Angelus Theatre Presents Lady Of Sherwood
Saturday marks final 2026 performance
By Paul Johnson
PICTURED: Aspen (Grace Clark) and the sheriff (Landon Christensen).
"Well, we start with writing the songs, and we give ourselves crazy-short deadlines to finish everything," playwright Steve Gashler told my second-oldest child, as he listened eagerly. My kids and I were standing in line to greet the cast in the lobby of the Angelus Theatre in Spanish Fork after a show. The smell of theater popcorn hung in the air as we waited for our turn, while up and down the line, family, friends, significant others, and strangers congratulated their cast members.
My son wanted to know how to write musicals like the Gashlers -- epic stories and catchy scores -- and was excited to meet a professional playwright in person. Steve, still in costume as the show's villainous knight, warmly listened to my son describe his artistic ambitions, and encouraged him to start writing scripts. My respect for Steve and his wife Theresa has grown since, as I've come to know them as local artists and entrepreneurs and continued taking my family to see their shows. As a husband-and-wife playwright duo, the Gashlers continue to create musicals that run annually or semi-annually. Among others, this includes a few locally famous ones like their Christmastime comedy "A Krampus Karol," their Halloween show "Take My Death Away," and "Valhalla: A Viking Rock Opera." Combining electric guitar music with impressive operatic vocals, Valhalla has quickly become a cult classic, and my personal favorite, with audience members frequently showing up dressed in garb. Valhalla made an appearance at the Scandinavian Festival in Ephraim last year and was performed by Salem Junior High as well for their annual musical. One of their musicals, "Lady of Sherwood," is currently running at the Angelus through the rest of this week, in its fourth showing since it was written.
For Steve and Theresa, lighthearted musicals are a serious family business. Attendees to their shows see that aspect at work as they are charmingly greeted from the concession stand by the Gashlers' two teenage daughters and one preteen son. (The kids don't get paid -- I asked -- but yet they still smile as they welcome you to their mom and dad's show.) As a couple, they write the shows and musical scores together, teach a childen's acting class, and help run the theater generally. When she is not in an acting role, visitors usually see Theresa with a headset on, running from the sound booth to backstage and back to ensure the technical side is running smoothly. Not surprisingly, Theresa studied drama in college. She spearheads the children's classes at the Angelus and tutors young vocalists and child actors in her home. After majoring in film at BYU and before they started their business together, Steve worked as a web developer, so naturally his contributions also include running the website, online ticket sales, and post-performance audience email surveys. With young children in 2019, the couple discussed how much fun it would be to bring their common interest in drama to life by going into business for themselves. They launched Great Hall Theatrics just before the pandemic. Word quickly spread during mid-to-late 2020 about their shows as a great source of family-friendly entertainment, as stir-crazy residents of southern Utah Valley emerged from quarantine and needed to find local fun.
Next, a word about the Angelus Theatre as a venue. Over the last few years, I've come to deeply appreciate the incubation-center role that this theater plays for local art. It is no exaggeration to call it the artistic equivalent of Payson-Santaquin's "Garage to Great" business-support community and innovation center. Unlike most community theater groups nearby, which generally stick to tried-and-true Broadway shows, the annual lineup at the Angelus is comprised nearly exclusively of new and original work by local artists. Besides almost a dozen Gashler plays to date, the last several years at the Angelus have witnessed a number of new shows by theater company Cobb & Co ("The Thief and the Lady," a musical version of "Treasure Island," and "Lancelot"). It also hosts first-time work by individual budding playwrights like Elizabeth Adams ("Sincerely, Antonio Marcus") who need a venue and cast for test-driving their first and second shows. The technical name for this test-driving is "experimental theater." Year two or three of any Angelus show will inevitably look at least a little different from its debut as the playwright and cast continue to experiment and take post-attendance feedback from the audience to refine the show. Besides supporting the arts and encouraging local actors and artists, the other main benefit of attending performances at the Angelus is the chance to see plays eventually bound for bigger venues like the Eccles or Ruth before tickets become Eccles- or Ruth-level cost.
Since Lady of Sherwood has not yet wrapped up its 2026 run, I will include a short teaser for the show, which runs with two separate casts on alternating nights. The story takes place a generation after the legendary Robin Hood saga. Robin and Marian's daughter Aspen (played by Jenna Snow and Grace Clark) and, ironically, the son of the sheriff of Nottingham (Michael Mehner and Landon Christensen) are both caught up in a swirl of intrigue as shadowy forces combine to dethrone the king and return England to oppression. After the Merry Men all died and their sons were conscripted to fight in the king's foreign wars, their daughters banded together in the Sherwood and took up arms. For a follow-on to a traditional legend, the show's plot is surprisingly deep, rather than coming across as fan-fiction as may have been expected. The "merry women" fall out and splinter over the means to rolling back tyranny. Their victorious faction, led by the daughter of Will Scarlett (Aubrey Pixton and Elizabeth Williams), finds that revolution is messy, and ruling after deposing a king even messier. Constitution nerds like myself will also get a huge kick out of the emergence of the Magna Carta as a central part of the plot -- the play could almost be renamed the "legend of the Magna Carta." Like all Gashler plays, the show is entertaining for both kids and adults, with songs reminiscent of Rogers and Hammerstein plays combined with a fascinating, surprising plot, and laced with powerful messaging. As a parent myself of multiple kids with ADHD, I particularly enjoyed the role that the Gashlers crafted for the heroine -- a little flighty but also brilliant, and mighty of character -- as Aspen stands up to both her enemies and her sisters in arms when necessary. Aspen leads others to take up "the mantle of the Robin Hood" first by fighting for freedom and then by reconciling with former enemies on all sides. Similar to Valhalla (and most other Gashler shows), the messaging in Lady of Sherwood is powerful specifically because it conveys true principles naturally through epic story and Broadway-worthy music rather than through a moralistic approach. I also appreciated the message to young people that real heroes are simply the ones who are willing to step up to do what needs to be done despite their awareness of their own shortcomings, and the accompanying message to parents to support and trust your kids in accomplishing great things themselves.
Lady of Sherwood runs through Saturday, April 4th. For tickets, see www.LadyOfSherwood.com. Besides attending and enjoying, those interested in other ways to support local, original art hosted at the Angelus can reach out to Steve Gashler directly using the phone number at the top-right of that webpage or his company's website www.GreatHall.live.
Angelus Theatre is located at 165 North Main Street in Spanish Fork.
