Utah's Premier Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Utah

Utah's Premier Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Utah

December 6—21, 2024
Meldrum Theatre at the Einar Nielsen Field House
Play

By Stephen Temperley
Directed by Wes Grantom, Tony Award®-Winning Co-Producer of Stereophonic

Runtime: 2 hours (including one 15-minute intermission)

A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins

Stranger-than-fiction, Souvenir is the true account of Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy socialite with an insatiable passion for opera, despite possessing a hilariously tone-deaf voice. Set against the backdrop of New York City in the early 20th century, this heartwarming and humorous play follows Jenkins’ ambitious pursuit of her dreams, supported by her loyal pianist, Cosmé McMoon. Souvenir is a must-see theatrical gem that will leave you laughing, crying, and cheering for Jenkins’ indomitable spirit. This holiday season, experience the magic of this extraordinary true story that proves that sometimes, the most beautiful music comes from the heart.

“Delightful, genuinely funny” — The Berkshire Edge

“Seamlessly blends moments of uproarious laughter with genuine moments of empathy and introspection” — Encore Michigan

$44-57 ($5 more per ticket if purchased at the door)

“Souvenir” is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service imprint (www.dramatists.com)

Important Dates

Monday–Thursday 7:00 PM
Friday & Saturday 7:30 PM
Saturday 2:00 PM

  • ASL-Interpreted Performance: Monday, December 9 @ 7:00 PM
  • Curtain Call for All (“Pay What You Can”) Performance*: Monday, December 9 at 7:00 PM

    *must book by calling 801-581-6961 or visiting the PTC Box Office in person

Sponsors

Marriner S. Eccles Foundation

Overview

Cast

LINDA MUGLESTON
BOB WALTON
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Creative Team

STEPHEN TEMPERLEY (Playwright) Born in London, Stephen Temperley first came to the U.S. as a teenager. After training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he went on to act in several plays for New York’s Public Theatre. Returning to the U.K. he performed in London’s West End, in repertory theaters, and on television. Since moving back to the U.S. in the late ‘70s, he has worked extensively in leading resident theaters (including the Pioneer), in national tours, off-Broadway in the rock musical Up Against It at the Public, and in the original company of Crazy for You on Broadway. The first of his plays to be produced was Beside the Seaside, off-Broadway. Other plays include Money/Mercy, produced at the Chelsea Theatre center and as part of the first HBO New Writers Workshop in Los Angeles with Paul Reubens. Dance With Me, at the 18th Street Theatre, The Pilgrim Papers at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Workshops include the musical, That Kind of Woman, for Dodger Theatricals, and Kind Masters at the Mint, His most recent plays are Songbook, which is now also a novel, a new chamber adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and Nine Day Wonder, a solo comedy that he recently performed himself. Souvenir, staged by the Tony award-winning director Vivian Matalon, was first produced off-Broadway at the York Theatre, then on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. It has since become one of the most produced plays in the US and has been seen in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen (where it joined the repertoire of the Danish Royal Opera), and continues to be produced in the US and around the world. A Paris revival is scheduled for 2025. His new work can be followed at stephentemperley.substack.com

WES GRANTOM (Director) is thrilled to be back at PTC after directing The Messenger, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Lion in Winter and A Comedy of Tenors. He has also worked with Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, Pittsburgh CLO, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Asolo Rep, Berkshire Theatre Group, Theatreworks USA, Premiere Stages, the Atlantic, New Harmony Project, among others. He is a recipient of multiple Drama League Fellowships, a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and teaches at the University of Evansville, where he is also an alum. Last spring, Wes won a Tony Award for co-producing Stereophonic.

JO WINIARSKI (Scenic Design) Jo’s previous designs at PTC were Jersey Boys, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Native Gardens; The Prom; What the Constitution Means to Me; A Distinct Society; Ass; The Lifespan of a Fact; and Ain’t Misbehavin’. Jo’s Off-Broadway credits include The Fears, HYPROV, Accidentally Brave, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Regional design credits include Guthrie Theater; Arizona Theatre Company; Utah Shakespeare Festival (over 40 shows); The Old Globe; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Dallas Theater Center; and Geva Theatre Center. Additional credits include Wishes for Disney Cruise Line. Jo was the art director on Late Night with Seth Meyers (episodes 1-844) and received an Emmy nomination for art direction for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All

K.L. ALBERTS (Costume Design) This marks season 37 for Kevin! Some favorite PTC designs include The Play That Goes Wrong, The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time, Les Miserables (twice), A Christmas Story -The Musical, Little Shop of Horrors as well as the world premieres of Laughing Stock, Dumas’ Camille and It Happened One Christmas. For the Utah Shakespeare Festival, he designed last summer’s The Taming of the Shrew, Ah! Wilderness, Big River, Les Miserables (yet again) and Guys and Dolls, among others. While living in New York. he worked on, off and very far from Broadway, and also for the Ralph Lauren Studios.

