KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

For complete Theatre listings through 2011, click here to visit the KC Events calendar.

Egads Theatre Company
Evil Dead: The Musical
Runs October 7 through November 4
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.egadstheatre.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times 

It’s back (by audience demand)—resurrected just in time for the 2011 Halloween season!  Evil Dead: The Musical is an all-singing, all-dancing, gory extravaganza!  You don't have to like zombies, horror movies or even musicals to love this show – you only need to like having a "bloody good time"! And you don't have to know Sam Raimi's cult classic horror film series to enjoy this hard-rocking musical comedy as it follows five friends to an old abandoned cabin in the woods where they unwittingly unleash an ancient evil force hell-bent on converting them to Candarian demon zombies.  That is, until Ash Williams (an unassuming S-Mart employee) wields a sawed-off shotgun and chainsaw to become a demon killing hero!  Evil Dead: The Musical also features a “Splatter Zone” for people who want to truly engage in the real 3-D experience.  Join us!  For mature audiences only.

Read the KCM review here.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre
The History of Kisses
Copaken Stage
Runs October 21 through November 27
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Obie Award-winner David Cale’s Palomino was a critical and audience hit in 2009. He now returns to the Rep with his newest work, The History of Kisses. A writer who sequesters himself in an oceanfront motel to finish his collection of seaside stories is drawn into the romantic and sexual goings-on around him. From the tender confessions of lost lovers, to an obsessed sea-shanty singer, to the surprising encounters that define modern love, The History of Kisses is a passionate and hilarious exploration of what it means to fall in love by the sea.

EMU Theatre at the Lawrence Arts Center
Horrorshow V: “The Last Call of C’thulhu at the Old Arkham Saloon”
Runs October 21 through October 31
For tickets, visit www.emutheatre.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

EMU Theatre of Lawrence is proud to present our fifth annual Halloween production: HORRORSHOW V: “The Last Call of C'thulhu at the Old Arkham Saloon.” The production is a collection of locally written short plays adapted or inspired by the works of seminal horror author, H. P. Lovecraft.

UMKC Theatre
Comedy of Asses
Runs October 21 through October 30
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkctheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

This Roman comedy classic still has audiences laughing 2,200 years after it was written by the "Father of Comedy," Titus Maccius Plautus. There will be singing, dancing, pranks, and puns as audiences see the world upside down in this tale of greed and debauchery.

Park University Players
Almost, Maine
Runs October 21 through October 30
For tickets call (816) 584-6450 or (816) 584-6452
Call for performance days and times 

The Park University Players will present a production of Almost, Maine, by John Cariani, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21-22, and Friday-Sunday, Oct. 28-30, in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater inside Alumni Hall on the University’s Parkville Campus. The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. for all dates except for Sunday, Oct. 30, which begins at 2 p.m. Almost, Maine was developed at the Cape Cod Theatre Project in 2002 and was a popular production in New York during the 2006 season. The play is set in Almost, an unincorporated township in Aroostook County, Maine, but the nine tales of love won, lost, abandoned and remembered could happen anywhere in the world. Still, there is a magic that the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) imbues to the unexpected and often hilarious romances of the characters.

Unicorn Theatre
God of Carnage
Runs October 22 through November 13
For tickets call 816-531-7529, ext. 10 or online at www.unicorntheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

2009 Tony award winner God of Carnage makes its Kansas City debut at Unicorn Theatre.  Two couples meet to have a well-mannered discussion redarding a schoolyard fight between their sons.  What results is a wildly hysterical night of tantrums and tears before bedtime-and the kids aren't even there!

University of Central Missouri Department of Theatre and Dance
Ribbit
Runs October 28 through October 29
For tickets call 660-543-8888 or online at www.ucmo.edu/theatre
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

It's Princess Rina's wedding day, but her betrothed, Prince George, is weighed down by his own ego and doesn't have room for real love. Rina rejects George, and now the king must decree a contest for his daughter's hand. Suitors come from near and far to compete, and one of those suitors is a frog, who is deeply in love with Rina. Will the beautiful princess five a chance to an unattractive frog? Come see this musical version of The Frog Prince story to find out. 

Leawood Stage Company
Four One-Act Plays
Runs October 28 through October 30
For tickets call 913-339-6700, ext. 157, or online at www.leawoodstageco.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times 

Dramatic readings of four one-act plays by Morgan Allen, Cathrine Filloux, David Hanson, and Rich Pauli.  Event is free to the public and will be held in the Oak Room of Leawood City Hall, 4800 Town Center Drive, Leawood, KS 66211.  A question and answer session with the playwrights will follow each performance. 

The Coterie Theatre
Seussical
Runs November 1 through December 31
For tickets call 816-474-6552 or online at www.coterietheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

The plot of Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg are tunefully interwoven in this widely celebrated and critically acclaimed celebration of Dr. Seuss. The Coterie was credited in the New York Times for originating this version "for all ages"... a true family classic! 

Paul Mesner Puppets
Go, Dog, Go
Runs November 2 through November 27
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.paulmesnerpuppets.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Big dogs, little dogs, yellow dogs, blue dogs. Dogs at work, dogs at play, dogs in hats, dogs in cars! It’s an all out dog party in this colorful hilarious adaption of P.D. Eastman’s beloved book. Come and unleash your inner dog. 

