Blog
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company: Almost at the Finish Line as the End of Season 54th Approaches
July 02, 2018
By Juan Carlos Claudio/Outreach Director and Ai Fujii Nelson/Education Director
The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company would like to thank the Salt Lake County residents, patrons, and ZAP voters once again. It is because of your support that the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company is almost to the finish line as we approach the end of our 54th Season. As one of the pioneering forces in the arts in the State of Utah, we take pride in the work we do and the opportunities we offer to the beautiful tapestry of our diverse residents of Salt Lake City. As part of your tax support, we were able to provide free dance performances for children, seniors, and families who can not otherwise afford it. We could also bring dance education in the Salt Lake schools (7 of them were Title-1 schools) and serve over 3,700 students and 200 teachers. Your support also helped us provide public school teacher training and professional development opportunities, assisting the educators to improve the quality of their teaching and integrate arts effectively into their curriculum.
“Previously, Dylan went to kindergarten through third grade at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. Dylan has been in a mainstream classroom in a public school for just over one year. During this dance experience, Dylan was able to work and communicate with a partner, a team, and the entire class through movement… I think his ability to be physically lifted up by his peers was a great symbol…even for his classmates to remember that one way we support Dylan like we did in the dance, is to make sure we show him we care about his ideas”
Ashlee Ekins, M.Ed., 4th Grade Educator, North Star Elementary (Title-1)
"Your assembly is the best we’ve ever had. Often assemblies do not include performers who are representative of our student body, and they are difficult for our students to comprehend (meaning the performance do not scaffold enough). We loved your assembly. It is the perfect length, highly engaging, it involves students emotionally and physically and it is bilingual. It is the first bilingual assembly we have ever had. And the performers are diverse and representative.”;
Nicole O’Brien, Principal, Rose Park Elementary and Community School (Title-1)
We are still moving strongly towards the finish line, as dancers Yebel Gallegos, Mary Lyn Graves, Megan McCarthy, Dan Mont-Eton, Bashaun Williams and Melissa Younker dance for all they’re worth. We wrap up our 54th Season with a cultural diplomacy tour to Mongolia and South Korea as part of DanceMotion USA℠ program, accompanied by Executive Director/Tour Manager/Jena C. Woodbury, Artistic Director/Daniel Charon, and Technical Director/William Peterson. DanceMotion USA℠ is a people-to-people international exchange initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, administered by The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
As the proud representative of the State Department, State of Utah, and Salt Lake City, the Company is spreading its knowledge, passion, and love for dance and education. During this month-long tour, the dancers have been able to teach children, young and older adults, and persons with alternate abilities about the values of dance as well as presenting lectures/roundtable discussions and formal performances. Our message is that dance is a universal language; “Dance is for Everybody”. We believe that they will return with the richness of their cultural experience and their hearts full of wonderful memories, and they will be ready to share their renewed energy and passion for the art of dance with the students and the audience of Salt Lake City in the upcoming season. Here’s to a great finish line and much more to come in the new 55th Season.
Thank you for your support!
On Saturday, June 30th, Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum will be hosting the World Connections Children’s Festival, a FREE community event, from 10 am - 7 pm. From Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, to Europe and across the ocean to Mexico, all the way back to Utah, Discovery Gateway invites guests to join them for a full day of welcoming summer and celebrating the diverse cultures that make up the state of Utah. The day will be packed full of live musical performances, traditional dances, hands-on activities, and unique experiences from many cultures around the globe.
"World Connections Children's Festival represents the core of Discovery Gateway's mission by helping children of all ages and abilities to connect to not only their own culture but the many other cultures in their world," said Tammy Spicer, Discovery Gateway's Director of Museum Education and Operations. "These connections lead to understanding and acceptance, and it is our hope that through these connections, we can make a difference in the world today."
