Elaine Jarvik

Elaine Jarvik

Productions include "Two Stories" and "(a man enters)" at Salt Lake Acting Company; "Based on a True Story" and "River. Swamp.Cave.Mountain" at Plan-B Theatre. "Dead Right," a 10-minute play, was produced at the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays (and is now anthologized in "The Bedford Introduction to Literature.") Other productions include...
Productions include "Two Stories" and "(a man enters)" at Salt Lake Acting Company; "Based on a True Story" and "River. Swamp.Cave.Mountain" at Plan-B Theatre. "Dead Right," a 10-minute play, was produced at the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays (and is now anthologized in "The Bedford Introduction to Literature.") Other productions include "Marry Christmas" for Plan-B Theatre and "The Coming Ice Age" at Pygmalion Theatre.

Plays

  • Sunny In The Dark
    15-year-old Sunny Hadley wonders about God, the universe and her own creation story. A play about mysteries, yearnings and lies.
  • Four Women Talking About the Man Under the Sheet
    On the morning of February 21, 1895, Susan B. Anthony knocked on the door of Mrs. Frederick Douglass, whose famous husband had unexpectedly died the night before. Anthony was there to offer her condolences — but also to defend herself. "Four Women" explores the intersection of feminism and race, moving back and forth between then and now, arguing that there "are all kinds of sheets" we need to look under in America.
  • An Evening With Two Awful Men
    Let’s say you’ve lived what you think is an exemplary life, and yet history calls you “the worst.” That’s the jumping off point for “An Evening With Two Awful Men,” in which the two men in question return to defend their actions, inactions and sexuality before a live audience. A play about legacy, race and public shame.
  • River.Swamp.Cave.Mountain.
    Eight-year-old Izzy and Five-year-old JJ try to understand their grandmother's death, and in the process take young audiences on a wild journey. Best suited for children 4 through 9.
  • (a man enters)
    Rosie hasn’t seen her father since she was 12. Now she’s 30 and hoping he’ll show up at grandma’s 90th birthday party. As they wait, the family that was left behind — Rosie, her brother Milo, and their mother — each fantasize about seeing him again, trying to unravel the mystery of why he left.
  • The Coming Ice Age
    Francie wants to move out of the “starter home” she and Roger have lived in for 40 years, and is willing to sell to a development company that is changing the neighborhood. Roger refuses — and when Francie dies unexpectedly he seeks ineffectual revenge. A comedy/drama about aging, displacement and moving on.
  • Based on a True Story
    One afternoon, on her lunch hour, Megan Nickels impulsively rents a vehicle in Salt Lake, doesn’t read the manual, and ends up crashing on the P-F Highway — into the tow truck driven by her husband. An argument ensues, Megan impulsively flags down a taxi and flees — and ends up a long, long way from home.

    Now she’s alone and broke. She eventually ends up at the Time Refugee Shelter, where she...
    One afternoon, on her lunch hour, Megan Nickels impulsively rents a vehicle in Salt Lake, doesn’t read the manual, and ends up crashing on the P-F Highway — into the tow truck driven by her husband. An argument ensues, Megan impulsively flags down a taxi and flees — and ends up a long, long way from home.

    Now she’s alone and broke. She eventually ends up at the Time Refugee Shelter, where she must face the fact that her husband’s life has gone on without her. At the shelter she is befriended by Chuck, whose story turns out to be even more complicated and troubling than her own. “Based on a True Story” is a tale about comfort and doubt, and the power and perils of narrative.
  • Two Stories
    Jodi Wolcott’s newspaper is threatening to lay off even more reporters, and the designer donut shop her husband opened after losing his job is quickly using up all their savings. When a Pakistani family with a secret moves in next-door, Jodi hopes their story can save her job and her house. But it also turns out that the new neighbors plan to remodel their house into a giant French chateau, cutting of the...
    Jodi Wolcott’s newspaper is threatening to lay off even more reporters, and the designer donut shop her husband opened after losing his job is quickly using up all their savings. When a Pakistani family with a secret moves in next-door, Jodi hopes their story can save her job and her house. But it also turns out that the new neighbors plan to remodel their house into a giant French chateau, cutting of the Wolcotts’ light and their view. As feelings escalate, “Two Stories” explores the place where privacy, McMansions and page-view journalism intersect.



    “TWO STORIES” SYNPOSIS


    Jodi Wolcott’s newspaper is threatening to lay off even more reporters, and the designer donut shop her husband opened after losing his job is quickly using up all their savings. When a Pakistani family with a secret moves in next-door, Jodi hopes their story can save her job and her house. But it also turns out that the new neighbors plan to remodel their house into a giant French chateau, cutting of the Wolcotts’ light and their view. As feelings escalate, “Two Stories” explores the place where privacy, McMansions and page-view journalism intersect.