Salt Lake Acting Company - New Play Sounding Series

THE TURNAWAY PLAY
by Lesley Lisa Green

PANELISTS:
Josephine Holubkov
Jackie Morgan
Representative Angela Romero
Annabel Sheinberg (Moderator)
Erica Torres

CAST LIST:
Latoya Cameron– Serena, Angel, Kiara
Jazmin Delgado – Luisa, Sofia, Martina
Adriana Lemke – Rhonda, Amy, Brenda
Tracie Merrill-Wilson – Dr. Foster

PRODUCTION TEAM:
Director – Cynthia Fleming
Production/Stage Manager – Jennie Sant
Lighting Designer – Elliot Moore
Projection Programmer – Bridgette Lehman 
Hat Designer – Erika Ahlin

BIOS:

PANELISTS:

Josephine Holubkov
Josephine Holubkov grew up in Salt Lake City and was interested in reproductive justice and political activism from a young age. While attending West High School, Josephine was on PPAU's Teen Council for two years, serving on the Teen Council Advisory Committee for one year. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Josephine worked the 2020 election as a grassroots organizer with Planned Parenthood North Central States. In college, she worked as a Communication and Consent Educator (CCE) for three years, and was promoted to be a Project Coordinator during her senior year, where she developed a community-centered framework of survivor support. After receiving her B.A. in Linguistics from Yale University, Josephine is now preparing to apply to veterinary school, and plans to continue advocating for survivors and racial and reproductive justice while pursuing her career.

Jackie Morgan
Jackie Morgan is a seasoned political strategist, with years of experience working on political and issue campaigns, public affairs, and legislation. She has worked in Utah politics for over 10 years, helping numerous campaigns, candidates, and causes including as the Deputy Communications Director on the Mike Weinholtz for Governor campaign, Volunteer Director on Better Boundaries, and Campaign Manager or Senior Advisor for more than 25 local candidates. She most recently served as the National Campaigns Director at Stand for Children where she worked with nonprofit and advocacy organizations to drive educational equity and racial justice across the country. Currently, Jackie is a Senior Partner at Elevate Strategies, where she focuses on helping Democratic candidates in Utah make meaningful progress and change. Through Elevate, she leverages data-driven strategies, mentoring, and support to reshape Utah’s political future.

Representative Angela Romero
Representative Angela Romero represents House District 25 in the Utah State Legislature and is currently the House Minority Leader. She heads the first all-female House minority leadership team in the Utah State Legislature.

At the state legislature, Representative Romero has been a champion for women and children. Representative Romero works on legislation for victim’s rights, human trafficking, and sexual assault and domestic violence prevention. During her service, Representative Romero successfully passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Statewide Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Program appropriation request of 3.6 million dollars. She also worked diligently to secure funding to end the rape test kit backlog. Representative Romero also sponsored legislation creating Utah’s Murdered and Missing Indigenous Relatives Task Force.

Outside her legislative capacity Representative Romero works with local government, overseeing community programs and initiatives in the Division of Youth and Family Programs, including supervising the YouthCity Government Program and My Brother’s Keeper. Representative Romero is dedicated to ensuring youth have access to the political process and civic engagement.

Annabel Sheinberg
Annabel Sheinberg is a member of The Turnaway Play Team with a long history of working to advance sexual and reproductive freedoms in Utah.  She has a special interest in projects focused on youth development, community organizing, non-profit management and promoting democracy and justice. During her career she worked in several states including 15 years with Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. She is thrilled to partner with SLAC in bringing The Turnaway Play to Utah for the first time.

Erica Torres
Erica Torres is dedicated to uplifting and empowering communities through a strong commitment to social and reproductive justice. She strives to create meaningful change through education and community engagement. With a background in Public Health focused on community health, Erica brings over 15-years of experience in women's health, including a decade specializing in abortion care, contraceptive counseling, pregnancy options education and community health education.

Currently, she serves as an instructor at the University of Utah's School for Cultural and Social Transformation, where she teaches Reproductive Justice. Additionally, she works as a Community Engagement and Training Specialist at the ASCENT Center for Reproductive Health within the Family Planning Division of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah; a role that she is also able to sprinkle in some research to keep her work exciting and impactful.

