Penelope Marantz-Caywood

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Artistic Director Youth Theatre

Penelope Marantz-Caywood is known and respected throughout the Salt Lake Valley as an actor, teacher, choreographer, and as the Artistic Director of University of Utah Youth Theatre.

Youth Theatre is a successful year-round performing arts training program for youth ages 4 to 18. Over 650 students train in drama annually and over 6000 elementary school students are bussed to see one of their two productions each year. Youth Theatre is part of the Kennedy Center Partners in Education program along with Kingsbury Hall and the Salt Lake City School District. Through her Partners in Education collaboration (Salt Lake City School District and Kingsbury Hall) she has created a unique theatre-arts program at Bennion Elementary School (SLCSD) in which she demonstrates drama strategies in the classroom, presents scaffolded workshops to teachers, and assists in the implementation of drama as a teaching method. As this program has grown, Penelope has presented at numerous arts integration and teacher training workshops throughout Utah.

Because of her unique position at the University of Utah, Penelope also teaches two courses for pre-service teachers; Materials and Methods of Creative Drama and Integrating the Arts in the Classroom. As a director and choreographer, Penelope has been involved with over thirty productions along the Wasatch Front. In 2011, she wrote the music and lyrics for an original musical about the perils of the internet called Viral and celebrated its World Premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland.

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