THE ESSENTIAL A&E PICKS FOR FEB 3 - 9 

• Jacob Ritts

Bob The Drag Queen
We're not sure how many drag queens are named Bob—Really? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?—but regardless, Bob The Drag Queen is digging in her (high) heels and finding fame. As the Season 8 winner ofRuPaul's Drag Race, Bob clinched her crown by besting the competition in the iconic "Snatch Game," portraying actress Uzo Aduba and the immortal Carol Channing. Well, hello dolly!

Little wonder that Bob's seductive style led to superstardom. The alter ego of non-binary comic/actor Caldwell Tidicue, Bob triumphedinHBO'sfirst unscripted hit series,We're Here, which was not only named Outstanding Reality Program at the GLAAD Awards, but also nominated for both anEmmyand aCritics Choice Real TV Award.Bob's also done well on her own, thanks to her comedy specialBob The Drag Queen: At Caroline's New Yorkand a popular podcast, Sibling Rivalry, which she cohosts with her best friend and another RuPaul All-Star Drag Race winner, Monet X Change.

Bob describes herself as "hilarious, beautiful, talented and ... humble," but her goal is simple—to amuse and entertain. "When the audience laughs, I feel good about myself," she replied when asked about her accomplishments. "I find success over and over again." Indeed, her astute observations and real-life stories affirm the fact that this queen really does rule.

Bob the Drag Queen performs at Wiseguys Gateway (194 S. 400 Street) Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. (sold out at press time) and 9:30 pm. Tickets cost $30. Visit wiseguyscomedy.com for more info. (Lee Zimmerman)

• Joshua Black

Salt Lake Acting Company: Egress
The fallout from profound trauma continues to be prevalent in creative works—understandable, given that we're living in an era that seems to deliver trauma on a societal level near constantly, let alone the experiences of individual lives. In the new psychological thriller Egress by Melissa Crespo and Sara Saltwick—originally presented to Salt Lake Acting Company audiences via their March 2021 virtual New Play Sounding Series Festival—a protagonist tries to escape from the place of her trauma, wondering what can shake it from her psyche.

That protagonist in Egress is a professor of architecture, recently relocated to a small college town. In a unique act of asking the audience to identify with that protagonist, she is identified only as You—and You are struggling. While Your classes ask students to write about windows and doors as ways of identifying the security of physical spaces, no space feels secure to You, not even the bed You sleep in. It feels like some other person is always a nearby threat. And You wonder if buying a gun is the thing that will finally allow you to feel safe.

Live performances of Egress run through Feb. 20 at Salt Lake Acting Company (168 W. 500 North), with tickets $30. In-person attendees are required to be fully vaccinated, including booster shot, and masks will be required throughout the performance. A recorded version of the production will be available for streaming Feb. 21-March 6, with tickets $20 per household for a 48-hour viewing window. Visit saltlakeactingcompany.org for tickets and additional information. (Scott Renshaw)

• Courtesy Photo

Ballet Hispánico
In 1970, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez founded Ballet Hispánico in New York City. At the time, she thought of it primarily as a place for Black and Brown Latinx youth to learn the dances of their own cultures, providing support and acknowledgement that their cultural history had artistic value. Providing a place for artists who couldn't always find a creative home elsewhere allowed the company to flourish, becoming a vital enough force that it could expand its reach beyond community performances to bringing its dancers and its work all over the country.

Now, more than 50 years since its inception, Ballet Hispánico brings its touring company to Utah, with two opportunities for local audiences to check a program re-imagining work from the entire history of the company. On Friday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m., Ballet Hispánico visits the Pardoe Theatre on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo; Saturday, Feb. 5 brings the dancers to the Val A. Browning Center at Weber State University in Ogden.

Tickets for the Provo performance are $16 - $35, available at arts.byu.edu. This event requires proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the performance time, and masks will be required of all attendees over the age of 3 during the performance. Tickets for the Ogden show range from $10 - $25 at onstageogden.org. Masks are required inside the performance venue, and the venue will follow CDC guidelines regarding seating capacity. Visit ballethispanico.org for additional information about the performances. (SR)

• Courtesy Photo

A Virtual Evening with Tara Westover in conversation with Natalie Portman
There are several things that are nothing less than remarkable about author Tara Westover. Her father opposed public education, and forbade her from attending public school. Forced to toil in her family's junkyard, she experienced a distinctly disadvantaged childhood, one beset by a harrowing array of challenges, tragedies, mental illness and abuse.

It's absolutely amazing, then, that after first entering an actual classroom at age 17, she went on to graduate magna cum laude from Brigham Young University, win a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, earn a Ph.D. in history from Trinity College, and become a 2019 A.M. Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard and a Senior Research Fellow the following spring. It's especially impressive that her first book, Educated: A Memoir, reaped such overwhelming accolades, including kudos from The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, O magazine, USA Today, the American Booksellers Association, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and even President Obama, who listed it among his favorite books of the year.

Ultimately though, it's easy to understand. Educated is the inspiring story of how survival begat success. A tale of determination, it describes how Westover overcame dysfunction and disparity and made higher education her main mission instead. Westover will be joined on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 6:00 p.m. by Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman for a one-night-only virtual event on Zoom, presented by The King's English bookstore to celebrate the release of Educated in paperback. Tickets cost $20 - $27 on Eventbrite.com and include a copy of the book. Visit kingsenglish.com for more info. (LZ)