Performances will be held throughout the day and include Ballet Folklorico Boliviano, Kenshin Taiko Drummers, Katherine St. John Central Asian & Middle Eastern dance, Casa Quetzalcoatl dance & music, An Dragan Ceilteach Irish Dances, the Juan Diego CHS Steel Band, Si Lum Gung Fu Club Lion Dance, and Nino Reyos a Native American Storyteller and Dancer. Children will have the opportunity to meet and visit with Miss Africa Utah 2018, Christelle Bahati. In addition, The Utah Chinese Association will provide hands-on activities. Families can cool down from the summer heat by purchasing shaved ice from the Kona Ice mini truck on Discovery Gateway's outdoor patio.
Casa Quetzalcoatl Dance
Spicer commented, "Many of the performers are children, and children really are living traditions. Discovery Gateway strives to highlight that all traditions and cultures are important and have a place in the world. Every performance is wonderful, unique, and represents the diversity in our community. What a better place to celebrate cultures through dance, music, activities, and play than at Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in downtown Salt Lake City!"
Don’t miss out on this free, fun, and educational event for the whole family on Saturday, June 30th! Free admission to the World Connections Children's Festival is generously sponsored by Harmons Neighborhood Grocer, Ernst & Young, and Dominion Energy with additional support by Board Chair Tina Bagley, VLCM, Salt Lake City, First Digital, L3 Technologies, Zions Bank, Top Golf, Springfree Trampoline, My529, and Kona Ice.
-Anna Branson
Anna Branson is the Marketing Assistant at Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum. She is a recent graduate from the University of Utah in Communications and interned at Discovery Gateway in the Spring. When she’s not practicing her marketing skills, Anna loves to travel, camp, or simply relax at home.
Discovery Gateway Gears Up for New Exhibits Reveal
June 12, 2018
After years of long meetings, sleepless nights, and lots of hard work, Discovery Gateway is gearing up to reveal two brand new world-class exhibits! On June 23rd, experience racing rivers, water vortexes, and tipping buckets in a brand new re-vamped Water Play exhibit and, by the end of this summer, Discovery Gateway visitors will be able to climb, hop, slide, and buzz around in the Honey Climber exhibit. In 2015, Discovery Gateway's executive director, Laurie Hopkins, announced to the team big plans for the next three years. And just like that, the Discovery Gateway staff were off to work in their busy beehive.
“Three years ago, the staff and board agreed to revitalize the museum by adding new exhibits, weekly programming, and updating existing exhibits. At Discovery Gateway, we were determined to be a part of the solution in improving the West side of the city by working together with our talented staff and the county, city, and state governments,” Hopkins commented.Discovery Gateway has certainly had a lively three years. Since 2015, the children’s museum has invested $1.5 million in exhibit upgrades, and has opened seven new permanent exhibits, including Block Party, DG Derby: Powered by Gravity, SkyCycle, Live Hive, and the Intermountain Rescue Hangar 
in Saving Lives. The Discovery Gateway team wanted to end their three-year plan with a bang. "Discovery Gateway has made huge strides over the past three years, and I couldn't be more proud or excited about all the progress we've made in such a short period of time. The Honey Climber and Water Play exhibits are the height of our three-year strategic plan for museum revitalization, and they bring us one step closer to being a world-class children's museum," said Hopkins.
Celebrate the opening of Water Play on Saturday, June 23. The event will kick off at 9 am for a VIP and Members-Only preview of the new exhibits and at 10 am the public is welcome to join the party! There will be prizes, giveaways, and educational activities to celebrate this highly anticipated event. Honey Climber will open later this summer.
Over at Water Play, children are encouraged to imagine, discover, and connect by working together as engineers and builders by designing a waterway or dam. "Water Play has been a beloved centerpiece in Kids Eye View since the opening of The Gateway location. The exhibit was simply too loved, and was time to replace it,” Hopkins said about Water Play. With the use of water wheels and vortexes, buckets, scoops, and running water children will develop essential science skills like observing, comparing, and predicting. By working together to solve problems, children will boost their communication skills as they play cooperatively, negotiate space, and share Water Play equipment.
