Kayenta Arts to Present Workshop Production of THE CAREGIVER'S GUIDE

Kayenta Arts will present a new workshop production of The Caregiver's Guide, written by Los Angeles playwright Jami Brandli and directed by Rob Goodman, running February 19-28, 2026 at the Center for the Arts at Kayenta. Developed in part through the Kayenta New Play Lab and first introduced as a staged reading in August 2024, The Caregiver's Guide is a poignant, comedic exploration of love, family, and the complicated realities of caring for one another.

In The Caregiver's Guide, when a stand-up comedian returns home and reveals he's inherited the early-onset Alzheimer's gene from his late mother, his sisters are forced to face their own fears about the future, their health, and how to care for someone who doesn't want to be cared for. With humor, heart, and a touch of the supernatural, this play explores how one family leans on laughter, memory, and love to make it through life's hardest turns.

Playwright and screenwriter Jami Brandli shares "My storytelling is inspired by the chaos of growing up in my family's Italian restaurant in Jersey, my love of myths, mysteries and magical realism, my background in education (from substitute teacher to adjunct professor) and my desire to bring to light the lives of extraordinary women who you most likely never heard of."

Brandli returns to Kayenta Arts for a second consecutive year. Her play The Magician's Sister received a staged reading at the Kayenta New Play Lab before its full production in January 2025. The Magician's Sister received both the 2023 Jane Chambers Award and the 2023 Stanley Drama Award.

Director Rob Goodman has dedicated his distinguished career to championing new work, with more than sixty productions-including twenty-five world premieres-to his name. He is also the founder of Milwaukee's First Stage, one of the nation's leading professional theatres for young audiences. Goodman will direct this new workshop production. Cast includes Lizzy Kimball and Jacqueline Misaye, and local actors Jared Shipley, Dean Jones, and Kelly Bellini.

The Kayenta New Play Lab, established in 2023, supports six playwrights each year through a multi-step development process, including a preliminary table read, dramaturgical feedback, a five-day writing residency, and three days of rehearsal with a guest director and actors. Each lab culminates in two public staged readings, after which playwrights receive further feedback from dramaturgs, performers, and audience members. At season's end, a community panel selects one Lab play for full production in a future Kayenta Arts season.