Yavapai College's "Fiddler on the Roof" photo graces European lighting design calendar

We are in Tevye's nightmare, as staged by the Yavapai College Performing Arts Department's production of "Fiddler on the Roof." Eric Tuthill's lighting design brings us to a ghastly cemetery: white moonlight stabs through purple-black fog as spirits hover and dark silhouettes prowl between headstones. It's the tremulous moment before Fruma-Sarah – Tevye's NBA-sized mother-in-law – rises vengefully from her grave. It's a visual stunner.

But it happened last April. So Tuthill was surprised to open a package last month and find the moment staring back at him from a German lighting manufacturer's calendar.

Yavapai College's technical wizardry and brilliant stagecraft made an international splash this year, as the MA Lighting 2026 Calendar put a photo from Yavapai College's 2025 Spring production on theatre and lighting booth walls all over the world.

"This calendar has shots from Sweden, Thailand, Korea, the Eurovision Song Festival," Tuthill says. "A lot of these are stadium shows, with millions of dollars in production." The Fiddler photo is not assigned to a month but instead landed on the first page of the overall calendar.

It's an achievement, Tuthill says, that's far from his exclusively. "It's a huge team effort that the [Performing Arts] department put together." That effort, he says, extends to Blushing Cactus Photography, the Prescott-based photographers who have filmed Yavapai College Jim and Linda Lee Performing Ats Center (JLLPAC) shows since 2016.

"We are thrilled," Blushing Cactus Photography co-owner Tracy Fultz says. "It's a big honor." Both Tracy and her partner/husband Jeremiah had their shutters flying during a Fiddler dress rehearsal last spring when Tuthill told them a super-tricky' scene was coming up. "It's so fun to work with the JLLPAC," Jeremiah said. "They're always doing something powerful and cinematic. We're grateful we could capture it."

The winning photo was one of six shots – from "Fiddler on the Roof" and Yavapai College's 2024 production of "Anastasia" – that Tuthill submitted to his lighting supplier. "ACT Entertainment, our North American distributor, said, 'Hey, these guys are having a contest.' So I sent him photos back in November" Tuthill said.

He didn't have time to wonder. The Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center is kind of an artistic conveyer belt: load-in a show; light and build it; fine-tune, repair and … here comes another show. "We're very fortunate to have what we do up here. Outside of Phoenix, we're the biggest thing in Northern Arizona," Tuthill said, who started at the JLLPAC as a stagehand in 2022 and works under the title of House Engineer. "In December, they said, 'One of your photos made the finals.' But they didn't say what happened afterward, or even which one."

The next few weeks were crazy – holiday shows, winter break, old lights to service, a new sound system to install. "There was a package downstairs that I kept walking by," he said. "Andre, our manager, brought it up to my office, 'this is for you.'" It opened it up to a very familiar image. To Tuthill, the calendar shows that hard work and high creative standards can occasionally be transcendent. "Fourteen photos from around the world," he said, "and we're one of 'em."

Yavapai College operates seven campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, six baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about Yavapai College, visit www.yc.edu.