Waiting for Godot
by Samuel Beckett
July 30–August 16, 2026
Directed by Mark Fossen
Waiting for Godot comes to Utah this summer. Good Company Theatre is proud to present Samuel Beckett’s tragicomic masterpiece in an intimate Ogden production directed by Mark Fossen, running July 30 through August 16, 2026. Two wandering souls wait by a lonely tree for the mysterious Godot, a stranger who may never arrive. Hilarious, heartbreaking, and as urgent today as it was in 1953, this production brings one of theatre’s greatest plays to downtown Ogden.
CAST BIOS
Arie Allred (Estragon) Arie has adored Good Company Theater for many years, both as audience and actor. They last played Barfee in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee here, as well as the queer joy romp of Queer the Stage. They’d like to thank Good Company for the amazing experience, and their wonderful spouse Daisy, the best banterer in the business. And they must condemn their cat Toulouse for that ludicrous display last night. He knows what he did.
Oscar Bateman-Rapier (Boy) was most recently seen as Nathan in THE FULL MONTY at the Grand Theatre. His other credits include THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, CHARTING NEVERLAND and MYTHIC QUEST at Youth Theatre at the U. WAITING FOR GODOT is his first show at Good Company! He volunteers at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the Humane Society of Utah and is about to start eighth grade.
Alvaro Cortez (Pozzo) Alvaro Cortez, is a local actor in Salt Lake City and is ecstatic to be back in Ogden with Good Company Theatre. Graduate from Westminsters BFA and Hillcrest High Schools theatre program. Most recent productions are The Moors, Mastiff. Emma, Mr. Weston and The Seagull, Medvedenko.
Michael Scott Johnson (Vladimir) is elated to be making his debut at Good Company Theatre! Michael is a Salt Lake City based actor, a graduate of University of Utah’s Actor Training Program. Michael has worked at many theatre companies in the valley, including The Grand Theatre, Pygmalion Productions, Plan-B Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, Salt Lake Shakespeare, and Pioneer Theatre Company. Favorite productions include Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show, and Silent Sky.
Elio Patterson (Lucky) is an actor from Ogden, and a senior-standing BFA Acting student at Westminster University. You might have seen Elio on the Westminster stage as Chorus (Henry V), Sporty (Accidental Death of an Anarchist), Liam (Orphans), Mischa (Ride the Cyclone), Moorhen (The Moors), and Evan (The Aliens). This is his first production with Good Company Theatre and couldn’t be happier to get to work on this show with such a phenomenal cast and crew!
CREATIVE BIOS
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), one of the leading literary and dramatic figures of the twentieth century, was born in Foxrock, Ireland and attended Trinity University in Dublin. In 1928, he visited Paris for the first time and fell in with a number of avant-garde writers and artists, including James Joyce. In 1937, he settled in Paris permanently.
Beckett wrote in both English and French, though his best-known works are mostly in the latter language. A prolific writer of novels, short stories, and poetry, he is remembered principally for his works for the theater, which belong to the tradition of the Theater of the Absurd and are characterized by their minimalist approach, stripping drama to its barest elements. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and commended for having “transformed the destitution of man into his exaltation.” Beckett died in Paris in 1989.
At the age of seventy-six he said: “With diminished concentration, loss of memory, obscured intelligence… the more chance there is for saying something closest to what one really is. Even though everything seems inexpressible, there remains the need to express. A child needs to make a sand castle even though it makes no sense. In old age, with only a few grains of sand, one has the greatest possibility.” (from Playwrights at Work, ed. by George Plimpton, 2000)
Mark Fossen (Director) is thrilled to be working with Good Company for the first time, and even more so to be working on a play he’s been thinking about since he first read it in 1988.
Directing credits include American Idiot, Sweeney Todd, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Our Town, and Skin of Our Teeth at The Grand Theatre; Ride the Cyclone, The Birthday Party, and others at Westminster University; Arsenic & Old Lace and Bright Star at Hale Center Theatre Orem; three seasons of Shakespeare for Davis Arts Council; and productions with PYGmalion, the University of Utah, Silver Summit, and Pinnacle Acting Company. Regional credits include Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, California Shakespeare Festival, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
He serves on the board of The Grand Theatre and is an adjunct instructor at Westminster College. BA, University of Utah; MFA, University of Idaho.