YANG YU (Lighting Design) is a New York based lighting designer for performing arts. She is interested in using light, space, and timing to create an emotionally charged  environment, as well as visualizing music. Recent credits include Good Luck in Space (The Riverside Theater, NYC), The Lydian Gale Parr (Target Margin Theater, Brooklyn), Unresolved Rage Game (Soho Rep Writer Director Lab, NYC); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Crossroads Theatre Company, NJ). Lewberger and the Wizard of Friendship (Theater Row, NYC). Publication: Collected Light Volume Three: Women in Entertainment Lighting. MFA from Brooklyn College. Yangyudesign.com

BRYCE ROBINETTE (Sound Design) is excited to be in his third season here at Pioneer Theatre Company. He has toured across the country running theatrical and concert productions such as: the Australian Off-Broadway Company, The Temptations, Pat Benatar, Superband, and many more.

TAMI LEE THOMPSON (Hair & Makeup Design) Previous credits include: Prayer for the French Republic, Jersey Boys, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Bonnie & Clyde, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (Pioneer Theatre Company); Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Goose and A Christmas Story (Barter Theater); Jelly’s Last Jam, The Underpants, A Christmas Carol, Bluish, Intimate Apparel, Moonlight and Magnolias, Tick, Tick…. Boom!, and The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Alliance Theater); A Flea in Her Ear, Da, Born Yesterday, Twelfth Night, Inherit The Wind, and The Philadelphia Story (Asolo Theater); Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, and King Lear (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo (University of Notre Dame); and 42nd Street (Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts).

ALEX MARSHALL (Music Supervisor) (he/him), M.M. Instrumental Conducting, B.M. Piano Performance, B.S. Biomedical Engineering, has been the Music Director for the University of Utah Department of Theatre since 2007. Recent international performance credits include New York (Carnegie Hall), France (Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Chateau Brane Cantenac), London (U.N. Ballroom, The Four Seasons), and Taiwan (National Theater and Concert Hall). Recording credits include David Park Plays Fritz Kreisler and Passion of the Soul (performer/arranger) with Centaur Records. Recent music direction credits include The Magician’s Elephant (U.S. premiere), Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, May We All: A Country Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, and Elf: The Musical. Upcoming productions include The Prince of Egypt (Hale Centre Theatre), Xanadu (The University of Utah) and Bat Boy: The Musical (Salt Lake Acting Company).  Alex also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Hale Centre Theatre.

JAMES O. HANSEN* (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be in his second season here at Pioneer Theatre Company! Other credits include: Joseph…Dreamcoat (starring David Archuleta), Mary Poppins, and Wonderland at Tuacahn Amphitheatre. Clue (starring Sally Struthers), The Wedding Singer, A Christmas Carol, and Flashdance (starring Julia Macchio) at The Gateway Playhouse. James earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts Management from Dean College. Special thanks to his Mom, Family, and Ostie for their love and support! DHH.

EMILY ROTH* (Stage Manager) is very excited to be joining Pioneer Theatre Company this season! Recent credits include: The Woman in Black US Tour (Pemberley Productions), Miss Saigon (White Plains Performing Arts Center), Dial M for Murder and Sea Monsters of the Deep (White Heron Theatre Company), Lesley Nicol’s How The Hell Did I Get Here? (Pemberley Productions), and Ajijaak on Turtle Island (IBEX Puppetry). She is the co-author of Stage Management Basics: A Primer for Performing Arts Stage Managers (Focal Press © 2017, 2nd ed © 2022).

BOB CLINE (Casting) is the founder of Bob Cline Casting in New York. He has cast film, TV, commercials, over 75 national tours, and numerous regional theaters across the country and has been associated with the casting for PTC for many years. Cline is currently a proud faculty member in Pace University’s theatre program, in charge of the senior BFA musical theatre majors. He is the Associate Director of Broadway Artists Alliance, enjoys working with The Open Jar Institute, and often teaches through The Growing Studio and The Actor’s Loft.

PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY (PTC) Now celebrating its 63rd season, the award-winning PTC is Utah’s premiere professional theatre company and leading arts organization of the West. Led by Artistic Director Karen Azenberg and Managing Director Adrian Budhu, PTC presents world-class productions that celebrate diversity in culture and society and serve as the connecting bridge between art and scholarship as an affiliate of the University of Utah. 

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA) Founded in 1933, AEA represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers nationwide. Equity seeks to foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actor’s Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #equityworks

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Media

Publicity

Study Guide

Content Advisory

Please Note:  

The age-based guidance below is intended as a recommendation only. We do encourage you to use your judgment based on your own research of the show, your own sensibilities, and a child’s age and maturity level.

Also, in accordance with theatrical licensing agreements, Pioneer Theatre Company presents each production as originally written and intended by its author(s). If you are concerned with any content beyond what is provided below, a copy of each production script is available for in-person perusal during PTC’s regular Box Office hours.

Souvenir: For Which Audiences?

Suitable for all ages, but recommended for ages 8 and up.

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