Upcoming Touring Productions

Spring 2024: In the Garden of the Selfish Giant by Sandra Fenichel Asher

Fall 2024: Mariposa/Butterfly by Sandra Fenichel Asher and José Casas

We currently do not have any matinee opportunities available for the Spring 2024 semester, but please check back for information about matinee opportunities that may be available this fall.

School matinees of theatre department productions are held in the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts on the main campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. Tickets are $3 a seat for all students, teachers, and chaperones attending the performance. School matinees usually begin at 10:00 a.m., with the option of free post-show discussions with the cast and production team, upon request. 

To schedule a field trip to UVU to see a school matinee production, please contact [email protected] or call 801-863-KIDS (5437).

Learning Stage study guides are provided the day of the school matinee and include follow up questions, activities, and discussion topics.

Information Coming Soon!

The TYE Center facilitates “Sensory Friendly Performances” that are better suited than traditional performances to young patrons on the autism spectrum. The audience for the Saturday 2pm performance will include families with young people who benefit from the accommodations as well as other patrons who do not require them. This Sensory Friendly Performance will be essentially the same as our other public performances of the play with the following accommodations:

• House capacity is capped at 50% to allow more freedom of movement and choice in seating. All seating is general admission and families can sit wherever they are most comfortable.
• We will make a curtain speech welcoming our guests and sharing with them any of the elements of the show that some might find frightening.
• The ushers will be particularly attuned to families who may need to move around during the performance or come in and out of the theatre during the performance.
• We let the actors and audience know that the performance is “Sensory Friendly”, and we request their patience and acceptance of young people who need to move around or may respond vocally during the performance.

Sensory Friendly Performances often reduce the number and intensity of lighting changes and sound effects. These performances also reduce the intensity of loud noises or startling elements, or young people are warned of these in advance.

We also provide our patrons with a Social Story PowerPoint that they may use to prepare their young people for this different and, in some ways, unusual social experience of attending a theatrical performance. For many young people on the autism spectrum, unfamiliar events and places can be confusing and overwhelming and we therefore provide a visual resource to make the experience more predictable and comfortable. We are also providing you with a digital version of the study guide, which are also available in hardcopy at the performance, if you or your young people would like to know more about the show in advance.

Study Guides are a great way to introduce students and children to the play they are about to see. Our guides often include information about the playwright, important themes from the show, discussions about character relationships, information about the cast and crew, details about directing and design concepts, and other information that is unique to each show.

Study Guides for the 2023 Spring Season are coming soon!

The TYE Center currently sponsors two playwriting contests. The Utah Young Playwrights for Change contest is for middle school playwrights. The Old Miner Children’s Playwriting Contest is for adults writing plays to be performed for or by elementary school students.