Pygmalion Theatre Company has a very special year of performances lined up for their 2017/18 season that continue their purpose and feature some great work by writers who align with their principles. The company’s website explains “[They create] performances that share the human experience through the eyes of women.”
Sept. 16 will kick off the year with their annual one night only fundraiser “When Pygs Fly.” The evening begins with beverages and light fare at 6:30 and the show starts at 7 p.m. The fun cabaret performances are sure to make you laugh along with other emotions too. A suggested donation of $20 is recommended but any contribution is welcomed.
Nov. 3-18 “The Weyward Sisters” written by L.L. West will be performed. Jeremy Chase, one of the directors of the show, said “It’s slotted nicely around the fall season, right after Halloween. This show is about three witches, so they’re appropriate for the season. But then again, these witches aren’t exactly scary. They’re just damn funny.” The story is focused around Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Chase said “we get to take a classic work, turn it on it’s head, and give it a twist or two.”
Lauren Gunderson’s “I and You” is the next play on the bill Feb. 2-17. Director Teresa Sanderson is looking forward to the piece and said “I love the message of this play. I love the idea of creating their world. Truth, and it probably sounds cliche but I LOVE the process. That we get to perform is icing.”
Sanderson loves Gunderson’s writing and how well it works with Pygmalion Theatre Company’s values, “It is like she read our mission statement and wrote plays just for us,” Sanderson said.
“I and You” connects two students with a common goal, completing an English assignment about Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”, and the relationship that forms between the unlikely pair.
“Red Bike” written by Caridad Svich concludes the season April 20-May 5. Fran Pruyn, director, adores the story focused on an 11-year-old child and their bicycle. “It is political without being overtly so it leaves so much up to the interpretation — it tells one kid’s story really poetically and abstractly, and I can use movement and music … or not,” Pruyn said about why the show appealed to him in the first place. Pruyn also said, “Caridad is a playwright with a unique voice – ambiguous and female and generational, and non-race specific. You can’t get much more universal and yet specific than that.”
Pygmalion Theatre Company has an impressive season ahead with lots of opportunities to see their productions. All shows, except the fundraiser, will have a Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performance, as well as a Saturday and Sunday matinee. For more details about the specific shows and the Pygmalion Theater Company itself head over to www.pygmalionproductions.org
All shows will take place at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Black Box Theatre, 138 W. 300 South. Ticket prices range from $15-$20 and can be purchased by calling (801) 355.ARTS (2787) or visiting artsaltlake.org