2026-2027 Beyond Season

Oct. 17, 2026

 

In 2021, Sydney comedian Sam Kissajukian decided to quit standup, rent an abandoned cake factory, and become a painter. Over the course of a six-month manic episode, he created 300 large-scale paintings, unknowingly documenting his mental state through the process. In this hilarious, fascinating, and wildly original show, Kissajukian brings audiences on a rollercoaster ride that explores the ties between art, mental health, and creativity.

 

Nov. 7, 2026

 

Magic. Love. Liberation.

In the legendary “Firebird,” the Russian folk tale about the triumph of love over evil is reimagined in a luscious Caribbean setting. John Taras’ choreography, paired with Stravinsky’s iconic score, comes to life through the inimitable Geoffrey Holder’s vibrant sets and costumes. 

This production, a DTH signature classic, was first created in 1982 and captivated audiences when it toured across the world. “…it does one thing other versions do not – send its audience into a whooping spell of delirium.” – The New York Times.

 

Jan. 23, 2027

 

Sweat Variant is the dance theater group of award-winning artists Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, is described by Dance Magazine as “elastic and electric, luxuriantly rippling, poetically arranged with moments of perfect stillness that arrive amid splashes of expression.”

 

The adaku trilogy is a speculative mythology about how one family in precolonial West Africa becomes entangled in the transatlantic slave trade.  In part two of this mythology, we investigate the embodied impact of this violent rupture, while also considering the devastating consequences of the theft of artifacts designed to protect ancestral bonds. Part two sets us in the U.S. in the near future, where this history has been forgotten and where we excavate the consequences of erasure when events lead to sudden remembering. What is unleashed in the imagination of a young woman who’s been led to believe she has no history worth remembering? What are the multitude of futures she can now imagine? Using text, sound, song, movement and spatial design, Sweat Variant’s multidisciplinary approach to the dance theatrical form considers cycles of ritual and repair.

 

Feb. 13, 2027

 

"Stillness in Bloom" is a powerful inquiry into human nature in the unusual and tragic circumstances that we have lived through in recent times, where isolation, annihilation and the longed-for reunion have been the substance of everyday life.

 

Mar. 8 – 21, 2027 (at Tempe Center for the Arts), multiple shows 

 

Empire At Sea is a Solarpunk AR drama about a group of pioneering climate scientists who move to a remote oil rig for their summer sabbatical to attempt to create a sustainable city at sea. Halfway through the summer, the big one hits and wipes out the mainland. Unable to make contact with anyone, they must fend for themselves. We drop into the story five years later and meet Lani, our young female protagonist, on the morning she sees a boat on the horizon – the first boat or sign of civilization they have seen in five years. The drama centers on whether our group should allow the strangers aboard or repel them by force. This episodic, interactive drama speaks directly to the climate change generation with a thrilling father-daughter story that addresses themes of sustainability, inclusionary vs exclusionary principles, immigration, and multicultural communities. It features a diverse and recognizable cast, including Orlando Jones (American Gods), Ayelet Zurer (Spielberg’s Munich), Geoffrey Arend (Goliath), and Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men).

 

Daniel Romain & Tamar-kali

March 20, 2027

 

Journey, Migration and Astral Bodies is a powerful world-premiere concert experience conceived by acclaimed composer, violinist, and cultural provocateur Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). This evening-length work blends original orchestral compositions with cinematic portraiture to explore how—and why—we move. What compels a journey? What are its costs, its rituals, its revelations? And in choosing to travel—across geographies, generations, or inner landscapes—who do we become, and whom do we carry with us? Anchored by the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alejandro Guillén, the experience unfolds in scenes that hold space for longing, reclamation, and radical possibility.
 
The original orchestral and chamber works by DBR and Tamar-kali—two prolific composer-performers whose bodies of work span stage and screen—are shaped by lived lineages of migration and resilience, giving the score both intimate grounding and sweeping emotional force. The visual language, crafted by award-winning documentary filmmakers C.A. Griffith and H.L.T. Quan, complements “living headshots” of real people whose lives and landscapes become part of the score, inviting audiences into shared acts of witnessing. The result is a resonant field where individual stories become collective memory—and the concert hall becomes a space for presence, reflection, and transformation.

 

April 3, 2027

 

In COMMERCIAL, the influence of commercial media and the rise of artificial intelligence intersect in their shared potential for manipulation. Set in the living room of Marquise’s apartment, the play will be performed by one actor in “virtual” communication with a host of characters constructed with generative AI audio-video technology. In an alternative present, this slightly sci-fi piece reflects the mediated, artificial communication modes that define our post-COVID, post-GPT world, giving a face to the algorithmic bubbles that crop up around us and project our digital shadows based on our impulses.