Local Playwrights Take on the World

Utah playwrights aren't just for Utah. News from two local authors finds their work greeting audiences far and wide.

Steven Fales' Confessions of a Mormon Boy (pictured) -- an autobiographical one-man show about Fales' experience as a Mormon before and after coming out as gay -- has been touring for a decade along with Fales' other productions that now make up a personal trilogy. The latest stop will find Confessions hitting the Edinburgh, Scotland's legendary Fringe Festival in August, directed by Tony Award-winner Jack Hofsiss. Before heading to the U.K., Fales will offer Salt Lake City a one-night-only performance of Confessions this Saturday, July 16, at The Complex.

Meanwhile, University of Utah alum Jeffrey Gold will be hitting New York City July 28 - Aug. 6, where his play Horst and Graben at the Chateau Godot will play in the Riant Theatre's Strawberry One-Acts Festival. The twice-yearly competition features 38 short plays in this summer's installment, which will be judged by audiences and theater professionals in a series of elimination rounds leading up to the finals Aug. 5 & 6. Gold's own fascinating biography -- he was a mathematics and physics student before switching track to composing film scores, producing films and being part of Salt Lake Acting Company's Playwrights Group -- suggests plenty of creative inspiration to draw from.