Utah's largest professional theater troupe usually schedules 19 performances of its plays, compared with the 82-performance run of the super-sized musical in the first staging by a U.S. regional theater. Tickets - which range from $28 to $49 - are available by calling 801-581-6961 or visiting www.pioneertheatre.org.
The Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre is at 300 S. 1400 East, University of Utah campus, Salt Lake City.
Condensing the Bard: Wasatch Theatre Company will produce an encore run of the comedy "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" to celebrate the troupe's 10th anniversary.
The play features three actors, all company board members - George Plautz, Brian Pilling and Jim Martin - who will wrestle with the Bard's 37 plays and 154 sonnets in a running time of less than two hours. The madcap play, which the company first staged in 2002, includes bits you'd expect, such as Shakespearean puns and swordplay, as well as the more unpredictable, such as elaborate sight gags involving football, and even a touch of hip-hop music. The play by the trio of Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield was a mid-'90s hit in notable off-Broadway and long-running London productions.
"Complete Works" opens Thursday and runs through June 17 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, with an additional 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. Tickets are $15, available by calling 801-355-2787.
Local stories: The regional launch of an offbeat, off-Broadway musical, as well as premieres of two original works by Utah writers, will be staged as part of Plan-B Theatre Company's 2007-08 season.
An original documentary play by writer and activist Mary Dickson, "Exposed," about Utah's history with nuclear testing, opens the season Oct. 19-Nov. 4. Next up: "Gutenberg! The Musical!," the off-Broadway hit about two inept writers attempting to sell a musical about - guess who? - the inventor of the printing press (Nov. 16-Dec. 30).
Rounding out the lineup is Salt Lake City writer and lawyer Debora Threedy's "The End of the Horizon" (March 15-18), a drama about the mysterious disappearance of young artist Everett Ruess in southern Utah.
Other theatrical events include a Halloween-themed live radio drama written by Utah playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett, to be produced in partnership with KUER's RadioWest and directed by company co-founder Cheryl Ann Cluff; and the fifth annual "Slam" (May 17), planned to invent five original 10-minute plays in 24 hours.
For information or to buy tickets, visit www.planbtheatre.org.
