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Show SLAC Presents Two Plays at Glass Factory Theater quite purposefully. "For students," she says, "Chekhov "Chek-hov has it all-the relationships, relation-ships, the solid connections, and the image work." Not only do students learn how to connect emotionally through Checkhov, but they must also deal with "given circumstances cir-cumstances and physical outer conditions or lose the flavor of the play. In Act I it is muggy; in Act II the characters have been up all night. If, as actors, they deny the mugginess or exhaustion, exhaus-tion, they deny the scene," she said. Because Shotwell loves teaching, she has chosen a play that allows her to give students the essential tools needed to continue good work after they leave the supportive atmosphere of the University. ' The University of Utah ' Department of Theater and Acting Emphasis Program, in cooperation with the Salt Lake Acting Company, will ' present two showcase pro ductions at the Glass Factory Theater in Arrow Press x Square. Kevin O'Morrison's "The Morgan Yard", directed by Robert Baca will play May 28. 29, 30 at 8 p.m. and May . 31 at 2 p.m. and Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya", directed by Sandra Shotwell, will play June 4, 5, 6 at 8 p.m., and June 7 at 2 p.m. Wrth the remodelling of the Babcock Theater and concomitant con-comitant space limitations. Dr. Keith Engar, Chairman of the University of Utah Theater Department, asked The Salt Lake Acting Company Com-pany to help produce the two showcase productions for their Acting Emphasis Program. Pro-gram. Ed Gryska, Artistic Director for the Salt Lake Acting Company, said, "We are ' glad to cooperate. It's good for us, good for the students and directors to experience work in a small, professional " theater space, and good for our audience." "The Morgan Yard" by Kevin O'Morrison comes at a time when news headlines are filled with, the pros and cons of M-X, the hazards of nuclear war, and the problems pro-blems of nuclear and chemical chemi-cal waste disposal. It speaks directly to these topics in a most personal way. Performed in 1973 at The Cleveland Playhouse and in 1975 at the Olympia Theater in Dublin with Siobhan McKenna, the play is about one woman's passion for the land. On a hot summer day in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, Mis-souri, Carrie Morgan defies the U.S. Army in order to protect her land from becoming becom-ing the Army's burial ground for bombs, rockets, and poisonous gas. The Morgan Yard is the Morgan family's own burial ground, containing generations generat-ions of Morgans and a multitude of memories. The U.S. Army has moved into a tiny community, changed its values, and pitted family and friends against each other. The Morgan Yard is based on fact. Driving through the state of Oregon, playwright O'Morrison saw a wide expanse of tombs-nerve gas bomb tombs.. The eerie image of the land remained with him and the idea for a play germinated. He further explored the Oregon town and its people, discovering how an imaginary imagi-nary economy and the desecration of the land changed their values. O'Morrison set his play in the region of the country with which he was most familiar, the Missouri Ozarks. Director Robert Baca is an Associate Professor of Theater Thea-ter at the University of Utah. He chose The Morgan Yard because "It is an actor's piece, it has a strong, pertinent story line, and O'Morrison is one of our outstanding American writers." wri-ters." Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov will be directed by Sandra Shotwell, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Thea-ter at the University. Shotwell chose Uncle Vanya |