YMTC’s 19th Season: 2023–2024
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We are so thrilled to announce our 19th season, which features four exciting shows at two favorite YMTC venues – and the return of YMTC+ for the first time since 2018! This season takes us to a florist on skid row, a high school gymnasium, a Victorian house in a small Pennsylvania town, and a convent in the Austrian alps. We cannot wait to see you there.
Fall 2023: Little Shop of Horrors
Don’t feed the plants.
Music by Alan Menken, lyrics and book by Howard Ashman
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, November 3 – 12, 2023
Tucked away on a grim, grimy downtown street is a tiny flower shop and its two mismatched employees: unassuming, green-thumbed Seymour and glamorous, demure Audrey. When the hapless Seymour brings home a strange and exotic venus flytrap, he has no idea that the little plant will grow into a foul-mouthed, bloodthirsty threat to all of humanity. Filled with iconic songs and memorable characters, Little Shop of Horrors is a spooky and delightful homage to 1960s horror films that will leave audiences cackling, toe-tapping, and misty-eyed.
Little Shop of Horrors contains adult language, stage blood, and depictions of domestic abuse and over-the-top violence.
Winter 2024: Don’t Stop Me
I will please you all – please don’t stop me ‘till I’m there.
Music and lyrics by Dave Malloy, book by Krista Knight
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, February 9 – 18, 2024
Originally commissioned by YMTC in 2015, Don’t Stop Me is a sci-fi electro-pop musical inspired by – and at times, directly quoting – the words, thoughts, and lived experiences of 21st century teens. A group of high schoolers compete in an all-night dance-a-thon hosted by a cool and mysterious DJ, each harboring their own reason for attending and winning “the prize” – a college scholarship, Internet fame, a better SAT score, the perfect relationship. We get to know the pairs of contestants as they compete in “heats” that take them back in time to famous dances in different historical eras. As the dancers begin to drop like flies, it becomes clear that the demonic DJ has very special plans for these teenagers – it’s a dance-a-thon to the death. Fresh off a revision workshop in the spring of 2023, Don’t Stop Me is an fresh, relevant look at achievement-culture and what it means to be a young person today.
Spring 2024: Fun Home* (YMTC+)
Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue.
Music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics and book by Lisa Kron, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel of the same name
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, April 26 – May 12, 2024
A winner of 7 Tony Awards, the original, refreshing musical Fun Home tells the story of cartoonist Alison Bechdel as she prepares to write her first graphic memoir and the memories of her youth overwhelm her. Diving deep into her past to write about the sudden death of her father, the adult Alison conjures two other versions of herself – age 10 and age 18 – to help her make sense of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man she knew. With a tender score and a sharp, brilliant script, Fun Home tells the story of the universal, bittersweet experience of seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
Summer 2024: The Sound of Music
Follow every rainbow ‘till you find your dream.
Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, based on Maria von Trapp’s autobiography “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”
El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater, July 19 – 28, 2024
Based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family Singers, The Sound of Music is a story of love and courage in the face of hate and danger, and one of the most beloved musicals of all time,. When the lovable, overly-exuberant postulate Maria is sent to be a governess for the seven unwieldy children of a a stoic, imperious widow, she brings joy and music to the grieving household. As the forces of Nazi Germany begin to encroach upon Austria, the Von Trapp family is forced to make the ultimate moral decision to do what they believe is right. Featuring songs like “Do Re Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” The Sound of Music has been inspiring and entertaining audiences for over 60 years.