ticket price, with admission being the donation of your choice to the college's Children's Free Art Program. The museum is located above Seven Peaks at 1450 E. 300 North. For reservations, call (801) 375-2716.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com