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Here’s some good news: two professional theatres in the Utah Region are seeking new plays by young writers to honor David Fetzer.

David Ross Fetzer was an actor in Salt Lake, a young man with a spray of wild hair who always looked intriguing and packed a big wallop as an actor. He performed extensively in theatre productions locally as well as in film in Los Angeles. He could be quirky or ordinary, confused or vulnerable, calm or agitated. His gifts were strong and numerous. He died suddenly in December 2012, three days after his thirtieth birthday, a total surprise and a tragic loss. At the time, David was in the process of starting a new theatre in this town. New Works Theatre Machine was dedicated to attracting eighteen to 35-year olds to the theatre and by the time David died, had produced two plays, both of them edgy, surprising, frightening, and disarming.

Within a year of his death, his family and friends, led by his mother, Betsy Ross, created The David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists, dedicated to encouraging the work of young filmmakers and playwrights under the age of 35. The result is that two professional theatres in Salt Lake City are teaming up with the foundation to further the theatre goals valued by David Fetzer.

Salt Lake Acting Company advertises nationally for plays by young writers under the age of 35 and gives the winner a week of rehearsals with a professional company, culminating in a staged reading at the theatre. The first winner of the Davey was Katherine Vondy’s The Fermi Paradox, which was read in August 2015. The second annual competition is underway, deadline February 2016, with a weeklong workshop and reading planned for next summer.

Plan-B Theatre, in keeping with its mission to produce new plays by local writers, advertises locally for playwrights under 35 “with a Utah connection.” The winning play is given a full production as a part of the theatre’s four-play season. The first winner of the Davey was produced in the winter of 2014, Carleton Bluford’s Mama. That play eventually won City Weekly’s Award for Best Original Play and Best Theatre Production. The second winner of the Davey at Plan-B just completed production, Rob Tennant’s Booksmart. The next two winners have been announced, Morag Shepherd’s Not One Drop, to be produced next season, and Austin Archer’s Jump, to be produced the season following.

When interviewed for this article, Shannon Musgrave, Associate Artistic Director at Salt Lake Acting Company, in charge of new work, said they are looking for plays that match Fetzer’s spirit. Then she quoted Fetzer’s own criteria, “Plays that incorporate new and unconventional ways of telling stories and that create for an audience an unexpected and engaging experience.”

Jerry Rapier, Artistic Director of Plan-B Theatre, said they seek plays that fit David’s aesthetic and their own mission “to produce unique and socially conscious theatre with a focus on new plays by Utah playwrights.”

Guild members are encouraged to check out the David Ross Fetzer Foundation and its involvement with both Salt Lake Acting Company and Plan-B Theatre. Playwrights under the age of 35 are in demand!

jjensen@dramatistsguild.com