Wasatch Theatre Company Announces Season 23

Wasatch Theatre Company has announced its 23rd full season to start in the summer of 2020 and run through spring of 2021. Season 23 includes original works as well as projects new to Salt Lake City and features the talents of Emilio Casilias, Morag Shepherd, Olivia Custodio, and Jim Martin.

The season opens with Olivia Custodio's one-act BUT HAVE YOU TRIED CRYSTALS?, a play that pokes fun at the self-help movement while asking some important questions about the void it fills. Directed by Lane Richins, CRYSTALS is anticipated for a Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival run in August 2020.

Jim Martin's TEACHER TRUTHS features a series of monologues told from the perspective of several educators spanning age and experience who share the grittiness, frustrations, and triumphs associated with teaching. Martin promises a move away from the heroic but unrealistic depictions of education so common in media and entertainment. Martin is a 23-year education veteran and the current artistic director of WTC. The play runs October 2-11, 2020.

REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT by Jose Rivera is set in the desert of Barstow, California, where Gabriela, the wife of career soldier Benito, dives into a surreal fantasy world during her husband's prolonged absences and imagines the mating rituals between a coyote and a cat. The play, directed by Emilio Casilias, runs November 13-22, 2020.

The fourth entry into season 23 is GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Morag Shepherd. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together. The show runs February 12-21, 2021.

The season will conclude with the annual Page-to-Stage Festival 2021 in the spring (dates TBD).

Jim Martin, Artistic Director, has titled this season HOPE because all of the shows tackle aspirations that, when left unfulfilled, fester into something dark and dangerous. "The season explores the hope that comes from sharing our true selves in the face of oppression and the hope that emerges when we stick together."

Wasatch Theatre Company is a local theatre organization that has been in operation since 1997. The group has performed at venues such as delis and coffee shops before spending the last ten years at The Rose Wagner performing Arts Building in downtown Salt Lake. WTC is now the resident theatre company of The Gateway and is housed at the new performing arts space The Box.