Part of the Wake the Great Salt Lake public art project, EB & FLO introduces K-3 students to Great Salt Lake with science, humor, and music.
(PRUnderground) September 9th, 2025
Plan-B Theatre is proud to present EB & FLO, a world premiere by celebrated Utah playwright Elaine Jarvik, as part of The Great Salt Lake Plays within the Wake the Great Salt Lake public art project.
Flo, a fantastic flamingo who craves adventure, meets Eb, a sensible seagull worried about a shrinking lake. They concoct a unique way to spread the word about the importance of Great Salt Lake and how small actions can have big effects.
Directed by Jerry Rapier with original music by Penny Caywood, EB & FLO blends humor and science into a theatrical journey designed to spark hopeful conversations about the future of Great Salt Lake. Rapier notes, “Elaine has a gift for writing about grief: it’s as though empathy is embedded in her keyboard. Although she usually writes about navigating the impact of loss, she inverts that approach with EB & FLO, extending a hopeful, joy-filled invitation to K-3 students and their adults (and their adults!) to stem the loss of Great Salt Lake.”
Jarvik, who once dismissed the lake as “a barren vastness,” has spent decades deepening her connection to it. “I took a trip to the bird refuge with writer Terry Tempest Williams; I hiked on Antelope Island; I visited the Spiral Jetty,” she reflects. “And then came the devastating news that made me really see the lake for what it is: a sustainer of life for humans and other creatures, a vital part of our local and global ecosystem. Writing EB & FLO has, again, helped me channel my worries, and has added another level of respect for a lake I once disparaged.”
EB & FLO is Plan-B’s thirteenth annual Free Elementary School Tour (September 3, 2025-May 29, 2026), serving K-3 students at 100 schools statewide, including schools in every Salt Lake City council district.
Plan-B Theatre also offers free public performances of EB & FLO (October 4, 11, and 18, 2025, at 1 p.m. in the Studio Theatre at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center) during the run of JUST ADD WATER, and then three more in February 2026. Together, the two works — EB & FLO by Elaine Jarvik and JUST ADD WATER by Matthew Ivan Bennett & Elaine Jarvik (October 2-19, 2025) — are The Great Salt Lake Plays, which envision a hopeful future for Great Salt Lake and extend an invitation to every Utahn to learn more and participate in its future.
Biologist Jaimi Buter, who consulted Plan-B Theatre on Great Salt Lake issues during the development of “The Great Salt Lake Plays,” said, “The folks at Plan-B Theatre have immersed themselves in Great Salt Lake for the past two years. I appreciate how much effort they’ve put into telling truths about the lake and figuring out how to connect Utahns of all ages to this important place. They’re creating more lake lovers!”
“Wake the Great Salt Lake is about using art to connect people to place. EB & FLO does this beautifully: it’s accessible, funny, and heartfelt — and it makes young people part of the solution,” says Andrew Shaw, Wake the Great Salt Lake Lead at the Salt Lake City Arts Council. “If you’re performing EB & FLO for 70 teachers, that’s 70 audience members who are now engaged in the story of the lake. Multiply that by the classrooms and students they reach, and you begin to see the ripple effect this kind of work can have.”
Media Contacts:
Plan-B Theatre
Jerry Rapier, Artistic Director
PH: (801) 297-4200
Email: jerry@planbtheatre.org
Media Coordinator
Lydia Martinez
Elle Marketing and Events
PH: (801) 900-6618
Email: lydia@ellemarketingandevents.com
Salt Lake City Arts Council
Andrew Shaw, Special Projects Coordinator
Wake the Great Salt Lake Lead
PH: (801) 502-3128
Email: Andrew.Shaw3@slc.gov
About Plan-B Theatre
Plan-B Theatre is in its fourth decade of developing and producing unique and socially conscious theatre created by Utah playwrights. As the only arts organization in Utah history to have received both Salt Lake City’s Mayor’s Artist Award for Service to the Arts by An Organization and Utah’s Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Award, the company strives to create a community where patrons and artists of all means, backgrounds, and abilities feel equally at home. Learn more at www.planbtheatre.org.
About Wake the Great Salt Lake
Wake the Great Salt Lake is a temporary public art project that aims to educate and inspire residents and visitors to understand and prevent the further decline of the Great Salt Lake. The project is a partnership of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge with additional support from Kem and Carolyn Gardner, the Marcia and John Price Family Foundation, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Zions Bank, Shaelene Gee, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation, Lawrence T. Janet T. Dee Foundation, Delta Air Lines, GFiber, and other funders. For more information, please visit wakegsl.org.
About Salt Lake City Arts Council
The Salt Lake City Arts Council promotes, presents, and supports artists, arts organizations, and arts activities in order to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation. For more information, please visit saltlakearts.org.
About the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office
Mayor Erin Mendenhall is the mayor of Salt Lake City, the capital and most populous city in Utah, the fastest-growing state in the country. As the hub of the economy, the arts, and sports for the region, Salt Lake City is committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable community. With a focus on quality of life, Salt Lake City continues to be a destination for both residents and visitors alike, having hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and welcoming the world again for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. An elected mayor, who serves as the chief executive, and seven part-time City Council members govern the City. For more information, visit slc.gov.
About Elle Marketing and Events
Elle Marketing and Events is a full-service boutique marketing, branding, and event company. Our team of experts tells the story behind your business through powerful copywriting, beautiful images, strong branding, creative design, social media, videography, photography, and strategic events
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Original Press Release.