THE 2022 SERIES
OF FREE ZOOM READINGS
Providing plays in progress their first public audience since 2004.
Sponsored by Lee & Audrey Hollaar.
Please scroll down for details on each of the four plays in this season's Series and to reserve your free-but-required Zoom tickets are available after each show title below.
THE ROBOTS OF WALMART BY JENNY KOKAI
Postponed
Directed by Teresa Sanderson
Stage managed by Sammee Jackman
Read by April Fossen
Alexandra Harbold
Bryan Kido
Nicki Nixon
and Yolanda Stange
Annie's life is crumbling underneath her. She's pretty sure her husband is an alcoholic and maybe even a little abusive. Looking for certainty in an uncertain time, she gets sucked further and further into a home organization show on Netflix, whose hosts, Sutton and Taylor, promise that rainbow organizing your belongings is the path to inner calm and acceptance. Then they ask for more and more.
They might be a cult?
Her only true friend is an inventory Bossa Nova robot in the home organization aisle of Walmart (he doesn't talk, or know she's there, but he's a good listener). Where is the line between finding purpose and meaning in life and being addicted to things? Or is it really that adulthood is just finding acceptable things to be addicted to?
RADIO SHOW BY TATIANA CHRISTIAN
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 8pm
Directed by Darryl Stamp
Stage managed by Sammee Jackman
Read by Avery Franklin
Talia Heiss
Darby Mest
Miche' Smith
Riki Squire
Sam Torres
and Taylor Wallace
A group of friends eagerly start a monster-hunting radio show and get more than they bargain for after a routine trek in the woods outside their small college town.
Who knew radios could (still) change your world?
STUDENT PLAYWRITING FESTIVAL
BY K-12 STUDENTS, A CO-PRODUCTION WITH YOUTH THEATRE AT THE U
Created December-May 2022, filmed July-August 2022 | Enjoy the videos on the Youth Theatre at the U website!
Twenty-nine plays were submitted (1-5 pages long, created by 140 student playwrights at Cottonwood Elementary in Emery County School District (K-5), Open Classroom in Salt Lake City School District (K-8), and Utah International Charter School (7-12). Twelve were selected through an anonymous review process to be performed and filmed as staged readings by Conservatory students at Youth Theatre at the U. The 52 selected playwrights represent three schools in three LEAs and the Conservatory students represent one elementary, one middle, and six high schools in three LEAs.
Created as part of our In the Classroom program using our Playwriting With Young People curriculum, funded by the Utah State Board of Education as part of Professional Outreach Programs in the Schools (POPS).
TIP TOP TRIANGLE BY RACHEL BUBLITZ
September 17, 2022 at 8pm
Directed by Janine Sobeck Knighton
Stage managed by Sammee Jackman
Read by Wendy Joseph
Amy Livingston
Tracie Merrill
Christy Summerhays
and Vee Vargas
A
game,
a business,
a book reading.
A scare-the-fudge-out-
of-you cult. Brainwashing.
Pyramid screaming and power
playing. A huge heaping side of girl-
bossing. 1,000 scrunchies. No, more. An
adult woman's weight in scrunchies. Leeches.
Judgment. Sub-urban mommy “I remove all the skin off of grapes, why don’t you?” level of judgment. A ghost? No. A spirit? No. We’re too afraid to ask. Something. And fire. We must not forget to tell you about the fire. So much fire. Fistfuls of fire. Buckets of fire. A literal garage on fire. Bring marshmallows. Bring hot dogs. Bring cash. Bring blank checks. Bring credit cards. Bring your retirement fund. Now, sit back. Grab a lawn chair, preferably not from the garage. Let’s sit and watch it all burn.
SQUEAK BY TITO LIVAS
For students in grades K-3 and their families
Saturday, September 24, 2022, 1pm | Free but required Zoom tickets
Directed by Tito Livas
Stage managed by Kallie Filanda
Read by Joseph Paul Branca
and Niki Rahimi
Squeak's brain moves at warp speed. Sometimes that makes it hard to connect with other kids. And sometimes it's hard for grown-ups to understand.
A journey across the spectrum, complete with dinosaurs, Dragon Breaths, and a new friend.
SQUEAK will tour elementary schools statewide as our 11th annual Free Elementary School Tour for the entirety of the 2023/24 school year.
QSaltLake interview with playwright Tito Livas at the Press button below