Honey Climber will keep the whole family engaged and active as kids climb through a maze of honeycombs, walk across rope bridges, and slide down to explore The Garden. Children are invited to use their imaginations and discover new paths as they transform into a busy bee. "Having a new climber is important to us, not only because children love to climb and get above it all, but also because a climber is a gold-standard exhibit for children’s museums. The addition of the Honey Climber gives children opportunities to explore and gain confidence while developing decision-making and gross motor skills," expressed Hopkins. The Honey Climber is the finishing touch in the museums existing exhibit, The Garden, which demonstrates the importance of bees and their connection to Utah.
When asked about plans for Discovery Gateways future, Hopkins commented, "Water Play and Honey
Climber are the culmination of our revitalization project. Our goal over the next year is to focus on maintaining and updating existing exhibits to keep the museum fresh and exciting so that every time a family visits they will receive the best experience possible. In addition, Discovery Gateway will continue to improve upon and add to on-site programs that amplify the learning that’s going on in the exhibits for families that want a deeper level of experience."Be sure to mark your calendars for June 23rd and join Discovery Gateway for a day of celebration, play, prizes, curiosity, and discovery at the Water Play exhibit grand opening! Follow Discovery Gateway on their social media channels to keep up with the buzz about the launch of Honey Climber.
-Anna Branson
Anna Branson is the Marketing Assistant at Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum. She is a recent graduate from the University of Utah in Communications and interned at Discovery Gateway in the Spring. When she’s not practicing her marketing skills, Anna loves to travel, camp, or simply relax at home.
Springtime Fun with Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation
March 22, 2018
by Michelle Ludema
On your marks, get set, go! Grab your baskets and get ready for some springtime fun. Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation is kicking off the season with a handful of community egg hunts across the valley.
Egg Hunt
All egg hunts are free unless otherwise noted. Arrive early, as each hunt begins at the listed time.
Friday, March 23 
- Fairmont Aquatic Center, 5:00 PM | Ages 3-12
Fairmont Park, 1044 East Sugarmont Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84106 - Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt, 8:00 PM | Ages 13-18
Copperview Recreation Center, 8446 South Harrison Street (300 West), Midvale, UT 84047
Saturday, March 24
- Copperview Recreation Center, 9:00 AM | Ages 12 and under
8446 South Harrison Street (300 West), Midvale, UT 84047
Saturday, March 31 – 9:00 AM Sharp!
- Northwest Recreation Center | Ages 2-12
Soccer Field, 1255 Clark Avenue (300 North), Salt Lake City, UT 84116 - Kearns Recreation Center | Ages 2-10
Oquirrh Park Soccer Field, 5670 South Cougar Lane, Kearns, UT 84118 - Redwood Recreation Center | 12 and under
West Soccer Field, 3060 South Lester St, West Valley City, UT 84119 - Taylorsville Recreation Center | 12 and under
Valley Regional Park Softball Complex, 5100 South 2700 West, Taylorsville, UT 84118 - Sorenson Multicultural Center | 12 and under
Soccer field, 855 West California Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
Egg Dives
Egg dives are a fun twist from the regular egg hunt. Splash around the pool as you fill up your basket! Registration is required, so sign up quick!
Friday, March 23 
- JL Sorenson Recreation Center, 5:00 - 6:00 PM | Ages 12 and under
5350 West Herriman Main Street, Herriman, UT 84096
$4 per participant
Saturday, March 30
- Northwest Recreation Center, 6:00 -7:00 PM | Ages 12 and under
1255 Clark Avenue (300 North), Salt Lake City, UT 84116
$3 per participant
Includes additional activities for all ages
Saturday, March 31
- Dimple Dell Recreation Center, 8:30 AM-11:40 AM | Ages 13 and under
10670 South 1000 East, Sandy, UT 84094
$6 per participant
April Fools Run
Too cool for baskets or up for chasing a finish line instead? Central City Recreation will be hosting the annual April Fools 5k and Fun Run at Sugar House Park! Both runs are open to all ages, and include prizes and fun that the whole family can participate in. Pre-registration by March 23 is encouraged, so sign up today.
