This fall the Yavapai College Performing Arts Department is redefining the local-theatre scene with two fresh, daring productions that showcase both the next generation of performers and the department’s expanding creative vision. From a Regency classic reimagined on the main sta geto a quirky musical comedy about belonging in the new renovated Black Box Theatre, the season reflects the growing vitality of Yavapai College’s performance programs.
Sense and Sensibility
Nov. 14–16, 21–23
Step into the world of Jane Austen as YC Performing Arts presents Sense and Sensibility, a witty, fast-paced adaptation by Kate Hamill that infuses 19th-century romance with modern rhythm and energy. Under Director Scottie Scott, this isn't your grandma’s Austen, it’s bold, dynamic and alive with feeling.
The Dashwood sisters’ journey of love, loss, and resilience unfolds with a whirlwind of movement, humor and heart. A Greek chorus of gossips keeps the action spinning, while lighting and scene designs transform the stage into a living, breathing canvas. “This story is about humanity,” says Scott. “We still feel love, loss and longing the same way we did 200 years ago.”
Assistant Director Connie Arnold notes that the production’s fluid staging invites the audience into the story itself: “We don’t hide the transitions, everything moves in plain sight. It’s constant motion, just like life.”
The YC costume department, led by Bailey Smith, brings the Regency era to radiant life with elaborate period costumes and modern visual flair, while a soundtrack featuring hints of punk and New Wave bridges the centuries between Austen’s world and ours. The result is a dazzling collision of past and present, part romance, part revolution.
Tickets are available exclusively through ycpac.com
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Dec. 4–6
The college’s new musical-theatre and dance faculty member, Ben Naasz, directs The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, Tony Award–winning musical comedy that celebrates the awkward charm of growing up.
Set in the chaotic world of a middle-school spelling bee, the show follows six quirky adolescents and three equally offbeat adults as they navigate competition, friendship and the search for belonging. “It’s a coming-of-age story where every character just wants to fit in,” says Naasz.
The production marks the first full-length musical in the newly reimagined Black Box Theatre, an intimate 55-seat space that Naasz has transformed into both classroom and creative laboratory. “It’s a working theatre lab,” he explains. “Students get hands-on experience in lighting, sound and scene design while helping to build and run the entire show.”
With clever audience-participation moments and heartfelt performances by students and community actors, Spelling Bee promises a lively, immersive experience that highlights the close-knit energy of new black-box format.
Performances run on one weekend only, and seating is extremely limited, so early ticket purchases are strongly encouraged, exclusively at ycpac.com
Together, Sense and Sensibility and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee signal a thrilling new chapter for YC Performing Arts, where bold direction, hands-on learning and creative risk-taking meet onstage to celebrate the art of storytelling in all its forms.
