That's why it's worth glancing at the Salt Lake Acting Company's original advertisement, styled like a wedding invitation. You'll see the back of a black-suited groom and a white-gowned bride, gazing upward at the familiar spires of the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple.

You'll have to look a little closer to recognize the outlines of the bride and groom: longtime "Voyeur" conspirator Nancy Borgenicht and her original partner in comedic crime, Michael Buttars.

Focus even closer and you might notice the groom is goosing the bride's behind.

Now that the show is marking its 30th anniversary, it's safe to claim playing the satire card continues to be a popular storytelling gamble in Utah. That's if, like SLAC, you are aiming to attract audience members who consider themselves - how shall we phrase this? - among the progressively humored.

It's worth noting that "Voyeur," once a particularly local phenomenon, is now a national anomaly. That's right: Theater insiders claim they don't know of another nonprofit professional company anywhere that creates an original musical

(read: cash cow that supports SLAC's seasons of contemporary plays) focused on local political issues.

As always, the idea of outlining a "Voyeur" plot summary is as ridiculous as explaining a comic's punchline. But this year's show borrows the variety-show format of last year's edition. The 12-member cast will offer caricatures of Utah personalities ranging from Chris Buttars, who'll sing a cover version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," to Marie Osmond and Kurt Bestor, who'll duet on a takeoff of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up."

Then there are the valley's dueling wanna-build-a-theater mayors, Salt Lake City's Ralph Becker and Sandy's Tom Dolan, who'll join forces for a special "On Broadway" number. One reprise, "Beneficial Life," offers a recap of 30 years of recent cultural history. "Everything's in there," co-writer Borgenicht says. "We're proud of that."

Also this year, in the kind of intersection of truth and satire that is "Voyeur's" trademark, the musical's 30th-anniversary season coincides with the 35th-anniversary Utah tour of "Saturday's Warrior," Doug Stewart's 1970s musical that launched an entire genre of sentimentally tinged Mormon theater and films.

To kick off another "Voyeur" summer, we asked insiders what they've learned from 30 years' worth of poking fun at Utah characters.

"Over the years, I've learned that social and political satire rarely changes anybody's mind about anything," says co-writer Allen Nevins, who worked with Borgenicht for a decade as SLAC's executive producers before the pair retired in 2005. "Our supporters tend to assume that there's a monolithic power structure in this state - and they aren't a part of it. Our detractors would have us believe that every unflattering jab at a right-wing politician, any silly cultural foible held up for amusement, is somehow an attack on religion."

It requires obsessive year-round research to bring the funny, Borgenicht claims. "I've learned to pick real stories," she says. "Real things that happened to real people work best. Without the newspaper, I'm nothing. It's my lifeblood. It's my inspiration."

Years of writing satire convinced Borgenicht it's possible to link the most unlikely of subjects. "You can take any news story and make a song and a scene," she says.

As an example, she cites a November 2007 column by The Salt Lake Tribune's Rebecca Walsh, headlined " 'Silly' booze laws? You don't say." Doesn't that instantly suggest Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs?" she asks.

For choreographer Cynthia Fleming, now helping to create her 12th "Voyeur," the video Web site YouTube.com has made her life easier. She watches videos to see how characters appear and move, then pushes the actors to heighten those movements. Just how do you choreograph funny? It takes a lot of thought. "I lose a lot of brain cells with every eight counts of movements," she says. "There's a lot of thought that goes into eight counts of music."

The performers offer more inspiration. After all, the local acting gig is a leap of faith for each year's cast, who are usually hired before there's a script. Five weeks of frantic summer-camp-style rehearsal later, they're onstage - and sometimes performing in front of characters who have been "Voyeurized."

" 'Voyeur' actors have to understand the beast of it. When they don't know what they're doing, the stuff isn't funny," Borgenicht says. "It has to start from a real place. It can't be caricature. It can't be from mugging. You have to become possessed by it."

As a satirist, Nevins hopes Planet Utah will keep revolving. He hopes voters will keep returning Chris Buttars to the state Senate, and in his words, "the buffoonery that is the Utah Legislature" will continue indefinitely, "or at least until I retire." Then he adds: "And that our elected officials will never, ever stop saying, 'It's for the children.' "

Realistically, he thinks "Voyeur" might need to continue its extended run. "Humor may be the only thing that gets us through the next 30 years," Nevins says.

And then there's this: Borgenicht claims that writing the annual parody serves as a political escape valve. "I get tired of being mad," she says, "but it does kind of keep you going."

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* ELLEN FAGG can be contacted at ellenf@sltrib.com or 801-257-8621. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.

'Voyeur' and a 'Warrior'

* "SATURDAY'S VOYEUR" previews Wednesday and Thursday, opens Friday, with the run continuing Wednesdays through Saturdays through Aug. 17 at the Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North, Salt Lake City. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, with a 2 p.m. matinee performance Aug. 9.

* TICKETS ARE $39-$44 for preview performances and $44-$54 for regular run shows, available by calling 801-363-SLAC or visiting www.saltlakeactingcompany.org.

* THE PROFESSIONAL 35th-anniversary tour of "Saturday's Warrior" will play June 7-9 at Logan's Kent Concert Hall; June 13-14, 16, 20-21 and 23 at Murray's Cottonwood High School; and June 28 and 30 in the Roy High School auditorium. Tickets, $14-$19, are available at www.LDSmusical.com or 888-35-YEARS. The performance will include the premiere of Doug Stewart and Janice Kapp Perry's "The White Star," which features characters from the original show as parents.