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30 percent of Zoo, Arts and Parks funds go toward supporting parks and recreation opportunities throughout Salt Lake County. To learn more about what’s happening with Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, visit slco.org/parks-recreation. For adaptive and inclusion opportunities for people with disabilities, contact Ashley with Adaptive Recreation at 385-468-1520 or abowen@slco.org.
Michelle Ludema is the Public Relations Coordinator for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation. She loves a good egg hunt and believes that arts, parks and recreational opportunities inspire healthy, innovative communities.
2018 ZAP Kids Summer Passport Cover Design Contest
March 19, 2018
In 2017, Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks, in partnership with the Salt Lake County Libraries and the Clark Planetarium, hosted the first ZAP Kids Summer Passport. The Passport opens up a world of possibilities, allowing youth and their families to explore several free or discounted activities offered by the County and ZAP-funded organizations.
This year we have increased our partnerships to include the Salt Lake City Public Libraries and Murray City Library. We have also expanded our participating organizations' activity list, which will be available to view early May in preparation for our Passport kick-off June 1 at the Salt Lake County Library.
ZAP also hosts a Cover Design Contest where Salt Lake County youth under the age of 17 are encouraged to design their own cover of what the zoo, arts and parks mean to them. For our 2018 contest, we asked them to show us how they rock, in correspondence with the libraries Summer Reading Program theme of "Libraries Rock!" The winner of this year's Cover Design Contest will have their design and name printed on our 2018 ZAP Kids Summer Passport.
We had so many great entries this year! ZAP staff has narrowed all the designs down to our top four (4) choices, and are now asking for your help to choose the winner. The names and ages will be kept hidden at this time to keep judging anonymous and fair.
Here are the top entries, in alphabetical order:
A Day at the Zoo
Family Fun
Welcome to Animal Wonders
ZAP Makes Fun Summers Happen
Visit our Jotform poll to place your vote! Share the poll and encourage your friends and family to vote for your favorite cover design, too. Votes will be limited to one per person. Voting will remain open until Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 11:59 PM. The winner will be announced on Facebook Monday morning, March 26.
Happy voting!
Austin Archer’s play
JUMP receives its world premiere at
Plan-B Theatre Company April 5-15, 2018 in a co-production with
Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory.
Austin, along with co-directors Alexandra Harbold and Robert Scott Smith, share their thoughts on the play and co-production.
“I’ve been writing songs for over a decade (
visit Austin's music catalog). It started slowly when I was in high school. I’d finish a song every few months or so, and I was never pleased with the result. I wanted to be a great songwriter like Bob Dylan or Elliot Smith. I believed that if I kept it up I’d eventually get better at it. And while that was true, I thought I’d get better after ten or twenty songs. In reality, I don’t think I started to get decent until I’d written maybe 100. By then I was in college and finishing a new song about every other week. I’d adjusted my methods, I’d grown as a guitarist and lyricist, but I still wasn’t where I wanted to be. As time passed, my obsession grew deeper. I’d write song after song, most of them only lasting in my mind for a few days. Many would never even be committed to paper, let alone memory. I’d developed a particular vision for what I was looking for, and I knew it when I had it. So, when it was right, the song got recorded on a tape recorder, written down, practiced, and refined. When it was wrong, it was simply released into the ether from whence it came without a second thought. I had no patience for the bad songs. In my mind, I had to push through the bad ones in order to get to the decent ones, and I had to slog through the decent ones if I ever wanted to find the elusive great ones.
If you’re still reading this, I’m sure you’re wondering when I’m going to find my way out of this overly long metaphor and get to the point.
Here’s my point.
