Spartan Theatre Reveals 59th Season at Spokane Falls Community College
Season lineup includes THE DARK ARTS FOR BEGINNERS, HAUNTING HOLIDAYS III, THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE and FIREBRINGER!.
For nearly six decades, the Spartan Theatre at Spokane Falls Community College has served as a creative laboratory and generational training ground for actors, designers, technicians and storytellers. This fall, the theatre begins its 59th season, continuing that tradition with a lineup spanning contemporary drama, Theatre for Young Audiences, musical theatre, new works and reimagined classics.
At the center of the season is the Drama Program's commitment to learning through production. SFCC students work alongside staff and faculty artists to create each show, gaining hands-on experience both onstage and behind the scenes. Auditions and many production opportunities are open beyond the Drama Program, inviting students from across SFCC, as well as members of the wider Spokane community, to participate.
The Dark Arts for Beginners
The season begins in November with Nick Robideau's The Dark Arts for Beginners, directed by new SFCC Drama faculty member and Spartan Theatre alumnus Dahveed Bullis. A longtime artist and arts advocate in the Spokane region, Bullis returns to SFCC this year to help train the next generation of theatre artists at the same institution where his own theatrical journey began. The darkly funny contemporary play is set in 2057, when the climate crisis has passed the point of no return and humanity's last hope rests with a coven of teenage witches who have only one problem: they don't entirely understand the powers they are learning to wield. Performances run November 13-15 and 20-22.
Haunting Holidays III
December brings the return of Haunting Holidays III, Spartan Theatre's annual one-page play festival, directed by SFCC Drama faculty member and alum Rebecca Cook. The one-night-only Reader's Theatre event on December 4 features tiny plays selected from submissions by writers from around the world, throughout the Spokane community and across the SFCC campus. The result is a fast-paced evening showcasing just how much storytelling, humor and mischief can fit onto a single page.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
In winter, Spartan Theatre continues its commitment to introducing young audiences to live performance with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, adapted by Dwayne Hartford from the beloved novel by Kate DiCamillo and directed by SFCC Drama adjunct instructor and alum Rebecca Craven. Craven returns to direct the program's Theatre for Young Audiences production after previously helming Charlotte's Web and the award-winning Little Red Riding Hood (and The Power Mutants) at the Spartan Theatre. The family-friendly production follows a vain china rabbit whose extraordinary journey through love and loss slowly teaches him the courage to love others. Public performances are March 12-14, 2027, alongside the Drama Program's educational outreach to area schoolchildren.
Bat Hamlet
Spring begins with a decidedly unusual celebration of Shakespeare's birthday. Jordan Pulliam's Bat Hamlet takes the Prince of Denmark and gives him a superhero-sized makeover, blurring the boundaries between classic literature and contemporary pop culture. The special Reader's Theatre performance takes place April 23.
Firebringer!
The season's mainstage finale is Starkid's Firebringer!, with music and lyrics by Meredith Stepien and Mark Swiderski and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden. Set at the dawn of humanity, the irreverent musical follows a tribe of cave people whose world is turned upside down when one of their own makes a discovery destined to change human history: fire. Performances run May 27-30 and June 4-6.
Shakesquatch Presents: The Classics
The 59th season concludes June 11 with Shakesquatch Presents: The Classics, directed by Rebecca Cook. The annual Reader's Theatre series invites audiences to encounter influential works from across theatrical history and cultures in an immediate and accessible format, introducing a new generation to stories that continue to shape contemporary theatre.
Although the productions range widely in style, period and audience, they reflect a longstanding philosophy within the SFCC Drama Program: stories are not museum pieces, they are inherited, questioned, rediscovered and reimagined each time a new generation of artists brings them to life.
'For 59 seasons, generations of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members have helped build the Spartan Theatre, not just through the work they've created on our stages, but through the community they've created around them,' said Kemuel DeMoville, Director of the SFCC Drama Program. 'That tradition continues every time a new student walks into an audition, learns to hang a light, picks up a paintbrush, builds a costume or discovers that there is a place for them in the theatre. We're excited to see what this new generation will create.'
Participation in Spartan Theatre productions is not limited to Drama majors. Students from throughout SFCC are encouraged to audition, work backstage, participate in workshops and join Drama Club activities, and many opportunities are also open to alumni and members of the Spokane community.
Additional information about individual productions, auditions, community participation opportunities and ticket sales will be announced throughout the 2026-27 academic year.
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Eureka Day Leo K. Theater (9/24-11/15) |
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Love is Dead Village Theatre (7/10-8/01) |
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Monsta X Wamu Theater (10/24-10/24) |
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"Pig Farm" (a staged experience) Seattle Open Arts Space (10/09-10/10) |
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HALLMARKED at Tacoma Little Theatre Tacoma Little Theatre (12/04-12/27) |
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Come From Away Lakewood Playhouse (6/04-6/20) |
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Much Ado About Nothing Theatre Off Jackson (9/10-9/26) |
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RAGTIME Village Theatre (9/15-10/18) |
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I Am My Own Wife Intiman Theatre (11/04-11/22) |
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FOOLISH MORTALS: A Haunted Mansion Burlesque Cabaret The Triple Door Theatre (9/26-9/26) |
