First-person storytelling evening in which Betty Sawyer and Holly Robison step into the shoes of Aretha Franklin and Julia Ward Howe, part of the America250 series.
Betty Sawyer and Holly Robison take the stage at the Salt Lake Art Museum on Thursday, November 12, for a first-person storytelling evening. Sawyer steps into the shoes of Aretha Franklin, and Robison takes on Julia Ward Howe. The two performers speak as these historical figures, each exploring how she used her gift to inspire hope, courage, and lasting change.
It's an odd pairing on paper—the Queen of Soul and the 19th-century poet and suffragist who wrote the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic—but that's the point. The evening is built around first-person storytelling, so you'll hear them speak as the women themselves rather than as narrators talking about them. The focus is on what they had in common: two women from very different eras who both used their voices to move people and push for something better.
The show is part of a wider series called Storytelling Pairings by Story Crossroads, presented in collaboration with the Utah Storytelling Guild and the Nubian Storytellers of Utah Leadership. It's also one of the projects of America250, and Story Crossroads is one of only 50 organizations nationwide to receive an America250 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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The venue adds its own layer of history to the night. The Salt Lake Art Museum opened in 2026 in the city's historic B'Nai Israel Temple, built in 1890. It's the first new fine art museum in the state's capital since 1983, and its goal is to bridge the gap between Utah's thriving artistic community and its limited number of art museums. The Storytelling Pairings series continues on the second and third Thursdays from October through December 2026, and this particular pairing runs from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.