JUMP was only the fifth full-length play I’d ever written when I submitted it to Plan-B through The
David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists [with whom Plan-B collaborates to produce a new work each season by a playwright age 35 or younger]. I have enough taste to know that it wasn’t at the level I would’ve liked, but there was a deadline, and I had an idea that I liked, so I submitted the equivalent of a song that probably never would have seen the light of day. But here’s what writing plays has taught me about songwriting: first drafts can be improved upon! In songwriting it’s easy to spend a day on a song, realize it’s not going anywhere, and toss it. It’s easy to be impatient. But if you spend several weeks, months, or possibly even years on a play or a book only to find out that it isn’t up to snuff, it’s a lot harder to just put it in the trash.
So, I’ve been looking at
JUMP like a very long, narrative song. One that starts with a compelling idea: a melody that has legs. In this case the idea was simple: what would happen if I dramatized the conversation between a first-time skydiver and his instructor as they realized the chute had malfunctioned and they’d both be dead in a matter of minutes? If a three-second car wreck can feel like ten minutes of slow motion, playing out in agonizing detail, then surely a three-minute free-fall could fill the space of a 70-minute play (and who wouldn’t want to see a live skydive staged, am I right?). What I found: not only was it hard to fill the space of a full narrative with a single moment, it was also possibly ill-advised. My first draft lacked individual characters and story and that’s because my focus was more on the idea than the actual play. In my mind nothing in the play was really happening, it was all part of some pre-death fever dream so who cared if the characters were two-dimensional? It was all about the concept. The style. The challenge. And while I’m still interested in that initial question of whether or not a person’s thoughts during a free-fall to certain death could fill an evening on stage, that’s not the play I wound up writing. I realized that even if I could script those thoughts, they might not be all that dramatically interesting: they might just be random and freeform and chaotic. I have nothing against chaos in art. I think it can be quite beautiful. But
JUMP initially unveiled itself to me as a narrative surrounding four characters. I had to figure out what that narrative was outside of the central incident of the failed skydive.
And I honestly had very few ideas.
Luckily, what I did have was time and a group of more experienced playwrights to sound the play in front of.
The Lab at Plan-B is such an enormously valuable resource for writers trying to troubleshoot a script. It’s basically the musician’s equivalent of being able to test and workshop each new song in front of Neil Young, Paul Simon, Mariah Carey and Stephen Sondheim (Didn’t know that Mariah wrote all her own songs? Well, now you do. You’re welcome.). It’s amazing. With their insight, I was able to begin the process of fleshing out the characters. I began to work through each character, one at a time, to turn them into people with individual circumstances, arcs and behaviors. Remarkably the story followed right in suit: turns out character and story are kind of joined at the hip. When one suffers, the other suffers, when one improves, the other goes right along with it.
I’m still fine tuning. Still trimming, adding bits and pieces. I’m still allowing the play to continue to reveal itself, note by note, stanza by stanza. But it’s there now. It’s something I can step away from and set free. It’s a song I’d put on an album.
One more thing: former Davey Foundation grant winner Carleton Bluford brought me to tears with his play MAMA at Plan-B a few years before JUMP was selected as the winner of the same competition. It wasn’t just that Bluford is a dear friend and I was beaming with pride, it wasn’t just the beauty of his words and the lovely sentiment he showed for mothers everywhere (I mean it was those things), but the play closed with a song David Fetzer had written for his mother before his death, and that really was the blow that broke my emotional dam. I was moved by the reality of a living legacy for this kind and generous artist taken far too soon. I am so honored to have my play added to that living legacy, and I couldn’t be happier with the approach Plan-B is taking with it. Jerry’s decision to collaborate with Flying Bobcat was a genius move that I believe will really make the play take flight. Alexandra Harbold and Robert Scott Smith aren’t only friends of mine, they’re also a team I’ve previously worked with to create two devised pieces. We have a knowledge of each other’s artistic vocabulary. I trust their vision and their commitment to finding solutions through imagination and good old-fashioned play. If the few conversations I’ve had with them discussing ideas for the show are any indication, they are going to blow this whole thing wide open and create something bolder and more thrilling than anything I could have done on my own. And hopefully it will be a worthy addition to the legacy of David Fetzer!”
