Peking Acrobats
Let’s face it: Audiences love spectacle. There are many causes to exit to the theater, however among the many most persuasive is an opportunity to see belongings you simply do not ordinarily get an opportunity to see—like of us who can stability atop a pyramid of chairs, or interact in acts of trick biking and different comparable bits of bodily prowess. And that is precisely what the Peking Acrobats troupe has been delivering for greater than 30 years to audiences world wide.
The Peking Acrobats and their distinctive expertise have been featured on tv applications for the reason that mid-Eighties, together with That is Unimaginable!, ABC’s Vast World of Sports activities and The Wayne Brady Present, in addition to Fox’s Guinness Ebook Primetime tv present in 1999, the place they balanced six individuals atop six chairs 21 toes within the air with out security traces. The troupe is commonly accompanied by reside musicians taking part in play conventional Chinese language devices, mixing with high-tech particular results and awe-inspiring acrobatic feats to create an exuberant leisure occasion. Even those that won’t assume they’ve ever seen a Peking Acrobats efficiency might have seen the legacy of their work, as troupe alumnus Qin Shaobo grew to become well-known to American audiences because the nimble Yen within the 2001 movie Ocean’s Eleven and its two sequels.
The Peking Acrobats that includes the Shanghai Circus go to the Val Browning Heart at Weber State College (3950 W. Campus Dr., Ogden) on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $9 – $55, obtainable through onstageogden.org. Go to the web site for tickets and extra occasion data. (Scott Renshaw)
Wasatch Theatre Firm: The Ultimate Act
It has been a busy twenty fifth anniversary season for Wasatch Theatre Firm, together with a number of current productions—together with Dreamers and Moises Kaufman’s Gross Indecency—in addition to relocating from a house in The Gateway to the Eccles Black Field after the closing of the previous venue. However the materials simply retains coming, together with a brand new play by a veteran of the WTC household.
Former Wasatch Theatre Firm board member Georg Plautz serves as playwright for The Ultimate Act, a brand new present set—maybe unsurprisingly—on the planet of theater. It follows two longtime finest buddies, Greg (Jonathan Ybanez) and Ben (Tom Roche), who’ve all the time shared a love for the theater together with their caring for one another. That relationship is put to the take a look at, nonetheless, when Ben presents a play that challenges Greg sense of belief in his previous buddy. And the way does Greg’s girlfriend Jen (Sam Torres) match into this world of which she is not fully an element?
The Ultimate Act runs Feb. 3 – 14 on the Regent Avenue Black Field (144 Regent St.) of the Eccles Theater. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3-4, 10-11 and 13-14, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on Feb. 5 and Feb. 12. Tickets are $20 common admission/$15 scholar, plus a particular two-for-one provide for the closing Valentine’s Day efficiency utilizing the code VALENTINE; go to arttix.org to buy tickets and for extra occasion data. A portion of the proceeds from ticket gross sales will profit WTC’s George Plautz Rising Playwrights program, supporting the event of recent performs by native writers. (SR)
Repertory Dance Theatre: Regalia
To a point, it all the time seems like artists are working in opposition to the clock. It’s kind of of a distinct dynamic, although, after they’re working in opposition to the literal clock to create a chunk throughout the constraints of some hours. That is a part of the enjoyable—and craziness—that makes for the distinctive expertise of Repertory Dance Theatre’s annual Regalia fund-raiser and choreography competitors.
Yearly, RDT invitations choreographers to create a brand-new work with particular firm dancers and thematic or different restrictions. Starting at 2 p.m. on the day of the efficiency, these choreographers start a marathon inventive course of lasting simply six hours to stage the works and have them prepared for the audiences. This 12 months, this system options 4 choreographers, all with robust Utah ties: Angela Smith, Ruger Memmott, Rebekah JoAnn Guerra and Constance Anderson. And on the finish of the present, it is the viewers members whose votes will determine which of the 4 items will obtain a fee from RDT to supply the piece at a later efficiency.
RDT’s Regalia takes place on Saturday, Feb. 4 on the Rose Wagner Heart (138 W. 300 South), with efficiency at 8 p.m. Nevertheless, admission features a full night of actions, starting at 6:30 p.m. with a cocktail hour that additionally options bidding on silent public sale gadgets and an opportunity to view the choreographers at work on their items. Following the efficiency, company are invited to hitch an on-stage dance social gathering with music by the Joe Muscolino Band. Tickets are $75; go to arttix.org to buy tickets and for extra occasion data. (SR)
