From Deseret News archives:
A dozen-plus productions opening this week
Plays include region premiere of drama that won a Pulitzer
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, Suzan-Lori Parks' 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama will be staged Wednesday through April 21 by People Productions, Utah's only black-themed theater company, in the Ladies' Literary Club, 850 E. South Temple.
Directed by People Productions co-founders Edward Lewis and Richard Scharine, the show is described as "Amos and Andy introduced by Hamlet to Cain and Abel." It's a dark comic fable of brotherly love/hate and family destiny about two brothers — one named Lincoln (Jonah Taylor) and the other Booth (Anthony Lamar Gaskins) by parents who abandoned them — searching their past for self-understanding.
Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, available at the door, are $12 for adults and $8 for all students and senior citizens (485-2497).
EXODUS TO FREEDOM, an original drama by Paul Cracroft, will have its world premiere on Thursday at the monthly gathering of the Babcock Performing Readers in the University of Utah Union Building Little Theatre.
Directed by Ron Fredrickson, the story is based on the life of Liuda J. Avizonis, who was only 6 when she led her family to freedom in 1944 from Lithuania through Poland, Germany and Bavaria before emigrating to the United States.
Avizonis is president of Lithuanian Freedom Through Education Inc., a family-based fund started by her father in 1990, one month before Lithuania officially declared itself free from the Soviet Union. The project helps promising young Lithuanians seek education in American colleges, professional schools and military academies.
"Exodus to Freedom" is 84-year-old Cracroft's fourth play to be introduced by the Babcock Performing Readers. It's strongly suggested that non-BPR members attend an earlier reading of the script at 5:30 p.m., allowing members of the group to attend during their traditional meeting time, 7:30 p.m. Both performances are free.
BROADWAY KIDZ: HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD II celebrates the 10th season of the Draper Historic Theatre's revue showcasing the talents of local teenagers and younger kids. This year's revue features a variety of music from the movies.
The show opens on Friday and continues through May 5 on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with one Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. on April 28 in the theater, 12366 S. 900 East.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and students and $6 for children 12 and under (572-4144).
WINE AND ONE-ACTS, playing Thursday through April 28 in the Black Box Theatre of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South), is a fund-raiser for Pygmalion Productions.