– Austin Archer, Playwright, JUMP
“Connessione. When Robert Scott Smith and I first began devising work together at The Leonardo, we were hunting for inspiration and working methods and happened upon Michael J. Gelb’s How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. The da Vinci principles have become a divining stick of sorts, a way for us to navigate and dig deeper into the layers of the work. When Jerry invited us to co-produce Austin’s
JUMP, connessione, my totem animal of the principles, lit up strong and bright. Gelb defines connessione as 'a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena (systems thinking).' This speaks to this powerful act of collaboration and co-producing work; suddenly, the patterns and possibilities come to the fore. Disparate points become constellations.
JUMP is sinuous and capable of effortless time travel. It stirs up questions of how we metabolize loss and grief, what it means to be yoked into someone else’s experience, interdependent – what it means to take the responsibility/burden/choice to take someone else’s wellbeing upon ourselves – or to step away when that weight becomes unbearable. The contracts of love we keep and break. Our dueling impulses to calculate/mitigate risk while hungering for an experience of absolute transcendence. Connessione.”
– Alexandra Harbold, Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory | Co-Director, JUMP
“If you’d asked me five years ago where I’d see my career, I never would have expected to have a theatre company, or that I’d be an assistant professor, or that I would be a successful actor living in SLC. That was not the plan. However, five years ago when I first asked Alexandra Harbold to collaborate with me on the POP-UP@LEO series at The Leonardo, I’d secretly been dreaming of this type of work for what seemed like a lifetime. That invitation led to the creation of three devised original works: SENSES 5, LOVE (our first collaboration with Austin Archer), and MIND|MATTER. This newfound collaboration stirred up our curiosity about forming an ongoing creative partnership and ultimately inspired us to form our own company, Flying Bobcat. Something must be working because once again we find ourselves with another invitation to collaborate. I was thrilled when Jerry approached us to co-produce Austin’s new play
JUMP with Plan-B. We jumped at the chance (see what I did there?). Jerry has not only reunited Flying Bobcat with the amazingly talented Austin Archer, he has also given us a platform to share our work with Plan-B’s audience.
Jerry asked me, ‘Why would you want to do this with Plan-B specifically?’ Just look at what they’ve done as a company and you’d have to be insane not to. It’s almost unbelievable to imagine that Plan-B is the only professional theatre company in the country producing full seasons of new works by local playwrights. Artists supporting other artists. This is what David Fetzer was doing all along. With
JUMP, it feels like the perfect collaboration of companies working in tandem to give flight to Austin’s play.”
– Robert Scott Smith, Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory | Co-Director, JUMP
Salt Lake County accepting applications from arts organizations for funding consideration
February 23, 2018
SALT LAKE COUNTY, UT—Arts and cultural projects or organizations can apply to receive funding from Salt Lake County as part of the Cultural Facilities Support Program. Phil Jordan, Salt Lake County Cultural Planning & Project Director, says the county is accepting applications until April 20, 2018. The selected projects will be considered for funding during Salt Lake County’s 2019 budget process.
Jordan says applicants are required to attend a mandatory workshop on March 1st from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake County Government Center, 2001 South State Street, north building, room N3-200**.
**Edit: The workshop room has been changed to N2-800**
The Cultural Facilities Support Program was first established in 2011 to support construction or renovations of arts and cultural facilities in Salt Lake County, says Jordan. Eligible projects must be publicly accessible arts and/or cultural facilities that serve the performing arts, visual arts, literature, media, or cultural history. Previously funded projects include Midvale Performing Arts Center renovations, new seating and lighting at Cottonwood Butler Middle School’s auditorium, and construction of the Salt Lake County Mid-Valley Performing Arts center – opening in 2020.
