Calendar of Events
As of September 5, 2022 masks will be encouraged, but not required, in our building. For more information about how we're keeping our LCT Family safe, click the button below.
Family Weekend Performance Dates: December 10-17, 2022
School Day Matinee Dates: December 8-16, 2022
Touring Dates: September 12 - December 6, 2022
Dessa is a modern-day 12-year-old with no shortage of mysteries to solve and fossils to find. But in the aftermath of her father’s death, this smart, funny young scientist struggles to overcome her grief and anger at all the changes in her world. Dessa's unlikely comfort comes from a remarkable new friend, one only she can see and hear – Mary Anning, the 19th-century paleontologist. But why is Mary’s portrait not on the museum wall alongside those of her male counterparts? Dessa decides that she’s going to fight to earn Mary the respect she deserves. With help from her new classmate and once-rival, Nilo, Dessa unearths secrets of the past and present – for Mary’s legacy and her own way forward.
By Laura Schellhardt
Best enjoyed by ages 9 and up
Location: The LCT Main Stage and On Tour
Length of Show: Approximately 1 hour long
Digging Up Dessa Digital Playbill
Family Weekend Performance Info
Saturday, December 10 – 2:00pm
Sunday, December 11 – 2:00pm
Saturday, December 17 – 7:00pm* (*the 7:00pm show is Pay What You Will)
Purchase Single Tickets Purchase a Membership
*To reserve Pay What You Will tickets in advance of a show, call our Box Office at 859.254.4546 x245
School Day Matinee Info
Tuesday-Friday, December 8-9
Tuesday-Friday, December 13-16
10:00am & 11:45am
Digging Up Dessa is recommended for – 4th-8th grade
Curricular Connections – Paleontology, Women's History, The Scientific Method, Friendship, Responsibility, Dealing with Grief
Schedule a Field Trip Learn More about Matinees
In-School Performance Info
Digging Up Dessa is also available to travel to your school or venue as part of LCT's Professional Touring Company. It travels with its partner show for grades PreK-3rd, Puss in Boots, from September 12 - December 6, 2022. Learn more at the link below!
Schedule Your Performance(s) Learn More about Tour
Things to Know Before the Show
About LCT's Touring Performances
Digging Up Dessa is an LCT Touring Performance and when it is not performing on LCT's Main Stage, our Professional Touring Company travels around Lexington and beyond with it and its companion show, Puss in Boots to different schools and venues. These productions are created to be easy to travel and set up in many different types of performance spaces. Because touring productions have smaller cast sizes, you'll also often see the same actor transform themself to play multiple different roles in the same show.
This story is a great way to start conversations about... big feelings and sharing them with others. Throughout the story we see Dessa and her mother, Esther, processing the death of father and husband John. Following her fathers death, Dessa begins conversing with Mary Anning, a paleontologist from a book of scientists her father had gifted her. Dessa avoids questions from her mother and therefore doesn’t share her feelings about the accident and losing her father. Esther, while more outwardly expressive about her loss, doesn’t share the full truth about John with Dessa in an effort to protect her. Throughout the story, both characters, with the help of Mary, choose to share what they’ve been feeling. This gives both Esther and Dessa the opportunity to release feelings that they have been holding in so they can begin to move on together. This production is a great way to begin discovering what talking about our feelings looks like, and how even painful moments can create space for healing.
For resources to help young people talk about grief : https://childrengrieve.org/resources
We love this story because… it shows how powerful, creative, and capable young people are. In this story Dessa is not only processing the loss of her father, but also determined to uncover the truth about sexism in archeology. Adults often think we need to shelter children or shield them from some of the harder truths of life, and while sometimes this is appropriate, we don’t realize how strong and resilient they truly are. Dessa and Nilo both remind us that children can do hard things and we should welcome their questions, realizations, and ideas. We invite you to join us in listening to your young people, you might learn a thing or two!
Lighting
More details about lighting for this performance will be available after our technical rehearsals, the week of December 4, 2022. Audiences can expect simple lighting, used to illuminate actors on stage and highlight key moments.
Sound
This show includes a character, Nilo, who dreams of creating sounds for video games. He records sounds to imitate other things. These recordings are used to create a soundscape for their presentation. Touring performances use a bluetooth speaker and sound recordings to add effects to the story.
