“Say that I starved;
that I was lost and weary:
That I was burned and blinded by the desert sun;
Footsore, thirsty, sick with strange diseased;
Lonely and wet and cold, but that I kept my dream!”
Everett Ruess – Wilderness Song

As a high school sophomore, Debora Threedy took her first acting class to overcome her fear of speaking in public. And, while she cultivated her distinguished career as a law professor and legal scholar, she continues to nourish her artistic passion for the stage, most recently forging the elements of southern Utah’s natural beauty, the legend of a young vagabond artist, and the universal expressions of love and grief into “The End of The Horizon,” which will be given its world premiere in March by the Plan-B Theatre.

The dramatic play, Threedy’s first full-length stage script, adds a significant piece to the artistic and literary chronicles surrounding Everett Ruess, a near-mythic artist and naturalist who disappeared in the Escalante, Utah canyon country in 1934 at the age of 20.

The play, which is as much about the Ruess family as it is focused on the family’s central character, will run March 14 to March 30 at the Studio Theatre in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

While Plan-B has showcased works by other Utah playwrights that often deal with contemporary issues unique to the state’s cultural, political, religious, and social dynamics, Threedy’s premiere work embodies the essence that is, indeed, the mission of this consistently adventurous theater company.

“The End of the Horizon continues our commitment to the development of new plays by Utah writers,” Jerry Rapier, the company’s producing director. “And something special is happening in this play. It employs the impact of Everett Ruess’s disappearance on his family to examine the passion, the distance, the weight and the joy of artistic expression. This play is, at its heart, a family drama. But it is also an invitation inside art itself.”

Writing the play came automatically to Threedy, who joined the University of Utah’s law school faculty in 1986 and has frequently visited the canyon country that became the backdrop for the story. In less than 48 hours, after beginning on a Thursday afternoon eight years ago, she had finished the entire first draft. “I wrote the play in long hand and everything just seemed to flow unconsciously,” she says. “I always had been so fascinated with Everett’s story. Not having grown up in Utah, I was blown away by the kind of nature that I’m sure had captivated this young man many years ago.”

Threedy agrees that “The End of the Horizon” is a bit of a departure, albeit a small one, from Plan-B’s usual Utah stage offerings that are profoundly based in social conscience. However, the theme is one that will resonate with every single audience member. “No one gets out of this life without losing somebody,” she says. “How do you keep going in the face of such tremendous loss?”

In fact, the play’s first public reading at the Torrey-based Entrada Institute occurred under dramatic, auspicious circumstances. “It was read on Sept. 15, 2001 – just four days after the awful events that had gripped all of us,” Threedy recalls, adding that, while the reading was expectedly emotional, the group found hope in the play’s end where Stella (the mother) achieves a sense of peace.

Threedy says the workshops – including when it was selected to be a part of the New American Plays Series at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 2006 – have refined the scenes and character focus into a story that should capture the interests of Utahns and others who have followed the Everett Ruess legend. And, it was Rapier who suggested a title change from “Nemo 1934” to its current label. (Photo shows David Fetzer, who will portray Everett Ruess, and Threedy in the canyon country near Escalante where Ruess is reported to have disappeared.)

Threedy’s play becomes an important piece of the small literary industry that has arisen around the young man. “So that makes about a half a dozen books, as many songs, a documentary, a festival, a line of reproductions and now a play — endless continued interest every day for the man gone but not forgotten,” wrote Steven Jerman, a Salt Lake City graphic designer who operates a website and a blog (The Ruess-tafarian) dedicated to Ruess.

The Ruess story is an exceptional one. A native California teenager, he confabbed in the 1930s with artists and photographers including Maynard Dixon, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Dorothea Lange. He traveled through Yosemite, the California coast, and in the red rock lands of Utah and Arizona.

A writer and artist in his own right, Ruess, propelled by the impetuous restlessness of youth, left a remarkably large, diverse oeuvre, including the wood block prints for which he is most famous. Along with the watercolors and drawings were many letters, essays, and poems documenting his intense interactions with the wilderness. A substantial collection of Ruess Family writings and correspondence now sits in the University of Utah’s Marriott Library, a gift by Waldo Ruess, Everett’s older brother who died last September, a day after his 98th birthday.

As for Ruess’s disappearance in November 1934 when he was just 20, Threedy acknowledges that many individuals have freely volunteered their own theories and bizarre explanations to her, which includes some claims that he is still alive (which would make him 94 today).

Although his burros were found near his camp, his fate remains a mystery. “I believe he was killed,” Threedy says simply, adding that she has no idea about who might have been the perpetrator and she would rather not speculate on any probable motives. A scene incorporates snippets from an “unintentionally funny” letter (Threedy’s description) from 1937 in which a woman insists she saw Ruess in Mexico, just one of the many “sightings” letters the family received.

While Threedy, who has performed on stage for more than 35 years, only wrote a few “10-minute” plays prior to “The End of the Horizon,” she is already working on two other full-length plays including a exploration of race and identity in the story about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and a comedic tale inspired in part by details of her own life experiences and Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

Threedy will be among the cast that features Jason Bowcutt, David Fetzer, Jesse Harward, Stephanie Howell, and Shawn Nottingham. Kay Shean directs the show with sets by Randy Rasmussen, sound by Cheryl Ann Cluff, and original music by Ricklen Nobis. Nancy Hills is costumes director, and Cory Thorell is coordinating lighting and props. Jennifer Freed is handling stage management.

The run will include performances at 8 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased by calling (801) 355-ARTS or here.

Plan-B, along with various local sponsors, also has scheduled several events to celebrate Ruess’s work. The Rose Wagner Gallery will feature “Block Prints By Everett Ruess” March 14-30 in partnership with Utah Arts Council’s Traveling Exhibition Program. Ken Sanders Rare Books will offers “Everett Ruess Found! Two Weeks Only!” March 17-30 in partnership with the University of Utah’s Marriott Library Special Collections. Opening receptions for both gallery shows will be held Friday, March 21 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as part of the monthly Gallery Stroll.

Plan-B and the Salt Lake Film Society also offer a free screening (with an option to contribute to Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) of Diane Orr’s film “Lost Forever: Everett Ruess” on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at the Tower Theatre.

The American West Center at the University of Utah also will present a post-show discussion with Ken Sanders, W.L. “Bud” Rusho and Threedy (along with the cast) on Sunday, March 16, at 4 p.m.