Salt Lake Acting Company Presents the Utah Premiere of a Working Theater Production of AMERICAN DREAMS

Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC), Utah's leading destination for brave, contemporary theatre, presents the Utah premiere of a Working Theater production of AMERICAN DREAMS, written by Leila Buck. The digital experience makes a virtual tour stop for SLAC audiences October 14-18. The premise for the production, which originally made its world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre in 2018 before receiving a virtual retooling for the tour, is described as follows:

Imagine a world where the only way to gain U.S. citizenship is by competing in a live online game show. Welcome to American Dreams where each night you, the audience, gets to choose who will become your new neighbor. This playful participatory performance takes a page from America's favorite game shows and uses voting, polling, trivia and more to explore what it means to be(come) a citizen.

"Salt Lake Acting Company is honored to be a co-presenter of American Dreams," said SLAC Executive Artistic Director Cynthia Fleming. "During this unprecedented time, we have been aching for an opportunity to bring exciting new theatrical works to our audiences, and this one-of-a-kind partnership with Working Theater and others, speaks to the resilience of the artistic spirit and the power of collaboration.

Reprising their roles from the 2018 Cleveland Public Theatre production are Ali Andre Ali*, playwright Leila Buck*, India Nicole Burton, Jens Rasmussen*, Imran Sheikh*, and Andrew Aaron Valdez.

Helming the production is Tamilla Woodard, who directed SLAC's HARBUR GATE in 2017 and was an associate director for Broadway's HADESTOWN. Woodard also serves as Co-Artistic Director of Working Theater. "During my time in Salt Lake City during HARBUR GATE, I fell in love with the generosity of SLAC audiences, so I've been looking for ways to work with Cynthia and her team ever since," said Woodard. "It's been a thrill to be involved with the development of an incredibly timely, immersive production, and I'm even more thrilled to have Salt Lake Acting Company on board as a co-presenter."

Woodard is joined on the creative team by Ryan Patterson (Scenic Design), Kerry McCarthy (Costume Design), Stacey Derosler (Lighting Design), Sam Kusnetz (Sound Design), Katherine Freer (Video Design) and ViDCo (Virtual Performance Design). Colleen McCaughey serves as Production Stage Manager and Carolina Arboleda* is Assistant Stage Manager.

To amplify the importance of voting, a theme present in AMERICAN DREAMS, Salt Lake Acting Company has partnered with Vote Forward. The nonprofit organizes letter writing campaigns, targeted toward underrepresented voters across the nation. More information is available at VoteFwd.org.

AMERICAN DREAMS plays its digital engagement at Salt Lake Acting Company from October 14-18. The production is being offered as a gift to season subscribers and a pay-what-you-can option for single ticket buyers. Tickets are now on sale at tickets.saltlakeactingcompany.org or by calling 801.363.7522.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

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