DownStage
DownStage is an intensive, hands-on conference in theatrical production. As part of this SLC Theatre component, students learn about all aspects of production and administration, including creating a board of directors, building a mission, budgeting, marketing, and artistic direction around an entire season of events and productions.
2019-2020 Downstage Mission
Downstage is a student-run theatre company that celebrates the myriad of identities in our community. We ask our creative partners to bring the uniqueness that makes us all unapologetically special and singular as artists. We embrace difference: in our play selections, cast and creative teams, the events we present, the causes we support, and the ways we use our space.
We aspire to elevate complex characters and stories that aren’t often told. We hope to build a group of creators to challenge the way we approach our art, our own biases, and the tropes we unknowingly carry out. We
will create a welcoming environment of trust as we learn alongside
you as collaborators.
BRING THE WEIRD. We want your bold, conspicuous, and unabashed perspectives! Help us find and celebrate the eccentricity that surrounds
our campus and community, and make it as loud, joyful, and
cathartic as possible!
2019-2020 DOWNSTAGE THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCERS:
Caroline Beegan……………....…....Company Management, Literary
Sarah Brownstein…………..………..Company Management, Production
Erica Tocco……………………...…...Production
Gwyneth Sauvage……………….....Audience Development, Marketing
Shea Sprague………...………....….Audience Development
Ally Thomas…………………...…….Marketing, Literary
Downstage 2019/2020 Season
FRANKENSTAGE
Friday, October 4th, 2019
Saturday, October 5th, 2019
Get in the spooky spirit and join us in kicking off the 2019-2020 Downstage season! You can get involved in this Halloween-themed 10 minute play festival by signing up as a playwright, actor, or director. Groups will be randomly assigned through a drawing and will have two weeks to conjure their creation.
STAND-UP IN THE DOWN: COMEDY UNDERGROUND
Saturday, November 16th, 2019
A comedy show open to any SLC student who wants to showcase their stand-up talent in a 3-5 set.
THE PERFECT BLEND: AN EVENING OF SPOKEN WORD AND COFFEE
Saturday, December 4th, 2019
Tuesday, February 4th, 2020
Thursday, April 2nd, 2020
Writers and performing artists of all genres are invited to submit and perform their written word in our newest coffee house style event. We are accepting all forms of writing, including but not limited to slam poems, monologues, short stories, and tweets. Performers will be given 3-5 minutes each for their piece. Come espresso yourself and share your tea and coffee filled angst with us!
THE DOWNSTAGE HOLIDAY SPECIAL
Saturday, December 7th, 2019
A holiday party in the style of a vintage television seasonal special. Variety show performances of song and dance. Festive treats and merriment were enjoyed by all!
HIR
By Taylor Mac
Directed by Sarah Morse
Thursday 12/12, Friday 12/13 & Saturday 12/14
Line producers: Ally Thomas, Sophie Evans-Katz
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from Afghanistan under unusual circumstances to help take care of his ailing father, who once ruled the house with an iron first, only to discover a household in revolt. The insurgent: his mother. Liberated from an oppressive marriage, and with Isaac’s newly-out transgender sibling Max as her ally, she’s on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it. It leaves so many of our so-called normative and progressive ideas about gender, family, the middle class – and cleaning – in hilarious and ultimately tragic disarray.
ATHENA
By Gracie Gardner
Directed by Kyrie Ellison
Thursday 2/13, Friday 2/14 & Saturday 2/15
Line Producers: Caroline Beegan & Shea Sprague
Mary Wallace and Athena are brave, and seventeen, and fencers, and training for the Junior Olympics. They practice together, they compete against each other, they spend their lives together. They wish they were friends.
DANCE NATION
By Clare Barron
Directed by Claire Marieb
Monday 3/9, Tuesday 3/10 & Wednesday 3/11
Line Producers: Sarah Brownstein, Gwyneth Sauvage
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plot to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at the Boogie Down Grand Prix in Tampa Bay. But in Clare Barron’s raucous pageant of ambition and ferocity, these young dancers have more than choreography on their minds, because every plié and jeté is a step toward finding themselves, and a fight to unleash their power.
SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Maximillian Howard
April 2020
*** In rehearsals when canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
MILK MILK LEMONADE
By Joshua Conkel
Directed by Colette Shaw
Spring 2020
*** In pre-production when canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
PROMPTSTAGE
Ongoing, Spring 2020
A community-wide art share showcase. During remote learning, we’ve invited our community to make work inspired by our weekly prompt! Downstage shares student work to it’s social media platforms in a weekly showcase. Anything goes: monologues, dances, poems, songs, sculptures, drawings, collages, stories, puppet shows... you name it!
OTHER COMMUNITY EVENTS WHILE REMOTE LEARNING
Ongoing, Spring 2020
Zoom Dance Party
Zoom Pet Social
Co-hosted Drag Makeup Workshop and Performance with SLC Drag Union
Netflix Watch Party
THE CONNECTION PROJECT
Friday, April 24 & Saturday 25, 2020
The Connection Project is a series of short prompt-based digital play readings centering about the theme of connection. We randomly assigned writers, directors, and actors into 5 groups, each creating a short play based on prompt location such as a spaceship or an igloo!