Originally published on April 18, 2017.
St. George native, Rhett Guter, was introduced to Southern Utah University after attending a high school theatre camp at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He instantly fell in love with the campus and a year later earned a four year academic scholarship to the university.
Although Rhett had a passion for performing, his sensible side decided to major in math with a theatre minor, it was the “serious” thing to do. Rhett quickly realized that math was the wrong choice and he needed to find a way back to theatre and dance. With the help of faculty and staff in the College of Performing and Visual Arts, he switched his major to a double major in theatre and dance and has never looked back.
Rhett’s natural talent landed him a job at the Utah Shakespeare Festival during his first summer at SUU, a difficult feat for a young actor. The Festival continued to hire Rhett every summer while he was a student. Being exposed and surrounded by working professionals was inspiring and pushed him to work even harder and learn as much as he could about acting.
Rhett had several influential experiences during his time at SUU. Because of the small class-sizes and personalized attention from faculty, Rhett was able to explore every aspect of performing. He took voice classes, dance classes (both modern and classical), theatre classes, Shakespeare studies and directing. Rhett acted in main-stage shows, directed student pieces and choreographed dance performances.
With his initiative and the guidance of caring mentors, Rhett invented his own education and was the first student to graduate from SUU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre and a Bachelor of Science in Dance.
Since graduation Rhett has worked at a variety theatre companies across the country including Goodspeed, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, PCPA, The Goodman Theatre, and Roundabout Theatre. Because of his experiences at SUU, Rhett’s not only been able to get acting jobs, he’s also been a movement and dance choreographer for several shows.
“It’s because of the strong, multi-faceted foundation I established at SUU that I’ve been so successful in my career,” said Rhett. “I’ve been extremely fortunate and feel grateful everyday for the education I earned at SUU.”
Rhett’s now living out his dream as an equity stage actor in New York City.
