Sackerson, a new Salt Lake City theater company, is fully launching itself with a production that breaks down theatrical walls.
"The company is very interested in exploring ways of producing theater that doesn't happen inside of theater buildings," says Alex Ungerman, co-producer of Sackerson with Dan Whiting and Dave Mortensen.
"We think there's something inherently beautiful in the way theater brings living, breathing people together in the same space," Ungerman says. "We really want to differentiate what we do from film. When you go see a movie, there's this wall of the screen and the actors of the screen don't respond to you as an audience member."
And so the story of "Before the Beep," written by Utah playwright Morag Shepherd, will unfold in 30 acts or about 25 minutes over 30 days, beginning Tuesday. Tickets are $10, but listeners don't have to go anywhere to hear it. Instead, you dial in on your phone daily.
"It's dial-a-scene, instead of dial-a-song," Ungerman says. The scenes are recorded before a beep, like a voicemail message, and listeners are invited to leave a response.
Ungerman describes the story as a mystery about four people whose lives are revealed to be more and more tangled with each new scene. Derek (Christopher Clark) and his wife, Leah (Susanna Florence Risser), are facing a big change, and Jack (Nicholas Grossaint) and Maggie (Brighton Hertford) are trying to keep things from unraveling.
This isn't "play on demand," as the delivery system was designed to prevent binge listening. Instead, each listener will call in and hear the same scene on the same day that others are hearing it. "We like the idea that it's an unusual audience configuration," Ungerman says. "Even though you may be listening on your own, there's a couple dozen other people who are experiencing the story on the same day and mulling it over."
Whiting directed the theatrical piece, and recording engineer Jason Sullivan edited the story, which is performed by six voice actors. The new company called in favors to produce the show for about $200. "This is low-budget indie theater at its finest," Ungerman says.
Unlike most local nonprofit arts groups, Sackerson aims to grow into a for-profit theater company and is planning to set up profit-sharing plans to pay its artists.
Ungerman, who teaches at East Hollywood High School, grew up in Provo and graduated from Utah Valley University after studying directing. He co-founded the Grassroots Shakespeare Company with Whiting, a technical director at UVU.
Mortensen, the founding editor of the Utah Theatre Bloggers association, graduated from Brigham Young University with a theater studies degree. He has produced some two dozen productions, "always breaking even (and generally with a profit)," he states in his bio.
Sackerson introduced itself with a run of Shepherd's play "Poppy's in the Sand" earlier this month at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival.
Next up, the company will produce "Bride of Frankenstein," a theater piece performed by actors to clips of the 1935 movie. The show is directed by Christopher Clark, chairman of the UVU theater department and executive producer of Sundance Summer Theatre, along with choreographer Jenny Barlow, a former Ballet West and Radio City Rockette dancer. It will run Sept. 24 through Oct. 31 in a Salt Lake warehouse.
The company ran a soft launch of "Before the Beep" during August. "Already we've learned a ton about how you put a story together in lots of little pieces and keep each piece compelling while paying attention to the big picture," Ungerman says.
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Beep this way
Register your phone number and buy a $10 ticket for a month's worth of storytelling via playwright Morag Shepherd's "Before the Beep." Sign in here: be.forethe.be/ep/tickets. More information about the theater company at sackerson.org.
| Courtesy Sackerson, a new Salt Lake City theater company, is launching itself with ÒBefore the Beep,Ó written by Utah playwright Morag Shepherd, which will unfold in 30 acts or about 25 minutes over 30 days, beginning Sept. 1. Tickets are $10, but listeners donÕt have to go anywhere to hear it. Instead, you dial in on your phone daily.
| Courtesy Sackerson, a new Salt Lake City theater company, is launching itself with ÒBefore the Beep,Ó written by Utah playwright Morag Shepherd, which will unfold in 30 acts or about 25 minutes over 30 days, beginning Sept. 1. Tickets are $10, but listeners donÕt have to go anywhere to hear it. Instead, you dial in on your phone daily.
