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Kansas City, MO (April 20, 2009) - A Broadway-bound premiere, a provocative new staging of a Tony award-winning musical, a thought-provoking new social drama by a native Kansas City, Kansas playwright and exotic, worldly adventures are just a few of the choices Eric Rosen, artistic director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, has made for the Rep's 2009-10 season, Rosen's second as artistic leader.  

"I couldn't ask for more in 2008-09, my inaugural season at the Rep, than to hear people saying that the Rep has been electrified with new ideas and energy," said Eric Rosen.  "I'm thrilled and appreciative that our promise to deliver a season of uncommon adventure, beauty and excitement has been so well received.  My choices for next season continue that promise and heighten the anticipation, as I have put together a season of musical theatre and compelling plays written by some of my favorite contemporary and classic playwrights, performed by outstanding artists from Kansas City and across the country."  

The Rep will present a seven-play season with four shows at Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus, where Kansas City Rep is the professional theatre in residence, and three productions at Copaken Stage at 13^th and Walnut Streets.

Kansas City Rep's 2009-10 season is as follows (dates and titles are subject to change):

GRAND HOTEL:  THE MUSICAL
September 11-October 4, 2009 - Spencer Theatre
Directed by Moisés Kaufman
Book by Luther Davis
Music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest
Additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston

Broadway director and playwright Moisés Kaufman brings us a provocative reimagining of the Tony Award-winning musical Grand Hotel.  Set in an opulent Berlin hotel during the lavish decadence of the late 1920s, memorable guests share their poignant and humorous stories.  The score, performed by musicians in the Rep's orchestra pit, superbly illustrates the show's breadth of emotions, from passionate drama to side-splitting comedy.

M. PROUST
October 9-November 22, 2009 - Copaken Stage
Directed by Eric Rosen
Written by Mary Zimmerman
Based on the writings of Celeste Albaret and Marcel Proust

Tony-nominated Broadway star Mary Beth Peil, who is also well known for her television roles on Dawson's Creek and Fringe, gives a riveting one-woman tour-de-force performance in this intense, exploration of genius, obsession and secrets.  Written by Mary Zimmerman, one of our greatest theatrical minds who created the Rep's smash hits Metamorphoses and The Arabian Nights, and directed by the Rep's artistic director. 

Peil plays Celeste Albaret, who was housekeeper, personal assistant and confidante to the famous French novelist Marcel Proust (1871-1922) during the last decade of his life, a time when the famously neurotic author was immersed in completing his seven-volume masterwork, Remembrance of Things Past.  Near the end of her own life, Albaret broke her 50-year silence and wrote a fascinating memoir about her years with one of the world's greatest literary figures, who once told her, "You know everything about me."

A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL!
November 20-December 27, 2009
Directed by Eric Rosen
Book by Joseph Robinette, Music and Lyrics by Scott Davenport Richards
Produced by Gerald Goehring and Michael Jenkins
Based on the Warner Brothers Movie "A Christmas Story" and Jean Shepherd's novel
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash

One of the most beloved Christmas movie of all time has been adapted for the stage and is quickly becoming one of the most highly anticipated shows in the theatrical world.  This new, musical version of the classic holiday tale continues to center around Ralphie, the bespectacled boy whose one dream is to get a BB-gun for Christmas, despite repeated warnings of "You'll shoot your eye out!"  A Christmas Story, the Musical! unforgettably captures every child's holiday wonder with deliciously mischievous wit, a nostalgic eye and a heart of gold.  It's a Christmas present that audiences of all ages will embrace and cherish for years to come.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
January 22 - February 21, 2010 - Spencer Theatre
Written and directed by Laura Eason
Adapted from the novel by Jules Verne
A co-production with CENTERSTAGE of Baltimore

Jules Vernes' beloved classic is transformed into a theatrical epic by Laura Eason and Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago, one of the greatest physical theatre companies in the world, and originators of Metamorphoses and The Arabian Nights.

The staid and resplendently wealthy Phileas Fogg has taken a gentleman's wager that he can't circumnavigate the earth in 80 days. So confident is he that he can accomplish it, Fogg gambles his entire fortune that he and his unreliable but ever-faithful valet can pull it off. Fogg sets off on a whirlwind race aboard steamships, locomotives and pachyderms as he discovers countless exotic locales, from Calcutta to Hong Kong. Brilliant theatricality results in an elephant chase, a storm at sea, a speeding ice sled, a buffalo chase, a ride in a hot air balloon and many other on-stage marvels.

BROKE-OLOGY
February 19-March 21 - Copaken Stage
Written by Nathan Louis Jackson

Continuing its commitment to new work and diverse voices, the Rep will stage one of the first productions of Broke-ology, a powerful new play by a young writer who brings fresh perspectives to    the struggles of the next generation in our city. Emerging playwright Nathan Jackson, who grew up in Kansas City, Kansas and trained at Juilliard, taps into his local roots with his absorbing family drama set in his hometown.  Broke-ology examines the struggles of an African American family living in a lower middle class neighborhood. When brothers Ennis and Malcolm are called upon to care for their aging father, difficult choices are set in motion:  who will follow the life he dreams of and who will stay behind? Will   it be Malcolm, the first in the family to attend college, or Ennis, who relies on his street smarts and considers himself a scholar of "broke-ology," which is what he calls the study of being broke and staying alive?

TBA - AN AMERICAN CLASSIC DIRECTED BY DAVID CROMER
March 12-April 4, 2010 - Spencer Theatre

The creative and imaginative style of David Cromer, one of American theatre's most critically acclaimed directors, will return to the Rep to stage an American classic. Although the final title has yet to be selected, it is certain that Cromer will present an innovative and ground breaking new approach to one of the great masterpieces of the theatre.

VENICE
April 9-May 9, 20010
Written by Matt Sax and Eric Rosen
Directed by Eric Rosen
A co-production with Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles

Matt Sax and Eric Rosen, the team that created the Rep's electrifying hip-hop musical Clay, return with a new, high voltage musical, Venice.  An epic story of war, love, treachery and the quest for peace, Venice is about two brothers who must lead a city out of a terrorist war; one brother seeks peace while the other is mired in treachery and destruction. It is a powerful tale of the struggle between war and peace, bringing the theatricality of hip-hop to a large-cast musical.

Ticket renewals for Kansas City Repertory Theatre's 2009-10 season are now available and will go on sale to the general public in late summer.  For subscription information, please contact the Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or visit www.kcrep.org.

By KCM Staff