A powerful symbolic image in Kim Snyder’s The Librarians documentary, which has received its premiere at Sundance this year, is a librarian who, at the start of the film, stays in the shadows of anonymity but as the stories about the alarming accelerated campaign to ban books from libraries around the country pile up, at … Read more
When the McMillan Library, the oldest in Nairobi and the second oldest in Kenya, was opened in 1931, it was never intended to be used by Africans. Not until Kenya established its independence in the 1960s did that change. Named for the American-born millionaire Sir William Northrup McMillan, who came to Kenya in the early … Read more
Among its fabulous strengths, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, directed by Elegance Bratton and produced by Chester Algernal Gordon, presents a compelling portrait of the wistful utopian history tracking the transition in Chicago from a disco culture to the thriving house music scene that queer musicians, DJs, and producers of color propelled into … Read more
If audiences are worried that modern dance might be too abstract or opaque to understand their meaning, productions such as Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge, which has become a splendid New Year’s tradition over the last decade, can put novices in dance appreciation at ease. For example, Steve & Jim, Jim. & Steve: Another Modern Dance … Read more
If World War II had not intervened, Frederick Knott might not have written a play like Dial M for Murder. Before the war, Knott, a talented tennis player at Cambridge, had set his sights on Wimbledon. However, after serving in Britain’s Royal Artillery during the war, he saw writing mainly for the purpose of making … Read more
In the last 15 months, Material Gallery has presented several excellent exhibitions from artists — Lu Wei, Andrew Alba, Fazilat Soukhakian and Russel Albert Daniels — who traverse two cultures in their respective backgrounds and translate their memories into gestalt narratives steeped in history. More importantly, they also progress in responding to identity’s fluid and … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This review and interview feature of Porcelain War, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, was first published last year at The Utah Review. An outstanding and innovative take on war documentary filmmaking, Porcelain War, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film … Read more
But I grew up in a landscape large enough to hold what I felt when the world of people pushed me away. There, where badgers roamed, where herons speared small fish in shallow pools, I found my place. I took my sketch pad and tackle box to the banks of that small creek and washed … Read more
For many in Salt Lake City, the greatest source of pride has been Willam Christensen’s efforts to make the first American version of The Nutcracker, which he transported from its San Francisco premiere in 1944 to the University of Utah in the 1950s and eventually to its permanent spot in the Ballet West repertoire. One … Read more
Keeping with the spirit of the Salt Lake Acting Company’s (SLAC) commendable tradition of featuring a theatrical production annually for young audiences, The Utah Review thought it most appropriate to invite two students from the Salt Lake Arts Academy to wear the reviewer’s cap, by attending the opening night performance of the regional premiere of … Read more