Language
In the story, Dessa and Nilo disagree and have a hard time getting along. Their conversations include some general name calling and comments. Dessa is also a student at a new school and experiences some judgment for her behavior, clothes, and love for science. During the show the characters experience a heat wave, Dessa compares the heat to "hot as hell".
intensity
This show follows Dessa who, a year prior, lost her father in a car accident. On multiple occasions, Dessa recalls the accident to try and figure out what happened and get through her mental block of those memories. These moments are traumatic for Dessa herself and could trigger some students - feel free to have conversations with students if necessary.
action
As mentioned, multiple scenes in Digging Up Dessa talk about a car accident. More details about what this will include visually will be available after our rehearsal period, around the week of September 12, 2022.
Along with the Pay What You Will performance of Digging Up Dessa, University of Kentucky’s Webb Museum of Archeology will create a display of archeological artifacts for families to view and learn about. Afterwards, a talk-back session with the cast and creative team of LCT, Webb Museum Staff, and a founding member of the Trowel Blazers, an organization dedicated to highlighting the contributions of women in the ‘digging’ sciences, will be held in the theatre. This is a FREE event and recommended for ages 8+!
Event Schedule:
5:30-7:00pm- Patrons can walk through an Archeological Artifact exhibit and learn about the digging sciences.
7:00-8:15pm – A Pay What You Will performance of Digging Up Dessa.
8:15-8:45pm – Talk-back session with the cast and creative team of LCT, Webb Museum Staff, and a founding member of the Trowel Blazers.
Learn more about Digging up Dessa
Tuesdays: January 24 – February 21, 2023
2:35 PM – 4:00 PM
Tuition: $75
Every actor must understand how to use the tools of their trade. This class is designed to explore and develop the actor’s tools that allow you to shine.
As of September 5, 2022 masks will be encouraged, but not required, in our building. For more information about how we're keeping our LCT Family safe, click the button below.
Family Weekend Performance Dates: February 11-12, 2023
School Day Matinee Dates: January 30 - February 10, 2023
Touring Dates: February 14 - May 12, 2023
I’ll die with this hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord—
I’ll die with this hammer in my hand.
It was the age of steel drivers and riverboat captains, of telegraphs and travel on horseback, of explosive dynamite and great coal steamers chugging along the rails. The tracks of The Transcontinental Railroad were being laid down faster than you could shake a stick at them – and John Henry knew he had to follow those tracks to his destiny. But when a new invention threatens to take his livelihood and those of all his steel-driving companions, he decides it’s time to take a stand. The race is on between man and machine, and John Henry is committed to the very end – even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.
Adapted by Larry and Vivian Snipes
Best enjoyed by ages 8 and up
Location: The LCT Main Stage and On Tour
Length of Show: Approximately 1 hour long
Family Weekend Performance Info
Saturday, February 11– 2:00pm & 7:00pm* (*the 7:00pm show is Pay What You Will)
Sunday, February 12 – 2:00pm
Purchase Single Tickets Purchase a Membership
*To reserve Pay What You Will tickets in advance of a show, call our Box Office at 859.254.4546 x245
School Day Matinee Info
Monday-Thursday, January 30 - February 2
Wednesday-Friday, February 8-10
10:00am & 11:45am
Recommended for – 3rd-10th grade
Curricular Connections – Legends, Folk Tales, Music, African-American Literature & Culture, U.S. History, The Industrial Revolution
Schedule a Field Trip Learn More about Matinees
In-School Performance Info
The Legend of John Henry is also available to travel to your school or venue as part of LCT's Professional Touring Company. It travels with its partner show for grades 1st-5th, Anansi the Spider, from February 14 - May 12, 2023. Learn more at the link below!
Saturdays: March 11 – April 1, 2023
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Tuition: $80
Join Bluey, Bingo, and their friends as they play the day away in this class full of giggle-filled adventures and imagination.
Saturdays: March 11 – April 1, 2023
9:00 AM – 10:15 PM
Tuition: $80
Come sharpen your comedic skills in this class designed to teach students the basic techniques used in improvisation.
Saturdays: March 11 – April 1, 2023
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Tuition: $80
Inspired by the open world formats of Minecraft and LEGO, students will use their bodies, voices, and imaginations to build and explore lands of infinite possibilities.
Saturdays: March 11 – April 1, 2023
10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
Tuition: $90
Have you ever been interested in auditioning for a musical but not sure where to start? Come learn techniques that can help bring out your best toe-tapping performance onstage just in time for auditions for LCT’s 20th annual Summer Family Musical!