CMU School of Drama


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Playwrights group opposes Utah Performing Arts Center

The Salt Lake Tribune: A group of prominent Utah playwrights have read Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s script for a proposed 2,500-seat "Broadway-style" theater on downtown Main Street, and they don’t like the plot.
In a statement sent Tuesday to the mayor’s senior adviser , the recently formed Utah chapter of the Dramatists Guild of America calls the prospective theater "an echoing and unrealistic, airplane-terminal of a building." The group, comprised of 15 Utah playwrights, contend the project will be dependent on a small number of touring Broadway shows, even as it ignores the needs of smaller theater companies.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that the idea of this center is not an entirely awful idea, but that the center should be able to accommodate both the touring money-maker shows and the community productions, from both the larger community organizations and the small, grass-roots groups. I think the upset playwrights need to acknowledge the good in the fact that people want to put money into an arts center. At the same time I do think that the people with the money should hear them out. It seems like the best solution would be a large center that includes a touring house, several small venues, and some rehearsal and shop spaces for use by all. This center may require more funding than one made strictly with accommodating tours in mind, but it seems like the money would be well spent because it would benefit the members of the local arts community.