STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Yes, anything goes at The Spot, which has produced what company members call “bold, fearless theater” for 10 years.

Now, “Anything Goes” will become a literal reality as the Ketchum theater presents Cole Porter’s classic musical during its 11th season.

Theater company members announced their 2025-26 season Sunday night during a music-filled fundraiser at the Ott’s mid-valley home.

David Janeski sings a ditty from “Anything Goes.”

And they thrilled the crowd as they sang a couple numbers from “Anything Goes,” which will be performed by Spot Young Company—Dec. 10-14.

A couple dozen actors and singers who have taken part in The Spot, The Liberty Theatre Company, Laughing Stock Theater, Shakespeare in the Park and the Sun Valley Playwrights Residency presented song from that and other upcoming productions.

They also paid tribute to Kevin Wade, a co-founder of The Spot Company, who is moving to New York City where he will work with Atlantic Theater.

This year’s season will kick off this week with two readings of Spot Young Company alum Julia Ott’s The Sound of Water,” which will premiere in play form at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And it will conclude in May with the second annual Spot Young Company Lite production for middle school students—this time of “Something Rotten Jr.”

Spot Board President Mike Wade said that the board just spent four weeks developing a new three-year strategic plan for “the little theater company that won’t quit, won’t give up and always puts on amazing shows.”

The lineup:

THE SOUND OF WATER by Julia Ott

The Garage @ The Spot Artist Incubator

July 10-11, 7 p.m.

Spot alum Olivia Ott, who handed out a key lime tart to Matt Musgrove, said her stint as a Spot Young company member bolstered her self-confidence for a journey that has taken her to Harvard University where she is studying public policy.

This staged reading is a gripping drama set 50 years in the future in the drought-raved American West where towns have dried up, crops have been lost and residents have begun to evacuate. But one women stays behind. She descends into a canyon where she finds something that could change everything. But, when a sudden flash flood tears through the canyon her hope and life purpose are put to the test.

The piece, directed and written by Julia Ott, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, explores how warming climate is impacting communities, what must be done to preserve the viability of the soil, scarcity of agricultural resources and the stories we lose when our lands disappear.

The 45-minute reading will be followed by a talkback. Tickets, available at https://www.spotsunvalley.com/thegarage, are $100 for donors, $25 for regulars and $15 for students under 30 with proceeds supporting the project’s debut at Edinburgh Fringe.

GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR by Doug Wright

Ali LaChance sang a number from “Something Rotten Jr.”

Spot Mainstage

Aug. 22-31

This three-time Tony-Award production takes audiences to the late-night talk show of Jack Paar in 1958 where his favorite guest—character actor, pianist and wild card Oscar Levant—takes his seat. Oscar is famous for his witty one-liners, his favorite being, “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line.” And he proves that when he appears on national TV in an episode that Paar’s audience will not soon forget.

It's a funny, deeply human and bold way to open the season.

ANYTHING GOES by Cole Porter

Spot Young Company - Teen

Dec. 10-14

This 1934 musical, which will be staged by Wood River Valley high school teens taking part in The Spot’s tuition-free theater program, is the madcap story of a stowaway on an ocean liner in love with a heiress who is engaged to a lord. A nightclub singer and Public Enemy No. 13—“Moonface” Martin--decide to aid the stowaway in his quest to win the heiress.

The pop and jazz standards “Anything Goes,” “I Get a Kick Out of You” and other songs are still popular nearly a hundred years later.

AVENUE Q by Robert Lopex, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty

Spot Mainstage

Jan. 21-Feb. 1

This musical comedy—a parody of Sesame Street featuring puppets and human actors--won Best Musical, Book and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards.

The characters—both puppet and human--face problems with uncertain solutions, many with adult themes, unlike the simplistic problems with happy resolutions found on Sesame Street.

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks

Spot Mainstage

April 9-19

This play, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, chronicles the lives of two black brothers as they cope with poverty, racism and their troubled upbringings. Lincoln works at an arcade as a whiteface Abraham Lincoln impersonator and lives with his brother after being thrown out by his wife. And both brothers wonder if they’d been truer to themselves trying to eke out a living in three-card monte card or, even, shoplifting.

It is about two brothers bound by blood trying to survive in a world that has given them little.

SOMETHING ROTTEN JR. by John O'Farrell, Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Spot Young Company Lite - Middle School

May 20-23

This hysterical Broadway Junior musical—a mashup of 16th century Shakespeare and 21st century Broadway-- follows two brothers who struggle to find success in a theatrical world that is being dominated by William Shakespeare. When a soothsayer foretells that the future of theater involves singing and dancing, in addition to acting, they set out to write the world’s first musical.

Spot Theater co-founder Yanna Lantz noted that The Spot began in 2014 with no resources other than talent. Since, it has won a prestigious Shubert Foundation award and been bolstered by an endowment fund created by Spot supporter Susan Flynt.

“We’ve always sought to offer challenging theater,” she said. “Last year we had more than a thousand new audience members and we doubled our educational outreach. Many of our students have attended prestigious colleges in theater, and we’ve had representation from nine schools in the valley.”

Case in point, she said, was a letter from one parent: “Bringing kids together from different schools helps my child see they are not alone in their interests. Thank you for helping them feel seen.”

Various actors praised Kevin Wade, who taught theater at Sun Valley Community School, for helping to shape the identity of The Spot while delivering unforgettable performances over the years.

They also presented a musical tribute of some of the musicals he’s been in, including “The Putnam County Spelling Bee,” “Sweeney Todd” and “A New Brain.”

“When my kids started at Sun Valley Community School, I saw a kid on stage who was so impressive, I hoped he would go further, and he did. He got a Master’s degree in acting and, fortunately for us, brought it back to his hometown, and he and his Spot companions have helped make The Spot regional theater,” said Susan Flynt.

“The connection and dedication he creates for each character is spellbinding,” added Sara Gorby.

“Another two hours and we’ll show slides from your childhood,” quipped Andrew Alburger. “The nice thing about The Spot is you hear what people say, and they’re always saying, ‘Did you see Sweeney Toddy?  Kevin Wade was so great in that.’ Even if he wasn’t in a show, you hear, ‘Oh Kevin was so great in that.’ ”

Kate Riley has supported The Spot at their fundraiser for five years.

“I like the intimacy of the theater—so often, I feel like I’m right in there with them,” she said. “And so many of their productions make you think.”

Lantz noted that theater and the other arts are facing uncertain times given cuts to the arts by the federal government.

“No matter what the future holds we will continue to present bold fearless theater,” she proclaimed.