Salt Lake Acting Company - A Year with Frog and Toad

We're proud to announce our lineup of 22/23 programming for Salt Lake Acting Company's 51st Season! Join us for two Utah premieres, two world premieres, and a remounting of a beloved children's musical.

Opening the season (from September 21 - October 16) is the Utah premiere of Sleeping Giant by Steve Yockey. Having been developed in the New Play Sounding Series in May 2022, Sleeping Giant marks the third premiere of Yockey’s work at SLAC (after Blackberry Winter and Mercury).   

SLAC will celebrate its return to in-person professional children’s theatre (in a season add-on) after two years of virtual offerings with a re-mounting of A Year With Frog and Toad. The Tony-nominated musical by Willie Reale and Robert Reale will play SLAC’s Upstairs Theatre from December 2-18, 2022.

The standard subscription season then resumes with Hairy & Sherri by Adrienne Dawes. The dramedy was originally developed during SLAC’s 2021 virtual New Play Sounding Series Festival and will have its world premiere at SLAC from February 8 through March 5, 2023.

Following is Yoga Play by Dipika Guha, a comedy having its Utah premiere following productions at South Coast Repertory Theatre, SF Playhouse, Gateway Theatre, among others. Guha’s play was named as a 2017 Kilroys Honoree and will run at SLAC from April 12 - May 7, 2023.

The season will conclude with the third iteration of Salt Lake Acting Company’s summer tradition, SLACabaret. The 2023 production will see the return of cabaret-style table seating and a fresh, satirical take on the Beehive State from a writing team yet to be announced. SLACabaret 2023 will run from July 12 through August 20. 

Casts and creative teams for SLAC’s 51st Season will be announced at later dates. Season subscriptions are currently available by calling our Audience Relationship Team at 801-363-7522. Single tickets will be announced at a later date.

Our 51st Season At a Glance

Sleeping Giant 
by Steve Yockey
September 21 - October 16, 2022
Utah Premiere
Developed in SLAC’s 2022 New Play Sounding Series

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.


Hairy & Sherri
by Adrienne Dawes
February 8 - March 5, 2023
World Premiere
Developed in SLAC’s 2021 New Play Sounding Series Digital Festival

Hairy and Sherri are an “adorkable” interracial couple living in gentrified East Austin. When they very graciously and publicly open their home to Ryshi, a 12-year-old former foster care youth with special needs, Hairy and Sherri are confronted with the ugly realities of their marriage and “good” intentions.

Yoga Play
by Dipika Guha
April 12 - May 7, 2023
Utah Premiere

When the yoga apparel giant Jojomon’s reputation takes an unsavory hit, Joan, its newest CEO, embarks on a treacherous path to save not only the company but her career.  This uproarious comedy explores the western world’s often misguided quest for enlightenment, deep breathing, and yoga pants at any cost.

SLACabaret 2023
Playwrights TBA
July 12 - August 20, 2023
World Premiere

Summer fun returns to SLAC with the latest iteration of SLACabaret. What will be in store? Only the stranger-than-fiction news cycle will tell. One thing is for sure: laughter and celebration will once again take center stage. Don’t miss it!

Children’s Play Season Add-On: A Year With Frog and Toad
Book and Lyrics by Willie Reale 
Music by Robert Reale
December 2 - 18, 2022

Back by popular demand and based on the highly acclaimed books by Arnold Lobel, SLAC will once again invite audiences of all ages into the world of two best friends who celebrate and rejoice in the differences that make them unique and special.  This holiday season don't miss the chance to delight the children in your lives (as well as your own inner child) with this charming, heartfelt musical.

Episode 4: Nate Waite. In this episode, host PJ Caywood sits down with actor Nate Waite to discuss his role as Toad in "A Year with Frog and Toad".

Ellen Fagg Weist | December 12, 2014 | Salt Lake Tribune

About halfway through a school matinee of Salt Lake Acting Company's "A Year With Frog and Toad," a first-grader in the audience let the cast know he had figured out what live theater was all about.

"Hey. You were the monster," he yelled to actor Terry Lee McGriff, who, after a quick costume change, had made his stage entrance as a bird.

The immediacy of that audience reaction explains everything about the professional theater company's enthusiasm for its annual children's musical, now in its sixth year. In addition to evening and weekend performances, the actors perform eight matinees for Title I elementary schools in the Salt Lake City and Granite districts. Those performances reach some 1,400 students, many of whom haven't attended a stage show before.

[Read Full Article] 

Danny Bowes | December 10, 2014 | City Weekly

It is tempting—particularly among the childless—to hold children to a higher standard of conduct than their capabilities permit. This thought was inspired—at a matinee performance of Salt Lake Acting Company's sixth annual children's play A Year With Frog & Toad—by the arrival some way into the performance of a child who proceeded to make constant and loud comment on the proceedings, and who was then given a cell phone to play with for the remainder of the show. All of this, naturally, in the front row, some five feet away from any downstage action, because why not?

[Read Full Article]

A Utah Mom's Life | December 9, 2014

Last weekend I announced to my family that we we would be going to see A Year with Frog and Toad by the Salt Lake Acting Company. My kids were not excited to go. Rand was not excited to go. Even though they whined and moaned, I gave them no option. They piled in the car and we headed to Salt Lake. I adore the Frog and Toad children's books by Arnold Lobel but the text is subtle and low key and I had no idea how it would translate on the stage.

As soon as we arrived, I was impressed. The neighborhood is charming and the theater is inviting. Every seat is a good seat. We found our seats and settled in. The crew was friendly and knew that their audience was full of children.

[Read Full Article]

Susie Q | December 11, 2014 | The White House Blog

Last Saturday afternoon my son and I had the opportunity to go and see "A Year With Frog and Toad", by The Salt Lake Acting Company. I was really excited to be able to go and do something like this with him. It was his first musical/play experience and I think he really enjoyed himself.

[Read Full Article] 

Emily Hill | December 8, 2014 | Is This Really My Life?

Our family saw the most enchanting children's play Friday night. It was pure joy from beginning to end—or spring to spring, depending on how you look at it. If you're a fan of the Frog & Toad books by Arnold Lobel, you simply must see Salt Lake Acting Company's production of the Tony-nominated musical A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD.

[Read Full Article]

Episode 3: Jenessa Bowen. PJ Caywood, the daughter of A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD director Penny Caywood, hosts her own interview series called "A Cup of OJ with PJ". In this episode, PJ chats with actress Jenessa Bowen about her many roles in the show.

Episode 2: Amelia Rose Moore. In this episode, host PJ Caywood sits down with actress Amelia Rose Moore to discuss "A Year with Frog and Toad".

Episode 1: Logan Tarantino. PJ Caywood, the daughter of A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD director Penny Caywood, hosts her own interview series called "A Cup of OJ with PJ". In this episode, PJ chats with actor Logan Tarantino about his role as Frog in the upcoming production. 

A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD runs at Salt Lake Acting Company from December 5- 27. Go to www.saltlakeactingcompany.org for tickets or call our box office at 801-363-7522.