The Beverley Center for the Arts

The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts (The Beverley) incorporates visual arts, live theatre, and dynamic arts education on the Southern Utah University campus in Cedar City, UT and dramatically enriches the cultural life of Cedar City and its surrounding region. The Beverley is located at 195 W. Center Street in Cedar City, UT.

Map Key

1. Questar Ticket Office
2. Festival Administration Offices
3. Garth and Jerri Frehner Rehearsal/Education Hall
4. Simmons Family Plaza
5. Ellen's Sweet Shoppe
6. Zion's Bank Courtyard
7. Gardner Memorial Clock Tower
8. Engelstad Gift Shop
9. Stillman Sculpture Court
10. George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Grand Promenade
11. ALSAM Foundation Gallery
12. Emma Eccles Jones Terrace
13. Festival Costume Studio
14. Catherine and Robert Pedersen Shakespeare Character Garden
15. Sam and Diane Stewart Family Plaza
16. Ann and Winston Brundige Patio
17. Randall Gift Shop and Gallery

The Beverley Includes:

Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA)
A large-covered plaza welcomes patrons to SUMA, a state-of-the-art museum, which features approximately 5,300 square feet of exhibition space composed of four adaptable galleries.

The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
The outdoor Shakespeare theatre has the same intimate actor/audience relationship and feels very similar to the now retired Adams Theatre. The space has updated amenities and modern accessibilities, including an elevator and increased ADA seating. The Utah Shakespeare Festival uses this stage from late June until early September for plays by William Shakespeare and other plays relevant to that era.

The Randall L. Jones Theatre
This indoor theatre is used by the Utah Shakespeare Festival during its season for musicals and modern plays. The SUU College of Performing and Visual Arts uses it for their productions as well.

The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
This indoor theatre is a flexible, black box space that seats 200 people. The Utah Shakespeare Festival uses it for new plays and for their new play readings.

The Festival’s Artistic and Production Facility
The Artistic and Production Facility includes a rehearsal space, costume shop, and administration offices.

Meet Beverley Taylor Sorenson

Beverley Taylor Sorenson rose from a Salt Lake City childhood of deprivation driven by the Great Depression, but rich in love and the arts, each of which would form the basis of her life of great service and consequence. Born in 1924 as the fifth of six children to Frank and Bessie Taylor, she set her sights upon a teaching career and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the “U” (University of Utah) in 1945. She quickly assumed duties as a kindergarten teacher at a Quaker school in Brooklyn, New York, and began instilling in her students a love for the arts, for she firmly believed in their importance in establishing a sound base for learning and for life.

Beverley married James Levoy Sorenson in 1946, and their union has produced incalculable benefits throughout Utah, not to mention their eight children, 47 grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren. James career as an innovator in medical technology gave the Sorensons the means to provide support for myriad worthy causes. Following Jim’s death in 2008, Beverley continued his philanthropic work. Over the years, she has become renowned for her contributions to building a strong cultural foundation for children through such programs as art works for kids! and ArtsFusion, as well as through other gifts that continue to enhance the level and breadth of education and the arts in Utah.

Beverley passed away on June 3, 2013.