News Release

PRESS CONTACT: CYNTHIA FLEMING | 801.363.7522 | [email protected]

August 24, 2016

For Immediate Release

Salt Lake Acting Company &

The David Ross Fetzer Foundation For Emerging Artists

Host Workshop and Free Reading of New Play

The Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) and The David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists (The Davey Foundation) are proud to host and sponsor a weeklong workshop and free public reading of Brynne Frauenhoffer’s SYNCHRONICITY.

Ms. Frauenhoffer’s play was selected from nearly 40 script submissions received from around the country as the recipient of a grant that will provide a weeklong professional workshop of her script as well as her housing and travel to Salt Lake City. Culminating in a free public reading on August 29, 2016 at 7pm at Salt Lake Acting Company (168 W. 500 N.), this workshop will provide Ms. Frauenhoffer a professional team of actors and designers as well as director Jason Bowcutt and playwright mentor Kathleen Cahill.

The team includes:

Cast – Eric Cadora, Erica Carvalho, Greg Carver, Holly Fowers, Darby Mest, Kali Scott, Christy Summerhays

Stage Manager – William Richardson

Designer – Kelly Donahue

Playwright Brynne Frauenhoffer says: “This workshop process will be my very first. I'm so thrilled to have the time and talent provided by SLAC to make changes and develop the story. It's such an honor to be trusted with such huge resources.”

Director Jason Bowcutt says: “I was on the play reading search committee for the Davey Foundation and this was the final play I read and certainly my favorite. The character development and the dialogue in respect to what is said, and especially what is not said, really drew me into the play. I am anxious hear the work through our excellent group of actors and also am very much looking forward to working on an element of the design which I will leave as a mystery for now. Enticing, right...”

The Davey Foundation’s Executive Director Betsy Ross says: “The Davey Foundation is committed to the 3 C's: creativity, collaboration, and community, in working with emerging artists.  We are particularly excited for this year's play, SYNCHRONICITY, for its emphasis on story interwoven with a bit of magic.  And the cherry on top?  Having the super-talented Jason Bowcutt direct.  That Jason has acted with David (in Debra Threedy's THE END OF THE HORIZON) makes it all the more special. Giving young playwrights a chance to strut their stuff, and to learn from talented theatre professionals like Jason and the other amazing folks participating in this staged reading, is all we could ask for.  Thank you to Brynne for her beautiful play, to all the participants for their time, energy, and talents, to our donors for making everything possible. And to Salt Lake Acting Company for doing all the work, for loving theatre, and for remembering David.”

ABOUT THE PLAY

On a dangerous rural highway, two teen girls wreck their cars exactly two years apart. Sarah was driving sober in broad daylight; Mal was driving drunk at 3 a.m. Only Mal survives. When Mal encounters Sarah’s ghost at the crash site, she’s forced to consider why she’s still alive and begins to look for ways to help her new (ghost) friend. Meanwhile, Mal’s mother, feeling guilty over the injustice of her daughter’s survival, befriends Sarah’s grieving mother. Through these unusual, fraught friendships, the four women search for purpose behind their unfair fates.

BIOS

Brynne Frauenhoffer (Playwright) spent most of her childhood performing THE LION KING as a one-woman show and writing spec scripts for Pokemon; as an adult, she has decided to basically keep doing things like that forever. After graduating with a BFA in Drama from The University of Oklahoma, she moved to Chicago, where she now pursues playwriting, acting, and comedy. She has served as script supervisor on the world premieres of Laura Jacqmin's LOOK, WE ARE BREATHING and Elaine Romero's A WORK OF ART, and assistant directed the world premiere of Dana Lynn Formby's AMERICAN BEAUTY SHOP. Her short plays have appeared in the 6th Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival and in an upcoming anthology by Smith & Krause. In addition to workshopping SYNCHRONICITY, she is currently revising her feature-length screenplay, BURY ME, and developing an adaptation of JANE EYRE for Adapt Theatre Company in Chicago. You can read about her and check out her writing at www.brynnefrau.com.

Jason Bowcutt (Director) is thrilled to be working with SLAC once again. In the early 90's he worked here as an actor, assistant stage manager, light and sound board operator, and box office assistant. It is a real joy to be here now as a director. Directing credits include: [title of show] with Utah Repertory Theatre, Marry Christmas as well as Adam and Steve and the Empty Sea for Plan-B Theatre, and Well with Pygmalion Theatre. Upcoming projects include One Big Union with Plan-B and The Other Place with Utah Rep.  He is a graduate of the University of Utah’s Actors Training Program and spent many years working as an actor, and still occasionally does. He recently played Chuck in Based on a True Story with Plan-B. Jason is a Co-Founding Director of the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the IT Awards, a community building organization for Off-Off-Broadway.

The Davey Foundation was created to honor the life of David Ross Fetzer and his commitment to the film and theatre arts. The Foundation is excited to make grants available to artists 35 and younger for the development of innovative film and theatre projects, and to provide the mentoring framework that will allow the Davey grantee to flourish. More information at www.thedaveyfoundation.org

Salt Lake Acting Company’s mission is to engage and enrich community through brave contemporary theatre. Founded in 1970, SLAC is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 professional theatre dedicated to producing, commissioning, and developing new works and to supporting a community of professional artists. SLAC has been nationally recognized by the Shubert Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Edgerton Foundation, among others. SLAC operates under a STP Actors Equity Association contract and is a Constituent Member of Theatre Communications Group (a national organization for non-profit professional regional theatres), and the National New Play Network (a national alliance of non-profit professional theatres that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays).