Returning for a Ninth Year, the 2023 Edition Introduces Three New Plays to Utah Audiences and Offers Sunday Matinee Performances for the First Time Ever

Salt Lake City, UT -- Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC), Utah’s premier professional theatre, announces the line-up for its 2023 Play-by-Play series. Presented festival style over the course of one weekend, Play-by-Play will feature two presentations of Catherine Treischmann’s The Dust People, two presentations of How Can I Help You? by Kaaron Briscoe, and a one-reading-only presentation of Utah playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett’s Will It Go Round. Due to audience demand,  PTC is offering two Play-by-Play Sunday matinees—marking the first time the company has done so. The schedule for Play-by-Play’s ninth season is as follows:

The Dust People by Catherine Trieschmann

Directed by Shelley Butler

Friday, June 9 @ 7:30 PM | Sunday, June 11 @ 1:00 PM

In The Dust People, Johanna is a woman of the land, farming the same plot that’s been in her family for generations. When a young, idealistic couple with big ideas about sustainable energy and wind farms buys the farm next door, she’s convinced they and their ambitious eco-friendly plans won’t last. Their rural community is thrown into chaos by a murder, forcing every resident to reckon with the winds of change. 

How Can I Help You?  by Kaaron Briscoe

Directed by Lanise Antoine Shelley

Saturday, June 10 @ 2:00 PM | Sunday, June 11 @ 4:30 PM

When busy, working mom; Monica reaches out to her family to help her take care of the household duties, her husband (Greg) instead opts to outsource their contribution. Set in a sci-fi world where corporations touch every part of one's life, How Can I Help You? explores what it means to be a "strong" Black woman. 

Will It Go Round by Matthew Ivan Bennett

Directed by Alexandra Harbold

Saturday, June 10 @ 7:30 PM

Will It Go Round is a cycle of short stories in civil rights from 1964 to 2020, each a snapshot of people's lives in Utah. A mixed race couple is sent to the principal's office. LGBT students fight for an after-school club. Old estranged classmates reunite after the murder of George Floyd and see how far apart—but still close—they are. A tapestry of scenes showing how far we've come, how far we haven't, and why politics are always personal. 

“For nearly a decade, Pioneer Theatre Company has nurtured new play development through the Play-by-Play series. Seeing some of the past works that were first presented to PTC audiences produced in New York and other theatres around the country, reaffirms our excitement in providing a sandbox in which playwrights can play,” said PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg. “2023’s lineup is no different. Catherine Treischmann, Kaaron Briscoe, and Utah’s own Matthew Ivan Bennett are three of the most exhilarating voices in the theatre today. And these three plays represent a beautiful cross section of the contemporary landscape of American theatre.”

All readings will take place on the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre mainstage. As always, Pioneer Theatre Company Season Subscribers pay the lowest price: just $5 per reading. Tickets for non-subscribers are $10 per reading or available in a three-play package for $25.

Casting for the readings will be announced at a later date.

Tickets are now available at PioneerTheatre.org or by calling the PTC Box Office at 801-581-6961. Tickets will also be available during performances of The Prom, which runs from May 12—27. 

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS:

CATHERINE TRIESCHMANN's plays include Crooked, How the World Began, Hot Georgia Sunday, The Most Deserving, Holy Laughter, One House Over, and The Nativity Variations. They have been produced Off-Broadway at the Women’s Project Theater, in London at the Bush Theater, South Coast Repertory, the Denver Theater Center for Performing Arts, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Geva Theater Center, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, among others. She has received commissions from South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theater Club, the Denver Center for Performing Arts, Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Geva Theater Center. She’s the recipient of the Weissberger Award, the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award from the William Inge Theatre Festival, and a two-time awardee of the Edgerton New Play Prize. Her plays are published by Samuel French and Dramatic Publishing in the U.S .and Methuen in the U.K. She lives in a small town in Western Kansas.

KAARON BRISCOE is a Brooklyn based theater artist with an ART/MXAT/IATT at Harvard University. As a playwright, her work has been featured by Classical Theater of Harlem, Project Y, Inviolet Theater, and others. Her most recent play, Lost and Found was performed at the Downtown Live Festival, a collaboration between En Garde Arts, The Tank, and the Downtown Alliance of New York. It was translated into Italian last year. Her play, Tallahassee, was a semifinalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference. How Can I Help You? was a semifinalist for the Seven Devils Playwright's Conference. A native of New Orleans, Kaaron was a 2015 fellow of Target Margin Theater's Institute. She is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the Dramatists' Guild. She is also a proud member of the 52nd Street Project.

MATTHEW IVAN BENNETT has been Resident Playwright of Plan-B Theatre since 2007, where he’s premiered several stage plays and 10 radio plays in collaboration with KUER’s RadioWest. His work usually focuses on the sociopolitical while centering character with elements of humor. His adaptation of “Frankenstein” won the Best Feature Program award from the Utah Broadcasters’ Association. His one-person play Eric(a) won Best Drama at the United Solo Festival in New York. His road trip play, A\Version of Events is published with Stage Rights. His anti-bullying play Different=Amazing—for grades 3 to 6—is published with Leicester Bay Theatricals. With the O’Neill, he’s been a Finalist (Let Down Your Hair, 2016) and Semifinalist (Art & Class, 2019). He’s won the Best Local Playwright award from PlayUtah and Salt Lake’s City Weekly honored with an Arty for writing Plan-B’s entire season in 2009. In 2014, he received the Holland New Voices award from Great Plains Theatre Commons and returned in 2019 to workshop his play Art & Class. His short plays have appeared at the Source Festival in DC, Monkeyman in Toronto, and Theatre Out in Santa Ana. His comedy A Night with the Family ran at the Omaha Community Playhouse. His short film B+A appeared at Slamdance and his feature-length film The Whole Lot was an Official Selection of the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in 2022. In 2015 and 2016, he was a screenwriting finalist at the Austin Film Festival. In Utah, he’s worked as a playwright with the Salt Lake Acting Company, Pygmalion, Sackerson (devised pieces: A Brief Waltz in a Little Room and The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done), and Wasatch Theatre Company. Matt served 13 years as Assistant Business Manager for Pioneer Theatre Company, as well as reading for their Play-by-Play series, and was a Literary Manager for The Constructivists in Milwaukee. His poetry has been published with Sugar House Review, Western Humanities, Utah Life, unearthed, and Organic Ink, Volume 5.. Matt earned his Bachelors in Theatre from Southern Utah University—where he also acted for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s educational tours of The Taming of the Shrew as Grumio and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Puck. He is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, and recently joined Mastodon.