Wendy MacLeod

NEXT UP, IN SALT LAKE CITY:

Go see FIND AND SIGN, a new play written by Wendy MacLeod. The show opens January 13, 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah at Pioneer Theatre Company. Runs until January 28, 2012. Directed by Charles Morey, FIND AND SIGN includes a stunning Equity cast of six: Keith Hamilton Cobb (Andre), Karl Miller (Iago), Gardner Reed (Mona), Daniel Morgan Shelley (Cal), Terrell Donnell Sledge (Mac) and Molly Ward (Julia). Tickets are available via PioneerTheatre.org.

Salt Lake Tribune Review of FIND AND SIGN: "Bottom line: Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of “Find and Sign”manages to be both entertaining and thought provoking as it explores the complexities of contemporary urban relationships."

City Weekly Review of FIND AND SIGN: "Plenty of writers have done plenty of things to Shakespeare over the years, twisting and molding the Bard's timeless premises to fit a variety of contemporary ideas. But I never would have expected a wonderfully funny and insightful romantic comedy to emerge from the framework of Othello.

Wendy MacLeod's world-premiere Find & Sign opens with a party meet-cute between Iago (Karl Miller) and Julia (Molly Ward, pictured right). He works for a New York hip-hop music label, despite the possible professional inconvenience that he's white; she's a high school English teacher in the Bronx. Their worlds don't seem to have much overlap, except that Julia's student, Mac (Terrell Donnell Sledge, pictured left), shows potential as a rap-soul artist--and while Iago thinks getting Mac's name on a contract might cement his shot at a promotion, Julia is just as determined to see her intelligent student go on to college.

MacLeod weaves keen observations about racial perceptions--does race matter more than class; what assumptions do we make about “the other”--into her narrative, but it would be a mistake to think about it primarily as an “issue” play. Right from the first scene of Julia and Iago's awkward flirtations, the dialogue crackles with sharp punch lines delivered by a cast that's simply terrific from top to bottom. And while certain signifiers from Othello remain--including a jealous lover and his silken gift to his lady--MacLeod is far less interested in winking at devotees of Shakespeare than she is in offering something that's infectiously entertaining in its own right." --Scott Renshaw

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