{"id":74236,"date":"2024-02-17T19:02:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T02:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=74236"},"modified":"2024-02-20T19:26:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T02:26:11","slug":"debora-threedys-balthazar-is-a-lively-and-fun-piece-of-shakespearean-fan-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/debora-threedys-balthazar-is-a-lively-and-fun-piece-of-shakespearean-fan-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Debora Threedy\u2019s \u201cBalthazar” is a Lively and Fun Piece of Shakespearean Fan Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rich set and joyous performances from Lily Hye Soo Dixon and Jason Bowcutt make for a stellar premier of Deboar Threedy’s new play. Image credit: Sharah Meservy<\/p><\/div>\n

Plan-B never misses and they have another absorbing evening of socially conscious theater on hand with Debora Threedy\u2019s \u201cBalthazar,\u201d a world premiere running through March 3 at the Rose Wagner Studio Theatre.<\/h4>\n

Threedy has degrees in law and theatre arts and retired fairly recently from teaching law at the University of Utah to spend more time writing plays. Her two-character take on Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d is a joy, due to rich dialogue as well as sympathetic (and terrific) performances by Jason Bowcutt and Lily Hye Soo Dixon.<\/h4>\n

The two were in top form Friday night, and deservedly played to a full house, with Bowcutt very capably performing the role of Bellario, a charming gay lawyer in 16th<\/sup>-century Venice, and Dixon acting as his bubbly cousin, Portia, a noblewoman who passionately desires to become an attorney in an era when women just couldn\u2019t. The two riffed off of one another delightfully.<\/h4>\n
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Lily Hye Soo Dixon plays Portia, a Renaissance woman who just wants to lawyer up. Image credit: Sharah Meservy<\/p><\/div>\n

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Guided by Debora Threedy\u2019s fine writing, Jason Bowcutt brings to life a character who only appears off stage in Shakespeare’s original. Image credit: Sharah Meservy<\/p><\/div>\n

Portia nonetheless goes to court dressed as “Balthazar” in Bellario\u2019s legal robes to defend Antonio, whom she loves, from having to surrender to Shylock, a money lender, a pound of his flesh in lieu of funds he borrowed to aid his friend Bassanio\u2014with whom he is in love. There is a lot of fun to be found in this confusion and it\u2019s all resolved in about 80 minutes with no intermission (and no late seating). Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 4 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Sensory Friendly Feb. 23.<\/h4>\n

The effective set (designed by Janice Chan, built by David Knoell), is dressed with a stellar back drop of paintings and a couple of candelabra-type wall sconces beneath red draperies framing a wooden desk atop a blue-and-white checked rug. Stacks of old books and a large globe complete the look. Lighting is by Marley Keith. Show art and costume designer: Aaron Asano Swenson. Director and Sound Designer: Cheryl Ann Cluff. Intimacy Director: Liz Whittaker. Props Designer: Arika Schockmel.<\/h4>\n

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Balthazar<\/em>, Plan-B Theatre<\/a>, Studio Theatre at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City, through Mar. 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plan-B never misses and they have another absorbing evening of socially conscious theater on hand with Debora Threedy\u2019s \u201cBalthazar,\u201d a world premiere running through March 3 at the Rose Wagner Studio Theatre. Threedy has degrees in law and theatre arts and retired fairly recently from teaching law at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":74239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/53520070868_443dd9728f_k.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 19:45:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74242,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236\/revisions\/74242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}