SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY’S NEW PLAY SOUNDING SERIES PRESENTS A READING OF HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING BY SHAWN FISHER, DIRECTED BY ADRIANNE MOORE (SLC: Feb 27)

Salt Lake Acting Company                       News Release

PRESS CONTACT: CYNTHIA FLEMING. 801 363 7522. CYNTHIA@SALTLAKEACTINGCOMPANY.ORG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY’S NEW PLAY SOUNDING SERIES PRESENTS A READING OF HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING BY SHAWN FISHER, DIRECTED BY ADRIANNE MOORE.

SLAC’s New Play Sounding Series presents a free reading of HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING – a new play by local playwright Shawn Fisher– Monday, February 27, 2012 at 7 PM. HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING is a drama that explores race through the web of generational encounters in a rural south New Jersey elementary school. We meet Mrs. Delores Wright, the longstanding principal of a school on the verge of demolition. As Mrs. Wright prepares for the school’s memoriam and her own imminent death, she is forced to reconcile the wrongdoings of her past. Custodian, Arthur Bo Wells evokes the realities of Mrs. Wright’s history as his younger counterpart, Mick becomes her opportunity for redemption. Playwright Shawn Fisher uses memory and fantasy to elasticize time, taking his audience through the awakening realities of segregation and integration of the 1950’s. The contradictions that are staged between Mrs. Wells’ private racist biases and her actions as a respected educator become the legacy she leaves behind. 

Playwright Shawn Fisher says, “Years ago I came across a massive 300-year-old live oak that had been blown over by a hurricane. On the side of the tree was a black scar resulting from years of cooking-fires built by plantation slaves, centuries ago. The scar had been mostly closed-over as the trunk had grown thicker and I was struck that, as with emotional scars, it had become deeper but harder to see as time went on. The idea of this “slave tree” and its scar stayed with me and eventually became a catalyst for the play.”

In HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING, Shawn Fisher examines race through a societal lens that has remained an imperative part of American history. The play’s themes fuel the importance of civil rights and our social evolution through time.

The reading will be followed by a post-play discussion with the playwright, the director & the cast. Audience members will be invited to ask questions and share insight regarding the development of the production.

The New Play Sounding Series is a part of SLAC’s outreach programming and supports our mission to enrich the live theatre experience for both our audience and our theatre artists while making significant contribution to our community and to the American theatre.  Through the NPSS we develop relationships with emerging local and national playwrights who are given essential testing ground on which they see their work in progress and receive insightful feedback from the audience in a post-play discussion. The NPSS allows SLAC to investigate works of interest in greater depth. We thank the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and the Dramatists Guild Fund for their support of this vital program.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT- Shawn Fisher is originally from New Jersey and works nationally as a theatre designer and playwright. He is currently based in Utah where he runs the MFA Program in Theatre at Utah State University. His other original scripts include SCOPE, The Crow Song and Do Not Hit Golf Balls into Mexico which was staged here in SLAC’s Fearless Fringe Festival. His plays have been produced or had staged-readings in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Salt Lake City. He is the Founder and Director of the Fusion Theatre Project, a non-traditional ensemble, based at USU, which creates original works of progressive theatre. Shawn’s professional design work includes the New York productions of Seal Sings Its Song for Woken’ Glacier Theatre Company, Cop Out and The Talking Dog at the Gene Frankel Theatre and over seventy other designs around the country. Shawn holds an MFA in Theatre from Brandeis University.

FACT SHEET

SLAC  NPSS reading                                     HOW TO MAKE A ROPE SWING           

PLAYWRIGHT                                             Shawn Fisher

DIRECTOR                                                    Adrianne Moore

CAST                                                              Randall Eames, Michael Gardner, Marilyn Holt, Darryl Stamp

DATE AND TIME                                         February  27, 2012 @ 7 PM  

SLAC NOTES:

The audience does not need a ticket in advance to attend this reading. The building will open one hour prior to the performance when general admission tickets will be distributed, and the theatre will open half an hour before the performance.

Salt Lake Acting Company is located at 168 W 500 N, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84103.

For more information call 801- 363-7522 or visit www.saltlakeactingcompany.org

NOW PLAYING:

NOW THROUGH MARCH 4, 2012:

RED by John Logan, with Morgan Lund and Ted Powell.

             

DATES                                                                       Opened:          February 8, 2012

                                                                        Closing:           March 4, 2012

TIME                                                              Wed – Sat - 7:30 p.m.

                                                                        Sun- 1:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.

NOW EXTENDED THRU MARCH 11, 2012:

DOTTIE- THE SISTER LIVES ON! by Charles Lynn Frost and Christopher R. Wixom with Charles Lynn Frost and Kent Frogley.

DATES                                  

                                                                        Opened:          February 17, 2012

Closing:           March 11, 2012

TIMES                                   

                                                                        Wednesday - Saturday- 7:30 p.m.

                                                                        Sun- 1:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.

Tickets for SLAC productions range from $15-$41 depending on performance. Discounts available for students, 30 & under, and groups of ten or more. Tickets available at 801-363-SLAC (7522), at www.saltlakeactingcompany.org, or in person at 168 West 500 North, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103.

SLAC is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 professional theatre found in 1970 and is dedicated to producing, commissioning and developing new works and to supporting a community of professional artists.  SLAC has been nationally recognized by the Shubert Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Edgerton Foundation, among others. SLAC operates under a STP Actors Equity Association contract. SLAC is a Constituent Member of Theatre Communications Group, a national organization for non-profit professional regional theatres, and the National New Play Network.

________________________________________________

Cynthia Fleming

Executive Producer

Salt Lake Acting Company

801.363.7522

www.saltlakeactingcompany.org

www.nowplayingutah.com