Jordan says each application undergoes a technical review by a team made up of Salt Lake County facilities management, finance, and Community Services staff. Their findings are then provided to the Cultural Facilities Support Program (CFSP) Advisory Board which reviews each application. The board then recommends projects to the County Mayor to consider including in the county’s annual budget with a final review and possible approval by the County Council.
More information including an application and program guidelines can be found at slco.org/community-services. Applicants can contact Phil Jordan for more information at pjordan@slco.org or 801-244-1962.
Program Guidelines & Information Apply via ZoomGrantsPlan-B Theatre Company Presents the World Premiere of THE WEIRD PLAY by Jenifer Nii
February 05, 2018
Jenifer Nii’s latest play, THE WEIRD PLAY, is the second subscription offering of Plan-B Theatre Company's 2017/18 Season - our 27th season! Performances are March 1-11 and tickets may be purchased online.
Jenifer proudly calls Plan-B her creative home. She has previously premiered five plays with the company: KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (the first original musical in our history created with composer and co-lyricist David Evanoff); THE SCARLET LETTER and SUFFRAGE (garnering back-to-back nominations for the American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg Award for Best New American Play Produced Outside New York); RUFF! (our third annual Free Elementary School Tour); and WALLACE (co-written with Debora Threedy). THE WEIRD PLAY is a co-production with Sackerson and is a recipient of the Dramatist Guild Foundation's inaugural Writers Alliance Grant.
FROM PLAYWRIGHT JENIFER NII:
It’s all in the title, I suppose. I just couldn’t think of another way to describe the content or the process of my latest play. It’s all different, and weird. My hope is that it’s a good weird, and not just weird weird.
THE WEIRD PLAY began as a challenge to myself: to step outside everything I was comfortable with and everything I’d done before, to face head-on the aspects of theatre that had frightened me in the past. I wanted to experiment with language, to discover whether I could retain my “voice” using another style of expression – and a style I wasn’t seeing presented in theatre at the time. I wanted to utilize the set, light, props, and movement in a way I hadn’t tried before. It’s the first time I’ve scripted in any detailed way a vision of what I wanted the piece to look like, and to use those elements as characters with roles to play. And, I wanted to write something that invited (required, really) audience members to participate and determine what the play is about and what it means to them.
This play is different also in that we had three (THREE!) readings before the play was cast. The cast changed each time. The first time, it featured two men and a woman. The next two readings featured women. I wrote it with that possibility in mind – that it might be gender-blind, or at least flexible. It also is meant to be race-blind, and to some extent flexible in the age of the cast. At least, that was my hope.
The reaction by audiences at those readings was fascinating, and tremendously exciting. Opinions varied rather dramatically regarding both the subject and the theme of the play. Some were what I had in mind, while others came out of the blue and reflected a completely different interpretation of what happened on stage. I LOVED hearing the difference, and the range of those differences.
At its core, THE WEIRD PLAY is about love. Maybe it’s first love, the ecstasy of love, really bad love, self love, religious love, the end of love, moving on from love. For me, it was about all of that, some of that, and maybe something else. Weird, huh.
Also, for me, it’s about just loving theatre – the process of making it and celebrating what it can do to engage us as an entertainment event, and with one another. It’s unique, theatre is. It’s special. I hope THE WEIRD PLAY reflects, serves, and contributes to that in some small, if also weird, way.
Salt Lake County ZAP (Zoo, Arts and Parks) Now Accepting 2018 Tier II Grant Applications
January 22, 2018
SALT LAKE COUNTY, UT – Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) is now accepting grant applications from qualifying organizations for 2018 Tier II funding. ZAP Tier II is a grant-making program that currently partially funds 171 arts, cultural and botanical organizations.
