Dan Froot & Company’s Arms Around America
2025-03-21 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-03-22 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-03-22 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Center for the Arts at Kayenta
THEATER
Dan Froot & Company’s
Arms Around America
Friday, March 21, 7:30pm
Saturday, March 22, 2:00pm & 7:30pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater

“Gut-wrenching performances.” — New York Times

Arms Around America is a community-based theater project investigating how Americans experience fear, power, identity, loss, and love through our relationships with guns. The show is staged as a live radio-theater broadcast. Four actors voice dozens of characters in a constellation of six short plays based on real families whose lives have been shaped by guns. They are accompanied by a sound effects artist (Dan Froot) and Julio Montero’s driving score.
The plays focus not on guns themselves, or even their political dimensions, but on our relationships with guns and with each other. Members of our local community will host the evening from their seats at an on-stage kitchen table. After the performance, the kitchen table participants will discuss the relevance of the plays to themselves and our communities.

This presentation of Arms Around America was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from the Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Foundation.
This programming is supported in part by Creative West and the National Endowment for the Arts.

TICKETS

LIGHTHOUSE: a new musical
2025-06-19 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-06-20 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-06-21 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-06-21 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-06-26 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-06-27 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-06-28 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-06-28 19:30 - 21:30
MUSICAL THEATER
LIGHTHOUSE: a new musical
music & story by Veronica Mansour
book & lyrics & story by abs wilson
workshop directed by Lisa Quoresimo
June 19-28, 2025
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
With graduation in the rearview mirror, Buss is desperate to run away from her Minnesota hometown and everyone in it. The only problem? She can’t outrun herself. LIGHTHOUSE is a sweeping pop-country musical that celebrates the idea that maybe, just maybe every version of yourself is worth being.
The Center for the Arts at Kayenta is proud to be part of the development journey for this new promising musical.
TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Spoiled
2025-08-15 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-16 15:00 - 17:00
Spoiled
by Ken Narasaki (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, August 15, 7:30p
Saturday, August 16, 3:00p
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
An honest family drama about a tense Nisei (second generation Japanese American) mother and the adult children she’s emotionally scarred. As buried trauma, cultural guilt, and generational wounds erupt, the siblings must confront whether survival means staying — or finally walking away.

TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Persuasion, a modern romance
2025-08-16 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-17 15:00 - 17:00
Persuasion, a modern romance
by Lisa Quoresimo (Cedar City, UT)
Saturday, August 16, 7:30pm
Sunday, August 17, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
Los Angeles, 2014. Anne’s father Elliot and sister Elizabeth, former television stars, have spent the last of the family’s fortune on their latest round of cosmetic surgeries. Anne tries to keep the family afloat by renting out their house and working as the in-house chef. One of the houseguests turns out to be the love of Anne’s life: Celia Wentworth. Unfortunately, it appears that Celia has never forgiven Anne for not having the courage to openly pursue their relationship twenty years ago.

TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Persuasion, a modern romance
2025-08-17 15:00 - 17:00
Persuasion, a modern romance
by Lisa Quoresimo (Cedar City, UT)
Saturday, August 16, 7:30pm
Sunday, August 17, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
Los Angeles, 2014. Nearly 20 years ago, Anne was persuaded to give up the love of her life. When Celia Wentworth suddenly walks into her house, will she be able to forgive Anne? Will Anne have the courage, this time, to stand up for what she wants? Will Anne’s family, full of faded television stars, ever tolerate a transition to moderately-priced moisturizers and out-of-season Birkin bags?

TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Central Standard Time
2025-08-22 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-23 15:00 - 17:00
Central Standard Time
by Maddox Pennington (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, August 22, 7:30pm
Saturday, August 23, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
Central Standard Time is a stand-alone installment in a trilogy of plays. It follows Jay, a thirty-something nonbinary/trans person, home to his family hometown in rural Oklahoma, where he intends to take over a family business that has been left to him and try to make a life among his Native family.
TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Mountain Meadows And The Little Schoolteacher
2025-08-23 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-24 15:00 - 17:00
Mountain Meadows And The Little Schoolteacher
by Debora Threedy (Dammeron Valley, UT)
Saturday, August 23, 7:30pm
Sunday, August 24, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
This play is based on the life of Juanita Brooks, particularly the years from 1918 to 1951. The central mystery of her life is this: She was a seemingly ordinary Mormon housewife. Widowed as a young mother, married a second time to a man 17 years her senior, she had five children of her own and helped raise her husband’s four sons. She held positions of authority in her Church. She worked at a job for almost her entire life. How did such a woman come to publish the first accurate account of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, the full story of which had been actively suppressed by the LDS Church for nearly a hundred years? Where did she get the courage to tell the truth despite the opposition of her community and even family?
TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: The Secret History of the Mahulley Monster
2025-08-29 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-30 15:00 - 17:00
KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
The Secret History of the Mahulley Monster (Or The Cryptid Play)
by Chelsea Sutton (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, August 29, 7:30pm
Saturday, August 30, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
When Dr. Kam Vandermeer visits the Midland Paranormal Convention to present her research on the mysterious Mahulley Monster, C-List paranormal TV personality Peter McGillis seems determined to poke holes in her story. But as they delve deeper into Kam’s evidence, their bickering only unearths something stranger than either one of them can explain.

TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB: Vampire Panic!
2025-08-30 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-08-31 15:00 - 17:00
KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Vampire Panic!
by Kate Mickere (Los Angeles, CA)
Saturday, August 30, 7:30pm
Sunday, August 31, 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
In 1890s New England, during a deadly wave of consumption, Lucy returns home to care for her orphaned niece, Faith, just as rumors of vampires begin to take hold. While Lucy turns to science for answers, young Faith is drawn to a preacher who believes the disease is part of a supernatural threat. As fear and folklore spread through the town, the line between illness and myth becomes harder to define.

TICKETS

KAYENTA NEW PLAY LAB
Now in its third year, the Kayenta New Play Lab is where bold new voices in American theater come to life. Over three exhilarating weeks, six visionary playwrights—chosen by a panel of esteemed local and national theatermakers—dive into an intensive creative residency, shaping fresh, original works for the stage.
Audiences are invited to witness the magic unfold through staged readings of these brand-new plays—raw, real, and alive with possibility. Stay after each reading for an engaging dialogue with the artists, where your feedback helps shape the evolution of each piece.
Whether you’re a dedicated theatergoer, a curious creative, or someone who simply loves the thrill of live performance, the New Play Lab is your front-row seat to the next wave of theatrical storytelling. Come be part of the process. Come be inspired.

The 2025 Kayenta New Play Lab is generously sponsored by Douglas Caputo and Desert Dweller Real Estate.

Cry Wolf: A Magic Play
2025-09-18 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-09-19 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-09-20 15:00 - 16:30
THEATER
Cry Wolf: A Magic Play
written and performed by Rhett Guter
directed by West Hyler
September 18-20 & 25-27 at 7:30pm
Saturday Matinees at 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
Cry Wolf: A Magic Play blurs the line between illusion and reality, transforming the theatre into a high-stakes game show where the prize is nothing less than truth itself. For 85 mesmerizing minutes, performer Rhett Guter invites audiences to play along—searching for the hidden “wolf” among volunteer contestants—as jaw-dropping magic, masterful tap dance, and deeply personal storytelling unfold. Inspired by the spectacle of The Price is Right and the theatrical artistry of Derren Brown, this intimate one-man show asks profound questions about identity, authenticity, and the courage to be seen. After years of development with acclaimed director West Hyler, Cry Wolf makes its full production debut in Southern Utah, bringing Guter’s journey home in a premiere that promises wonder, laughter, and revelation.

TICKETS

RHETT GUTER (Writer/Performer) is a New York-based actor, magician, and choreographer who has spent nine seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival and performed in touring productions of West Side Story and Annie. He’s alos appeared onstage at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Paramount Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, PCPA and Olney Theatre Center.
As a director and choreographer, Guter’s work has been featured at Drury Lane Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Encore Performing Arts. He received his training at Southern Utah University in Dance Performance and Musical Theatre and currently serves as Artistic Director for Encore Performing Arts. Cry Wolf represents his debut as a writer-performer, uniquely combining his theatrical expertise with his passion for magic and personal storytelling. You can find more about Rhett and the magic at Rhettmagic.com
WEST HYLER (Director) is the Executive Director of the South Carolina New Play Festival, the co-Artistic Director of Drama-League Nominated Artistic Stamp and was formerly the Producing Artistic Director of the Obie-Winning New York Musical Festival, the largest musical theater festival in the world. He was a Director and Story Writer for Cirque du Soleil’s first Broadway Musical Cirque du Soleil Paramour and he has several shows currently in production around the world. Other Broadway credits include associate director on How The Grinch Stole Christmas and associate director and artistic overseer Jersey Boys worldwide. Other Directing credits include: The Pilot and the Little Prince (Poland), Avenue Q (Bulgaria- Ikar Award), Sister Act (Cape Fear Regional Theater), Fun Home (Lean Ensemble Theater), the NY premiere of H2O by Jane Martin (59E59), Tempest, Merry Wives and Windsor, and Love’s Labours Lost (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Georama (St Louis Rep- St Louis Critics Circle Award, New York Musical Festival Award for Outstanding Direction), The Disappearing Man by Jahn Sood (MTF and St Louis Rep), Legendarium and Metamorphosis (Big Apple Circus, Lincoln Center), and Panda! (Beijing and Las Vegas).
Tickets
