Kayenta Arts

Heroes of the Fourth Turning
2024-04-25 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-04-26 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-04-27 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Center for the Arts at Kayenta
THEATER
Heroes of the Fourth Turning
an Award-Winning Play by Will Arbery
directed by Rachel Park
April 18-27, 2024
Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm / Sunday at 2:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater

“The sneaky, simple brilliance of Heroes of the Fourth Turning is that it’s not actually about its characters’ talking points at all. It’s about them. It’s not shouting; it’s listening.”
Vulture
It’s nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party. They’ve returned home to toast their mentor Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood. On a chilly night in the middle of America, Will Arbery’s haunting play offers grace and disarming clarity, speaking to the heart of a country at war with itself.
Will Arbery is a playwright and screenwriter. His play Heroes of the Fourth Turning premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2019 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, OBIE winner, Lortel winner, New York Drama Critics Circle Award winner and John Gassner Memorial Award winner. It was named one of the best plays of the year by The New York Times, Vulture, Time Out and more. Corsicana premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2022 and was a New York Times Critics Pick. Evanston Salt Costs Climbing had its New York premiere at The New Group and was the subject of a feature in The New York Times Magazine. Other plays include: Plano (Clubbed Thumb), You Hateful Things (NYTW Dartmouth Residency) and Wheelchair (3 Hole Press). He was the recipient of a Whiting Award in 2020. TV: Succession and Irma Vep. His work has been featured in The Paris Review. He’s currently under commission from Manhattan Theatre Club, Adventureland and The Met Opera. willarbery.com

“A perfect production that left me with my heart in my mouth.”
Time Out New York
TICKETS
Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery asks its audience to engage with intense content and characters in spiritual crisis. This production is intended to create conversation, one we hope you will find worthwhile, entertaining, and challenging.
This show delves into mature subject matter, encompassing explicit language, complex adult themes, and thought-provoking explorations of religion, sexuality, abortion, race, politics, and gender.
This production may contain: very loud and sudden noises, including gunshots; the use of a non-firing prop gun, and simulated vomiting.

Chautauqua: Living History!
2024-10-05 14:00 - 16:30, 2024-10-05 19:30 - 22:00
HUMANITIES / THEATER
Chautauqua: Living History!
Technology that Changed the World
Featuring Hank Fincken as Thomas Edison
and Jeremy Meier as Steve Jobs
Saturday, October 5th 2:00pm & 7:30pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
Experience history coming alive as performers take the stage in costume and character to portray two revolutionary innovators:
Hank Fincken as Thomas Edison
And Jeremy Meier as Steve Jobs
In this theatrical living history program, Edison and Jobs will give passionate performances transporting you back in time. Witness their genius, struggles, and world-changing inventions and products unfold through their own words.
Don’t miss this entertaining and educational experience!
Join us for an afternoon or evening of “Chautauqua: Living History!” that will enlighten and inspire!

Tickets $25

THE MINUTES
2024-11-14 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-15 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-16 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-17 15:00 - 17:00, 2024-11-20 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-21 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-22 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-23 19:30 - 21:30
THEATER
THE MINUTES
by Tracy Letts
November 14-17, 20-23
Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30pm
Sunday at 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
“Explosive… Deftly captures the tension of patriotic grandiosity and provincial defensiveness found in city halls across the land.” – Chicago Tribune
This scathing new comedy about small-town politics and real-world power, from the author of August: Osage County, exposes the ugliness behind some of our most closely-held American narratives while asking each of us what we would do to keep from becoming history’s losers.
The Minutes premiered on Broadway at Studio 54 on April 17, 2022.
Programming at the Center for the Arts is intended for mature audiences.
Tickets $35

The Magician's Sister
2025-01-16 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-17 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-18 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-19 15:00 - 17:00, 2025-01-22 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-23 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-24 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-25 15:00 - 17:00
THEATER
The Magician’s Sister
by Jami Brandli
directed by Reena Dutt
January 16-25, 2025
Evening Performances: January 16, 17, 18 / 22, 23, 24
Matinee Performances: January 19 & 25
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
The Magician’s Sister follows the story of two women: an aspiring Magician driven by being the best, and her sister, who somewhat reluctantly serves as her “Wise Assistant.” When the Magician purposely disappears herself and leaves behind mysterious clues to solve, her sister becomes obsessed with finding her. As the two sisters’ stories dramatically unfold over the span of thirty years—interweaving the present and the past—we witness their struggle to fulfill their collective goals and conflicting individual desires, while they strive to perfectly execute Houdini’s famous “Metamorphosis” illusion.
The Magician’s Sister explores the complexities of sisterhood, the ripple effects of family trauma, and the complicated pursuit and price of “being special,” while also incorporating the stories of real, historical female magicians and plenty of on-stage magic.

TICKETS

Writing Workshop: Aristotle's Six Dramatic Elements
2025-01-19 10:00 - 12:00
Aristotle’s Six Dramatic Elements; a writing workshop with Jami Brandli
In this 2 hour seminar we will cover Aristotle’s Six Elements of drama: Character, Action, Ideas, Language, Music and Spectacle/Theatricality. We will also analyze one ten-minute play and end with a writing exercise, so please bring something to write with/on!

REGISTRATION

Miwa Matreyek: Animation & Performance
2025-02-15 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-02-16 15:00 - 16:30
ANIMATION / THEATER
Miwa Matreyek
Three Works: Animation & Performance
Myth and Infrastructure (2010)
This World Made Itself (2013)
Infinitely Yours
Saturday, February 15 / 7:30pm
Sunday, February 16 / 3:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater

“A fantastical interpretation of the Earth’s formation” –TED

Spellbinding and vibrant animations are brought to life through live performance by award-winning artist Miwa Matreyek. Experience three remarkable pieces, created between 2010 and today, that will leave you breathless.
In Myth and Infrastructure, Miwa’s shadow explores fantastical animation worlds, as she traverses oceanscapes, cityscapes, and domestic spaces to conjure dreamlike scenes with light and shadow.
This World Made Itself is a visually and musically rich journey through the history of the earth, from the universe’s epic beginnings to the complex world of humanity. The piece is at once semi-scientific (like flipping through a children’s encyclopedia), and emotional, surreal, and dream-like.
And Infinitely Yours creates an emotional, dream-like meditation on climate catastrophe and the Anthropocene – the proposed current era where human influence has effected almost all realms of earth’s natural systems.

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
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
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
