Sixteen stage productions, including two variations on the "Cinderella" tale, are being staged this week.
THE PLAYS-IN-PROGRESS play-reading series begins this week at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, with Kay K. Cook's "Speak to Me, Annie," directed by Charles Metten, who was chosen earlier this year to supervise the festival's script-development project.
The program focuses on Western playwrights, giving attention to Western subjects, characters, experiences and themes.
Cook's drama, the first of three to be read during the next four weeks, is based on the autobiography of Annie Clark Tanner, the second wife in a polygamous marriage who faces the turmoil brought about by the conflict between her religious beliefs and the U.S. government's early persecution of polygamists in Utah.
Cook is chairwoman of the Southern Utah University English Department.
The play will be read at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday and Friday in Southern Utah University's Auditorium Theatre, with a third reading on Aug. 31. (All three plays will be read in succession from Aug. 31-Sept. 2).
The readings are free, but donations of $5 each are encouraged to help defray cost of the program.
Other plays in the series are Gino DiIorio's "The Hard Way," directed by USF actor Brian Vaughn, Aug. 18-19 and Sept. 1, and Ed Kociela's "Downwinders," directed by Robert Gerard Anderson, being read Aug. 25, 26 and Sept. 2.
The final readings of the three plays often incorporate changes suggested by the audience during feedback sessions following the first two readings.
"WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN," by Susan Zeder, is this season's "family production," a postscript to the Old Lyric Repertory Company's regular series, which concluded last week.
The play is set in a murky swamp forest in the deep South where a young boy is having a terrifying nightmare about a monstrous creature.
Staged by the company's Apprentice Group, it will have four performances Thursday-Saturday in the historic Caine Lyric Theatre, 28 W. Center, Logan. Curtain is 7:30 p.m., with one Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for children, 11 and under, or $10 for a family of four (435-752-1500).
"THE BENSON GRISTMILL PAGEANT," now in its 10th year at the historic grist mill at Stansbury Park, may go on the back burner following this year's three performances. The pageant's original creators are collaborating on a sequel, tentatively scheduled to premiere next summer.
The pageant focuses on Brigham Young's directive to build a grist mill and saw mill in 1850, a project supervised by Ezra Taft "E.T." Benson, great-grandfather to the late LDS Church president.
Performances are about 8:45 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and Aug. 15, with preshow entertainment at 8 p.m. Gates open at 7 p.m., when food vendors and refreshments are available. Tickets are $4 per person for general admission seating (435-882-7678). For directions, visit the www.bensonmill.org Web site.
"SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR," Luigi Pirandello's absurdist comedy about a theater troupe's rehearsal interrupted by six strangers — each claiming to be characters from a play that was never completed — will have staged readings on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. by StageRight TheaterCompany, 5001 S. Highland Drive.
Jacob Bruner is directing. Tickets are $5 (272-3445).
"MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE CASTLE," Karrie Ann Ogilve's contemporary version of "Cinderella," is getting an encore presentation at Wasatch Theatre Company, from Friday through Aug. 27 in the Columbus Center, 2531 S. 500 East.
The action centers around star-struck Emma and movie-star heartthrob Nick Sheridan, who are pulled into a "dream" version of "Cinderella," which includes chorus numbers, love songs, two balls and a megamix finale — in just the first act.
The cast, directed by Becki Wolf, includes Natalie Tate as Emma/Cinderella, Ryon Sharette as Nick/Prince Nicholas and Kyle Nelson as Gary Modfeather (a new twist on the Fairy Godmother).
Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for senior citizens and children, 11 and under (446-5657).
"CINDERELLA," a more straightforward version of the story, is being staged by the Academy Theatre Company, 3188 S. 400 East, with performances on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. from Friday through Sept. 24.
Adapted for the stage by Collin Kreuzer, the production features Krystal Neddo in the title role.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for children and senior citizens. A $2 discount coupon is available online at www.academyofpa.org.
"SINGIN' IN THE RAIN," the stage version of the classic 1952 MGM musical, concludes Emerson-Smith College's 2005 "summer stock" series at the Villa Theatre, 254 S. Main, Springville.
The cast includes Josh Francis as Don and Jason Fullmer as his sidekick, Cosmo, with Elicia Graham as Kathy (the Debbie Reynolds role in the film) and Katie Young as Lina Lamont, the film star who can't make the switch to talkies.
Performances are 8 p.m. nightly except Sunday from Thursday through Aug. 22. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children, 11 and under (471-7193). Group rates are also available.
THE LIBERTY PARK PLAYERS, a group of about 30 Salt Lake City area youths, 14-18 years of age, will present "Much Ado About Nothing" on Monday and Tuesday as part of their "Summer With Shakespeare" program.
Performances, at 7:30 p.m., are in the park's historic Chase Mill Amphitheater adjacent to Tracy Aviary. General admission is $5 each.
