Top Ten Reasons to Go See DSC Theatre's Student Directed One Acts

Last night I went to see 'A Night of One Acts' at DSC Theatre last night and I liked what I saw. The students in the Directing II class have worked tirelessly putting together these shows and are allowing the public to come see them for absolutely free. Tonight (Friday) is the last night so head over to the Dolores Eccles Black Box Theatre at 6:00 for a great night of unique (and free) theatre.

10. It's Free!
9. You get to see several new faces in the St. George Theatre World.
8. All the lights were designed by student designers.
7. You'll get see a semester of training come to fruition.
6. There are four great one acts to see all on one night.
5. You probably know the directors! (Crystal Bates, Anisa Bennett, Mellissa Erickson, Brooke Owen.)
4. Tonight (Friday) is the last night.
3. It makes a great date night! (It starts at 6:00 and will be over by 8:00)
2. You'll get to see four new shows that you've never seen before.
1. You'd be supporting your local college arts program. (Good cause.)

Improve Comes to St. George

Last Wednesday my wife I and went to check out St. George's brand new improve group called 'The Truth About Lies". The meet every first and third Wednesday of each month at 9:00pm at The Electric Theatre. 

I haven't been to The Electric Theatre since before my mission and I really loved the space. It's got a great eccentric, hip, yet unconventional feel to it... A great space for improve. The show was hosted by Anisa Bennett, who's energy really got the show going on the right foot. As we met the players we immediately saw that this was going to be a high energy show. The cast includes Justin Cullimore, Jarom Brown, Danielle Wolverton, Noah Dixon, and Steve ___________ (Sorry Steve, I don't know you're last name.) And as I understand there are other players that sometimes rotate through. Every player had several brilliantly funny moments in the show, but there were two people that stood out as being, not just funny, but hilarious, the entire evening. Justing Cullimore was born for this as far as I'm concerned. His level of energy is overwhelming and contagious in a beautiful way. The other being Noah Dixon. His political incorrectness, and strong character choices light up the stage. I've never seen a better Brittany Spears.

The crowd was small but 'The Truth About Lies" still brought their A game and really put on an entertaining show. The cost is six bucks, but as far as I'm concerned it is well worth it. Hopefully as time goes on, word will spread and they'll begin to pick up a following. For what it's worth I think it makes a great unique date night, or for a night out with friends. 

I give it a B+

Ricky Valadez

Some of you may know Ricky Valadez. Well I just want to take a short moment to tell you all to check out his music. He's a student at Dixie State College, a good friend of mine, and a ridiculously talented individual. He just got some songs up on iTunes, check em' out. Or you can listen for free at http://soundsugar.net/ricky. Leave a comment, tell your friends about him, and let's get this guy the reckognition he deserves. He has a great, unique sound that is refreshing to hear. My personal favorites are Rubik's Cube and his rendition of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Hope you enjoy his sound.

One Life: The Story of Nathan Hale

For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Brent Hansen of Dixie State College has been working, along with Ricky Valadez and Ben Stratford, on a new musical based on the life of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale. I don’t know just how long Brent has been going at it, but I’ve known about the play for over a year now. I first heard of it when Brent asked Joel Thomas and I to do a scene from the play for part of a lecture he was giving. I fell in love with the project then, and it’s been an honor to be a part of it since. Dr. Hansen finished the first draft just before the Christmas break and held a public reading of the piece. I read for Nathan and my wife read for Nathan’s love interest Lydia. It was great. People were weeping by the end… and we were in our street clothes sitting behind a table! However, Brent won’t be offended when I say that it wasn’t perfect, because it wasn’t. And that’s why he wrote a second draft and is going to be doing another public reading on the 18^th of this month.

There are several things that have made me fall in love with this play. First of all it’s a truly incredible story. Based on the life of an extraordinary man. (Nathan Hale is the man who famously said: “My only regret is that I have but one life to lose for my country.”) Secondly, it’s an original piece. And for some reason I get ridiculously excited about new theatre. Especially when it’s good! And this piece is good. I’m obviously biased because I know all of the people involved, and I’ve had the opportunity to work on the project with them, but I really feel that when this script is complete it will have the epic power and quality that will put it in the same category as Les Miserables. And thirdly Brent Hansen is just an incredible human being. He loves writing. And it shows in his work. My first play back off of my mission was another original piece by Brent called ‘A St. George Christmas.’ I learned from Brent that he puts a tremendous amount of care into whatever he is working on. And everyone involved feels rewarded because of it.

The reason Brent holds these readings is to make the project better. He gets to hear the script out loud, and get feedback from his peers. So if you get a chance, come watch us read and sing this amazing work in the art gallery located in the Dolores Eccles Building on the campus of Dixie State College. You won’t regret it. After the reading Brent is humble enough to ask you what you thought. So you’ll have the opportunity to have a hand in creating a marvelous piece of theatre. The reading starts at 7:00, and admission is free. Hope to see you there. 

Divorce Agreement

It has been a while since I've had time to post anything so I'm stealing this thing I got in my e-mail. I have to admit it's pretty clever. 

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:    We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly,  this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological s ides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way..

 
 Here is a model separation agreement: 
 
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our 
respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes. 
 
We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael 
Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them). 
 
We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's 
and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood . 
 
You can make nice with Iran and Pales tine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help
provide them security 
 
We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N... but we will no longer be paying the bill. 
 
We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find. 
 
You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be 
happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World. 
 
 We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag. 
 
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. 
In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need ; whose help in 15 years. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 John J. Wall 
 
 Law Student and an American 
 
 
 
 P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.