The grants ZAP distributes come from sales tax. One penny of every 10 dollars spent in Salt Lake County is set aside for this cause.
The ZAP Program first began in 1997 and was renewed in 2014 by 77% of Salt Lake County voters.
Tier II applications are due March 30, 2018 at 3:00 PM. Applications can be found on ZAP’s website.
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CONDADO DE SALT LAKE, UT – El programa de Zoológicos, Artes y Parques del Condado de Salt Lake (ZAP) está aceptando aplicaciones de organizaciones que califican en el año 2018 en el nivel II de Becas, un programa que otorga becas parciales para 171 organizaciones artísticas, culturales y botánicas.
Las becas ZAP se originan en los impuestos de ventas. 1 centavo de cada 10 dólares de ventas en el condado de Salt Lake es utilizado para esta causa.
El programa ZAP comenzó en 1997 y fue reinstituido en el 2014 por un voto de 77% de los votantes del Condado de Salt Lake.
La fecha de cierre es Marzo 30, 2018 a las 3:00 PM. Las aplicaciones se pueden encontrar en el sitio ZAP.
ZAP Announces 2018 Tier I and Zoological Recipients
December 27, 2017
SALT LAKE COUNTY, UT – In 2018, 22 arts and culture organizations will be funded in Salt Lake County’s Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) Tier I Program – the largest funding category. Three organizations will also be funded in its Zoological category: Utah’s Hogle Zoo, Tracy Aviary and The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium.
ZAP is a grant-making program that partially funds over 190 Salt Lake County arts and cultural organizations. It also supports over 30 parks and recreation facilities.
Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said, "The arts, cultural events and the parks and trails in our county support the excellent quality of life enjoyed by residents. ZAP is the result of a community that cares about making family memories and enjoying time together with friends. I’m grateful to our citizens who have chosen to support and take advantage of everything ZAP has to offer.
Each of the selected Tier I and Zoological organizations goes through a rigorous application process to demonstrate their positive impact on Salt Lake County and how they enhance resident and visitor experiences. In the past year, Tier I and Zoological organizations spent more than $88.2 million in Salt Lake County and offered 1.2 million free admissions.
Jena Woodbury, Executive Director for Tier I recipient Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, has seen the impact this funding has on their own work. "The support we have received from ZAP has enabled us to maintain reasonable ticket prices, create new outreach activities, commission new dances, provide free events, and develop community partnerships within the county."
Directed by state statute and county policies, ZAP can fund up to 22 Tier I organizations and 3 Zoological organizations whose qualifying expenditures are over $354,000. The Tier I Advisory Board is committed to a fair process that decides which organizations will receive Tier I and Zoological funding.
Organizations that do not receive funding in Tier I or Zoological are eligible to receive funding in ZAP’s Tier II category.
The grants ZAP distributes come from sales tax. One penny of every 10 dollars spent in Salt Lake County is set aside for this cause. ZAP was renewed by nearly 77% of Salt Lake County voters in 2014.
2018 Tier I and Zoological applicants reported an astounding breadth of work, which includes:
- Salt Lake County resident attendance totaled more than 3.9 million
- 5,719 volunteers utilized
- 2,326 full and part-time jobs provided
- 1.2 million free admissions an
- $88.2 million in expenses - that's all money pumping back into our local economy!
Funded Tier I Organizations:
Art Access
Ballet West
Discovery Gateway
Hale Centre Theatre
Natural History Museum of Utah
Pioneer Theatre Company
Preservation Utah (formerly Utah Heritage Foundation)
Red Butte Garden
Repertory Dance Theatre
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company
Salt Lake Acting Company
Salt Lake Arts Council
Salt Lake Film Society
Spy Hop
Tanner Dance
Utah Arts Festival
Utah Film Center
Utah Humanities
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
Utah Museum of Fine Art
Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
UtahPresents
Funded Zoological Organizations:
Utah’s Hogle Zoo
Loveland Living Planet Aquarium
Tracy Aviary