Those involved with the project, a component of the YouthCity program, are involved with all facets of producing a stage play — costuming, scenery, marketing, etc. YouthCity provides a place for teenagers to explore the arts and develop other skills.
The Renaissance Singers will perform prior to both shows.
"ANNIE GET YOUR GUN," Irving Berlin's classic musical, is being staged by the Center Street Musical Theatre, 177 W. Center St., Provo, from Friday through Sept. 24.
Directed by Gavin Grooms, the cast includes Amber McNew as Annie Oakley, Pete Widtfeldt as Frank Butler and Kevin Lambert as Buffalo Bill Cody. The show features a live orchestra conducted by Brandon Matthews.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for students, senior citizens and children. There is also a Monday night family pass for $25 (for immediate family only). Optional dinner service is $10 additional per person. Catered meals are served at 6:30 p.m. and advance reservations are required (764-0535 or www.csmtc.com).
"DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" will have one of its first local community-theater productions on Friday and Saturday and Aug. 15-19 at dusk in the Midvale Amphitheater, 360 W. 7500 South, under the auspices of Top Note Theatrical Productions, a newly formed company that plans to produce one major main-stage show each year, plus smaller, artistically driven productions.
Tickets, available at the gate, are $8 for adults and $6 for children and senior citizens, with a family discount on Monday, Aug. 15 (759-1308 or www.topnotetheatrical.com).
"POLLY, A ONE-WOMAN MUSICAL," which first premiered several years ago in the Pardoe Theatre at Brigham Young University, is being revived for 11 performances in the Alpine Playhouse, 81 S. 100 West, Alpine, where it opens Friday and continues through Aug. 29, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays.
It was written by Steven Kapp Perry for his wife, Johanne Frechette Perry, who performs the role of Utah pioneer Polly Matilda Merrill Colton.
Tickets are $10.25 for adults and $8.25 for children (800-838-3006 or www.alpineplayhouse.com).
"CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY," adapted by Richard R. George from Roald Dahl's popular children's book, is being staged for five performances by the Springville Playhouse, 50 S. Main, Springville (basement of the library building).
It's being co-directed by Arlene McGregor and Kathy Llewellyn.
Performances are 6 p.m. on Monday and Thursday-Saturday, with one Saturday matinee at 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and $3 for children, 12 and under, or $30 for a family pass admitting up to eight immediate family members. For group rates, call Kathy at 830-1551. Discount coupons are also available online at www.springvilleplayhouse.org.
"MY FAIR LADY," Lerner and Lowe's Broadway classic, is being staged by the Riverton Arts Council from Thursday through Aug. 20 in the Riverton Civic Center, 12880 S. Redwood Road.
The cast includes Kris Jorgenson as Eliza Doolittle, Steve McBride (who is also directing) as professor Harold Higgins, Andrew Lambert as Col. Pickering and Gordon Jones as Alfred P. Doolittle.
Performances are Thursday-Saturday and Aug. 15 and 18-20 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children and senior citizens. Tickets are available at the door or in advance at Peterson's Marketplace.
"SNOOPY," a musical based on one of the popular characters in the late Charles M. Schulz's comic strip, "Peanuts," is being presented by Clearfield City in the Bicentennial Park Amphitheater, 650 S. 800 East.
Performances are Thursday-Saturday and Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and children. Group rates are $4 each for adults in groups of 10 or more, or $3 for senior citizens or children. Tickets are available at the gate beginning at 7 p.m. or in advance from the Clearfield Community Services Department, 55 S. State (525-2790).
HUNT MYSTERIES' production, "Deer Hunter's Widow," has three performances scheduled in the next couple of weeks — Friday at Embassy Suites, 110 W. 600 South, with tickets priced at $35 for adults and $25 for children 12 and under, and two additional performances Aug. 19-20 at the Copper Mill Restaurant, 55 N. Main, Logan, where tickets are $27.50 for adults and $20 for children.
Advance reservations are required for all performances (569-1482 or 866-569-1482 or online at www.huntmysteries.com).
TERRACE PLAZA PLAYHOUSE, 99 E. 4700 South, Ogden, is opening a Saturday matinee production of "The Wizard of Oz," being staged at 2 p.m. on Saturdays only Aug. 13-Oct. 8.
The double-cast production is being directed by Carolyn J. Stephens.
The cast, from the theater's Lights Up! Acting Academy, includes Carlee Hassell and Amy Cragun sharing the role of Dorothy, Drew Peterson and Joe Brodis as the Scarecrow, Gershom Mott (single-cast) as the Tin Man, Tyler Bell and Quinn Kapeatenov as the Cowardly Lion, and Kim Wiggins and Ryker Johnstun as Toto.
All tickets are $5 each (393-0070).
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com