Short Shorts, 'Thaed' at Wasatch

Wasatch Theatre Company is celebrating its 10th-anniversary season with two overlapping events — the seventh-annual Short Shorts Festival and the premiere of "Thaed," a new full-length play by local playwright Ryon J. Sharette.

Both events will be scheduled in repertory as part of WTC's "Page-to-Stage Festival," Thursday through Oct. 7 in the Studio Theatre of the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South), with "Thaed" being performed on even-numbered dates and "Short Shorts" on odd-numbered dates.

The festival is being held in conjunction with the Utah Association of Community Theatres (U-ACT) and celebrates the work of local writers by showcasing both fully-produced original scripts (full length and short), providing staged readings of works-in-progress, and offering playwriting workshops for both experienced writers and novices.

• THAED takes theatergoers on a dark journey through the troubled mind of its central character, Lawrence (played by Travis Metzler), as he becomes aware of, befriends and ultimately battles the three entities that reside in various levels of his mind — heroic Jovis, lusty caprine Maenad and other-worldly Thaed, played respectively by Scott Andrew, May Zullo and Daniel Ogden. Thaed is joined by his new girlfriend (Sarah Rife) as his "inner voices" eventually take on lives, bodies and goals of their own, with horrific results.

The cast also includes David Sanderson and Brooke Bastian-Barett as Lawrence's parents. "Thaed" is directed by Beth Bruner, with Jennifer Rouse choreographing an ensemble of acrobats: Kara Nalder, Portia Snow, Jordan Wannacott and Roxanne Young.

Performances are Thursday and Saturday of this week and Sept. 28, Oct. 4 and Oct. 6, all at 7:30 p.m., with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30.

Bruner cautions that "Thaed" contains some adult material and is not recommended for children age 8 or younger.

• THE SHORT SHORTS segment of the festival will showcase seven original scripts, three of which were selected from previous seasons to represent a "best-of" sampling.

—Elaine Jarvik's "Dead Right," in which Bill and Penny (Steve Phillips and Sallie Cooper) discuss the content of their respective obituaries. Jared Larkin is directing.