Keolanani Kinghorn's Feed - My Local Press

“It’s Physics, Not Physical”: The Semantics of Platonic Friendship in [SIC]

Salt Lake City, UT — Melissa James Gibson’s [sic] is not a play for everyone. Think of it as a stage version of Seinfeld: observational, character-driven, rooted in the mundane textures of urban life. But where Seinfeld hands you the joke, Gibson makes you work for it. The humor here is quiet and precise, built from language and character rather than setup and punchline. These are not cheap laughs but they are entirely worth the effort. ThreePenny Theatre Company‘s production, directed by Hannah

4 months ago

The Fantasticks Review: Performing Illusion, Confronting Reality

American Fork, UT—There is still something reverent and compelling at the heart of The Fantasticks—a sincerity in its meditation on love, longing, and experience that continues to resonate. Yet that resonance exists alongside the show’s more complicated roots. The same simplicity that gives the piece its emotional clarity also exposes elements that sometimes feel dated or unresolved for contemporary audiences, creating a tension the production engages with, but cannot fully resolve. Directed by

4 months ago

Love Is Seeing Clearly in the Dark: The Phantom of the Opera at Eccles Theater

Salt Lake City, UT—There is something immediately unsettling about how The Phantom of the Opera begins. Not with grandeur, but with decay. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation—with book by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux—opens in the future: a dusty, forgotten opera house draped in sheets, like something out of an archaeological dig. Even the chandelier, the production’s most iconic symbol, hangs covered and lifeless. The

4 months ago

Review of Come From Away at Pioneer Theatre Company: Remembering Crisis Through Acts of Care

Salt Lake City, UT— Pioneer Theatre Company closes its 2025–2026 season with Come From Away, a heartfelt musical that looks beyond tragedy to the human response that follows. Director Karen Azenberg frames the production through her own experience of September 11, 2001, recalling a morning in Manhattan that began like any other, only to rupture into uncertainty. For those who lived through it, the date carries a weight that requires no explanation. For those born after, it exists differently—les

4 months ago

Thin Air and Emotional Survival: The Central Metaphor of “Annapurna”

Salt Lake City, UT—Sharr White’s Annapurna has often been described as a play about forgiveness, but this iteration by Lil Poppet Productions reveals something more unsettling beneath that description. Directed by Matthew Ivan Bennett, this intimate staging understands that forgiveness in Annapurna is never clean, cathartic, or complete. Instead, the play becomes an excavation of emotional debris: two people circling the ruins of a shared life while trying to determine whether understanding is s

4 months ago

Sweetie Pies Only Theatre Co. Debuts "The Aliens" at Picnic Cafe

Salt Lake City, UT — Annie Baker’s The Aliens is one of those rare plays that trusts silence as much as language, and trusts its audience even more. Sweetie Pies Only Theatre Co.’s production, directed by Ellie Otis, honors that trust, mostly. It is a promising, often beautiful debut from a new company, staged with real imagination and performed with exceptional commitment, even if one element threatens to undermine the whole. The Aliens premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York

4 months ago

At the Kitchen Table: Dan Froot & Company’s Arms Around America and Theatre as an Ongoing Practice

When my kids were born, things really changed for me. I started thinking, 'I don’t know how to do much—but I know how to do these things. What can I do to make the world a better place for my kids, and for everyone?' So I started working in my own community, making theatre based on oral histories of people living with food insecurity.” —Dan Froot Salt Lake City, UT—As someone who studies theatre as a site of memory and relation, I’m especially interested in what happens after a performance e

4 months ago

If You Know the Soundtrack: A Conversation with Dr. Kofi J. Adisa on Music, Community, and Memory

“If you know the soundtrack of my life, you’ll know what’s in my heart, mind, and soul.”—Kofi. J Adisa This past week, I spoke with Kofi J. Adisa over Zoom about music, memory, and the work of listening. What follows is a reflection on that exchange, along with the full conversation and a playlist of songs that surfaced throughout it. We first met in Cleveland after his March 2026 Chair’s Address at the Conference on College Composition and Communication. The room had just given him a standing

4 months ago

Utah's Hyperscale Data Center and HB-76: A Conversation with Anna Graff

In the past week, a proposed hyperscale data center in Box Elder County has raised urgent questions about water use, energy infrastructure, and how decisions are being made. After attending the April 27 meeting, it became clear that even local officials were working under time pressure, with limited information and significant uncertainty. In this conversation, I sit down with Anna Graff, who is running for Utah House District 12 and serves on a planning commission, to help break down what’s ha

4 months ago

Once on This Island at The Ruth: Storytelling as Survival Through Music and Memory

Pleasant Grove, UT—Running May 4 through July 3, 2026, at the Lindsay Legacy Theater, Once on This Island, with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, and direction by Lisa Hall, arrives as both a beloved contemporary classic and a deeply resonant work of theatrical storytelling. Since its Broadway debut in 1990, the musical has earned multiple Tony Award nominations, won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical (1995), and secured the Tony Award for Best Revival of a

4 months ago

Meanwhile Park and the Art of Gathering: A Conversation with Jeff Paris and Matthew Ivan Bennett

There are few theatre experiences in Utah that feel quite like Meanwhile Park. Before the performance even begins, audiences drift into a carefully curated atmosphere of conversation, cocktails, music, and community. Guests mingle beneath string lights while waiting for the sunset to fade enough for the performance to begin. The result feels less like attending a traditional play and more like stepping into a temporary collective space—one built equally from storytelling, hospitality, and human

4 months ago

Something Rotten! at Ziegfeld Theater: Broadway Love Letter, Shakespeare Roast, and Pure Theatrical Chaos

Ogden, UT—Now playing at the Ziegfeld Theater in Utah from May 15–30, 2026, this regional production directed by Jennifer Westfall offers local audiences the chance to experience one of Broadway’s most energetic and self-referential modern comedies. Advertised as an “uncensored” version of Something Rotten!, the production includes flashing lights, loud noises, fog effects, and material that may not be suitable for younger children. For audiences familiar with Broadway references—or simply anyon

4 months ago

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