ACTORS:

Latoya Cameron
Latoya Cameron (she/her) is thrilled to be part of this important reading at SLAC during such a crucial time. She is an actor, singer, writer, director, and an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Dramaturg. She recently co-directed Whitelisted which is currently in performances in the Upstairs Theater at SLAC (if you have not seen it yet, you do not want to miss it! If you have, THANK YOU and come again with some friends). You might have seen her at SLAC in: You Will Get Sick, Passing Strange, Four Women Talking About the Man Under the Sheet, Form of A Girl, Stupid Fucking Bird to name a few. Other stages: The Clean-Up Project (named the Utah Review's Top Utah Enlightenment Moment in 2022), Singing to the Brine Shrimp, A/Version of Events, Mama, Ruff!, Different = Amazing, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, (Plan-B Theatre Company), Rocky Horror Show (2014 & 2015), Elf, the Musical (2013), RENT (Pioneer Theatre Company), Shakespeare in Love, Treasure Island, As You Like It, Henry V, Mary Poppins, Much Ado About Nothing (Utah Shakespeare Festival), The Color Purple, Closer (Wasatch Theatre Company), A Christmas Carol (Denver Center of the Performing Arts), Shelter, the Musical (New York Musical Theatre Festival). Directed: Whitelisted (co-directed with Tito Livas), Sankofa, this Journey: Go Back and Get It! (Salt Lake Acting Company and UBLAC collaboration), Town Hall (University of Utah), Title of Show (The Grand), RENT (The Ziegfeld Theater). Thank you for being here tonight.

Jazmin Delgado
Jazmin Delgado (she/her) graduated last May with a BFA in musical theater from the University of Utah! Previous credits include Natasha u/s in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Pioneer Theatre Company), Annabeth u/s in The Lightning Thief (Babcock Theatre), Juniper in Smoke and Mirrors (Lagoon) and Teresita in West Side Story (West Valley Arts). Jazmin would like to thank SLAC for the opportunity and she dedicates this show to the upcoming election. Instagram: @jazmin.viquez

Adriana Lemke
Adriana Lemke (she/her) is a Salt Lake City based theatre-artist and movement professional. She was last seen on SLAC’s stage in the NPSS reading of Burst by Rachel Bublitz. As fight and intimacy director, her work has been part of SLAC’s productions of Whitelisted, Hairy & Sherri, and Sleeping Giant. Some of her favorite acting credits include Fabiana Cunningham in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Des-Neiges Verrette in Les Belles Soeurs.

Tracie Merrill-Wilson
Tracie Merrill-Wilson (she/her) is always grateful to work with SLAC, and is excited to be among this amazing group of artists. Previous SLAC credits include The Wolves, Rapture Blister Burn, Ice Glen and the 2010 Fearless Fringe Festival (SB Dance’s Yoga Confidential and The Harvey Girls). Other favorite local and regional works include: PG Anon, One Big Union, Lady Macbeth, and Di Esperienza with Plan-B; Eleemosynary, Selma 65, Cheat, and Stop Kiss with Pygmalion; Rings at The Grand Theatre; Dracula at PTC; Rare Bird at the U; The Rainmaker at Hale; Metamorphoses and As You Like It at the Clarence Brown Theatre; La Bete and The Tempest at Theater at Monmouth; and three Shakespeare tours (Taming of the Shrew, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet). Film and TV credits include 127 Hours and Disney Channel’s Den Brother. A member of AEA, she received her MFA from UT-Knoxville and a classical degree from Weber Douglas Academy in London. Tracie also takes great pride in being involved in readings to develop new plays. Endless love to her family, and huge thanks to her Dad for hours spent running lines. 

We're delighted to announce our first in–person New Play Sounding Series reading in over two years: Sleeping Giant by Steve Yockey. The free reading will take place in SLAC’s Upstairs Theatre on Monday, May 2nd at 7pm.

Salt Lake Acting Company audiences will remember two previous world premieres authored by Yockey: Blackberry Winter (2015) and Mercury (2017). Since seeing Mercury receive its world premiere at SLAC, Yockey has gone on to become a multi award-nominated (WGA, PGA, Emmy) creator of the popular HBO Max series The Flight Attendant.

Sleeping Giant, a new play which will also receive a full production at SLAC next season, is described by the playwright as follows:

When a firework-filled marriage proposal goes very wrong, the accompanying explosions wake up something very old that’s been sleeping in the nearby lake for thousands of years. What follows are intimate, darkly comic, and sometimes startling vignettes about the lengths people go when they desperately want something to believe in.

