Salt Lake Acting Company to Stage World Premiere of TWO STORIES, 2/4-3/1

Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) presents the World Premiere of TWO STORIES by Utah playwright Elaine Jarvik, February 4 through March 1, 2015. After a successful reading in last season's New Play Sounding Series, TWO STORIES comes to full production on SLAC's stage, bringing with it questions of cultural misunderstandings, the current state of journalism, neighborhood preservation, who really owns a story, and what is the American dream?

TWO STORIES reflects America's changing demographics-in all senses of the word. Jodi Wolcott is an old-school journalist trying to keep her job in a 24-hour news cycle. Her husband Kevin lost his job then quickly used up their savings on a failing artisan donut shop.

When the Masoris - a Pakistani family - move in next door, Jodi throws a party to welcome them, excited for the diversity they will bring to the neighborhood. Later, Jodi develops a friendship with Bashira, the grandmother of the family. Recently having arrived in the U.S. Bashira slowly opens up, revealing the reason she left Pakistan so suddenly, and Jodi realizes Bashira has a story that might save Jodi's job. The article that she eventually publishes about Bashira angers Amir, Bashira's son, who is mortified that his family's privacy has been breached.

The tension explodes when Amir and his wife plan to remodel their house into a giant, two-story upper-class home that will change the look of the middle-class neighborhood and cut off the Wolcotts' light and view. Kevin accuses Amir of planning a "monster home," and Jodi is caught in the middle, afraid to alienate their new neighbors, but wanting to prevent the addition.

Religious and ethnic tensions escalate. Rocks are thrown. Hate crime charges are filed. But who is to blame? And when Jodi's newspaper colleague, a young Hispanic reporter, comes to the Wolcotts' house to write a story about the incident, Jodi finds herself in Amir and Bashira's position: having her own story taken from her and told by the media. The prejudices underneath her intentions are revealed.

In TWO STORIES, it is the Pakistani family that is upwardly mobile and the "white" family that is trying desperately to hang on. The Masoris want to fit in but also want the house of their dreams. The Wolcotts want to be friends with the Masoris but also want to protect their home. "Why is my desire for space any less important than your desire for a view?" asks Amir. "Because we were here first," answers Kevin.

Among the play's many relevant themes is the battle between preserving a neighborhood's character and the freedom to make changes and additions to one's home. It's an issue that has been particularly pervasive in some Salt Lake City neighborhoods since about 2007. An article from the Salt Lake Tribune's archives quotes one resident as saying, "Adjacent property owners [are pitted] against each other in a way that is destroying the fabric of this community" (http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=6106285&itype=NGPSID) and in another article, "If people can't work within the fabric of the neighborhood, they shouldn't live there. There are plenty of other places you can go to build your McMansion."