Salt Lake Public Lands and Playwright RJ Walker are bringing live theater to Allen Park. Home of Truth: A Ghost Town Play is a walk-through theatrical experience. Audience members will get a glimpse into the past to experience what happened at The Home of Truth, a real ghost town in central Utah. This show is only made possible by the unique setting of Allen Park, located in Sugar House across from Westminster College.
Tickets and Showtimes
The play takes place outdoors in Allen Park
1328 Allen Park Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84105
4:00pm, April 29th, 30th, and May 1st Tickets available here.
Allen Park: A Unique Stage
Allen Park is a ghost town in the middle of Sugar House that has been neglected for several years. Salt Lake Public Lands and the Friends of Allen Park are looking to change that, transforming it into a beautiful public space. To this end, they’re bringing in the arts to celebrate this public space as a playground for the imagination. Live theater is just one of the many fantastic uses of this historic neighborhood.
Audiences will walk through this unique setting and experience the drama taking place in the Home of Truth collective. Scenes in each act occur simultaneously and it is up to you to decide how you’d like to explore the story. You may choose to see the story of the charismatic cult leader, the true believer, or the apostate who is trying to bring it all crashing down. Aside from theatrical scenes, the audience can find secrets in Allen Park such as historical documents from the real Home of Truth in San Juan County Utah, and discover the true events which transpired there.
There will be Dance Performances by Interdisciplinary Arts Collective, Improvisational comedy, and other multimodal arts all contributing to the story. Audience members may want to come to multiple showtimes and experience the story in new ways each time.
For more information about Allen park, you can visit it’s entry on the SLC Public Lands website.
Story Summary
In 1930’s America, Spiritualist leader Marie Ogden receives a ghostly message through her typewriter about an apocalyptic calamity. She convinces her followers to follow her to the Utah Desert to form the Home of Truth. A place where they will be protected. As Marie’s promises pile up, she struggles to keep her following from coming undone.
Based on true events, Home of Truth is a play about the struggle between hope and truth and how both can be twisted and weaponized.
Based on True Events
In the 1930’s, a spiritualist named Marie Ogden led a group of her followers into San Juan County, Utah, where they established The Home of Truth. A spiritualist collective dedicated to spiritual truths and surviving the impending apocalypse. Marie would perform medium readings using her typewriter. The technique was called Automatic Writing and she would communicate with spirits and angels using this method. Then, one of the members of the collective died, and Marie insisted that this person was astrally projecting. For two years The Home of Truth followers fed and bathed this corpse as they waited for her to return to her body. This would be the catalyst for the collapse of Marie’s following. To this day, The Home of Truth still stands in Canyonlands national park. A ghost town visible by the most observant passers by.
The Cast & Crew:
From Playwright RJ Walker Directed by Patrick Smith Assistant Director: Will Greer
Marie Ogden played by Heather Greer
Edith Peshack played by Comet Higley
William Monroe played by Bradley Duhon
Sheriff played by Gabe Heffernan
Sam played by Holland Hanks
Danielle played by Nan Weber
Agent Sloan played by Michael Feweks
Azriel played by Tami Noble
Ensemble: Jennifer Haycock
Dance performances from the Interdisciplinary Arts Collective