“After truly killer experiences with Blackberry Winter and Mercury, SLAC has become a vital and dynamic creative partner,” stated Yockey. “Their artists and their audiences just get it. And Cynthia [Fleming] sets the bar for artistic excellence. I'm thrilled to be back.”

Comprising the cast of the NPSS reading of Sleeping Giant are SLAC alum Alexis Baigue (Stupid F***ing Bird), Lily Hye Soo Dixon (Mercury), Tito Livas (Mercury) and Cassie Stokes-Wylie (Death of a Driver). Kimi Handa Brown, playwright from last year’s NPSS reading of Daddy Issues, will read stage directions. Directing the reading will be Emilio Casillas in his SLAC directorial debut. Casillas is also a co-writer of the upcoming #SLACabaret 2022.

RSVP Here

While admission to the NPSS reading of Sleeping Giant is free, reservations are required. They can be reserved directly via the link above, or by contacting the SLAC Audience Relationship Team at or 801-363-7522.

Please note: all SLAC attendees must show proof of full vaccination and wear a properly-fitting mask. Please visit our COVID-19 safety guide for more information.

Production images from Mercury and Blackberry Winter. All images by David Daniels.

As our record-breaking New Play Sounding Series enters its 26th year of nurturing exciting works from some of the country's most gifted voices, we're pleased to announce the February 17th reading of local playwright Shawn Fisher's new play, THE (obsolete) UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS. Shawn Fisher

After many miles and days of hiking through relentless rain, six waterlogged strangers converge on a tiny mountain shelter that they are forced to share. Deb, a wilderness-loving professor of ornithology, and her wife Marley, an urban food truck chef are journeying to save their marriage by rediscovering why these two opposites fell in love in the first place. "Brando" is about to be kicked out of college and takes his awkward fantasy-loving younger step-brother, Paul, into the mountains where they discover the meaning of strength, loyalty and brotherhood. Bee, an impulsive 16 year old, and her new 40-year-old companion Edward travel the trail together, until their relationship is challenged by Bee and the others at the camp. As they each attempt to dry out and struggle for their own small patch of relief, they soon discover that some journeys are not meant to be taken alone.

THE (obsolete) UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS marks Fisher’s fourth play to receive a NPSS reading. According to the playwright, “It’s easy to convince myself that something I have written is either fabulous or disastrous, both of which are almost always wrong. There is always something worth keeping and something that needs changing, but until we experience an audience’s response and hear their feedback, it’s a lot of guesswork.” In regard to the importance of feedback from SLAC patrons, Fisher adds, “[the audiences] truly give us a sense of how the plays are being received. This is the most vital final link between the private process of sitting alone at the keyboard and a fully produced public performance of a play. I am so grateful that SLAC and the supporters of the New Play Sounding Series give us the time, space, and support to do this.”

Clockwise from top left: Mollee Barse, AJ Black, Cat Evangelho, Anne-Marie Kate, Matt Koenig, Cameron Neeley, and Alex Smith

Appearing in THE (obsolete) UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS are Mollee Barse (Marley), AJ Black (Brando), Cat Evangelho (Debra), Anne-Marie Kate (Bee), Matt Koenig (Edward), and Alex Smith (Paul). Richie Call serves as director, Cameron S. Neeley will read stage directions, and Tanner Sase is stage manager.

Founded in 1994, Salt Lake Acting Company’s New Play Sounding Series (NPSS) is the longest-running reading series of its kind in Utah. Past works that have been workshopped in the NPSS to later receive full productions at SLAC (and elsewhere) include SILENT DANCER and HARBUR GATE by Kathleen Cahill, MERCURY by Steve Yockey, STAG’S LEAP by Sharon Olds, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS by Mike Daisey, A SLIGHT DISCOMFORT by Jeff Metcalf, and THE RECEPTIONIST by Adam Bock. Elaine Jarvik’s FOUR WOMEN TALKING ABOUT THE MAN UNDER THE SHEET, featured during last season’s NPSS, will receive its world premiere at SLAC March 12-22, 2020.

THE (obsolete) UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS is free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made via SLAC’s website or by calling 801.363.7522.

SLAC acknowledges

for their generous support of the New Play Sounding Series.