American Heartland Theatre
The Marvelous Wonderettes
Runs November 4 through December 24
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.ahtkc.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Everyone wants the perfect prom night, but when the Crooning Crab Cakes from the Glee Club fail to show up to the 1958 Springfield High Prom, it's up to The Wonderettes to save the night! Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts and voices to match!  You've never had so much fun at the prom as you're treated to classic 50's and 60's songs as "Lollipop", "Dream Lover", "Stupid Cupid", "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", "It's My Party," "It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)" and so many more! 

The White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center
Avenue Q
Runs November 5 through November 20
For tickets call 913-327-8054 or online at www.jcckc.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Avenue Q is a laugh-out-loud musical that tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. There, he meets Kate (the girl next door), Rod (the Republican), Trekkie (the internet sexpert), Lucy the Slut (need we say more?), and other colorful types who help Princeton finally discover his purpose in life!  Don't miss out on the chance to see the Kansas City premiere of this Broadway hit! 

Jewell Theatre
A Man for All Seasons
Runs November 10 through November 12
For tickets call 913-415-7590
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Jewell Theatre Company at William Jewell College presents its main stage production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons at 7 p.m. November 10 and 11 and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. November 12 in Peters Theater inside Brown Hall on the William Jewell campus in Liberty, Mo. Tickets are priced at $8, or $5 for seniors, students, or members of the William Jewell community. In Robert Bolt’s play, Thomas More, Chancellor of England, remains silent when Henry VIII demands that More support Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. More’s integrity is tested to the extreme in the presence of ‘yes’ men and the common throng that follows the flow of history. The play was a hit in London when it opened in 1960 and on Broadway in 1961. A 1966 film version won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Paul Scofield), best director and best screenplay. 

Johnson County Community College Music and Theatre Department
Anatomy of Gray
Runs November 11 through November 20

The Music and Theatre Department at Johnson County Community College will present Anatomy of Gray from Nov. 11-13 and Nov. 18-20. The academic production is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Polsky Theatre in the Carlsen Center; seating is first-come, first-served. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11-12 and Nov. 18-19. It will begin at 2 p.m. on Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20. The story, set in Indiana during the late 1800s, deals with death, loss, love and healing. When June's father dies, she prays for a healer to come to the small town of Gray so no one will ever suffer again. The next thing she knows, there's a tornado and a man in a balloon blows into town claiming to be a doctor. At first, the doctor cures anything and everything but soon the town's preacher takes ill with a mysterious plague. And then the plague spreads. 

One Night Only
Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
Aquila Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Thursday, October 27, at 7:00 p.m.
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/events/2011-2012/aquila-theatre-company.html

Aquila breathes fresh life and fire into classic theatre. Shakespeare’s tragic Macbeth centers on a meeting between the victorious Scottish general and three mysterious witches. They promise that he will one day become King of Scotland! What follows is a wild and maddening descent into war, insanity and demons. 

One Night Only
Westport Center for the Arts
Henry James’ Turn of the Screw
Friday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m.
For tickets call 816-931-1032 or online at www.westportcenterforthearts.org

Westport Center for the Arts presents Henry James’ classic “ghost” story “The Turn of the Screw” at 7:30 p.m.  Friday, Oct. 28 at Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road. Actors Robert Gibby Brand, Suzanne Welch and Nancy Marcy will recount the 1898 tale set in a rural English house of a young governess, two adorable and precocious children and the ghosts of a valet and former governess, which display a keen interest in the children. Organist Geoffrey Wilcken will provide musical accompaniment for the performance. 

One Night Only
Lied Center of Kansas
The Intergalactic Nemesis
Saturday, October 29, at 7:30 p.m.
For tickets call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu/events/intergalactic.shtml

The year is 1933. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan, her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez, and a mysterious librarian named Ben Wilcott face the most serious threat Earth has ever known: an impending invasion of sludge monsters from the planet Zygon. This period-sci-fi-horror-suspense-comedy-romance for the whole family is performed in an innovative, multimedia presentation. While three actors, one Foley artist and one keyboardist provide all the voices, sound effects and music, more than 1,250 hand-drawn, full-color, blow-your-mind comic book images are projected on a screen, telling the larger-than-life story. 

One Night Only
Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
69° South – The Shackleton Project
Friday, November 11, at 8:00 p.m.
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/events/2011-2012/69-degrees-south.html

This new work by puppet theater company Phantom Limb re-enacts the extraordinary events of 1914 when Ernest Shackleton and 27 others set out to be the first team of explorers to cross Antarctica. The plot combines a dark aesthetic with fantastic music to lead us to the ultimately happy ending.

For complete Theatre listings through 2011, click here to visit the KC Events calendar.

By Victor Wishna

Senior Editor, Theatre; Theatre and Features Contributor
Victor Wishna is a writer, editor, and author, among other things. A graduate of Stanford University and the New School's creative writing MFA program, he has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Baltimore Sun, the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star, Humanities, and other major magazines and newspapers. He contributes a weekly real estate feature to the New York Post and his column “Letter from New York” is syndicated nationally.

With photographer Ken Collins, he published In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights (Umbrage Editions, 2006), for which he conducted and edited interviews with 61 prominent stage writers including Edward Albee, August Wilson, Tony Kushner, Wendy Wasserstein, and many others. The book won a 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver Medal (www.intheircompany.com).

He has always maintained a love for theatre, as a writer, an audience member, and even an actor, appearing in several community and semi-professional productions. As an undergraduate, he studied acting and playwriting with Anna Deavere Smith, in addition to journalism and psychology (and not engineering or medicine).

After nearly 12 years in New York City, Victor recently returned to his hometown with his wife, Annie, also a K.C. native. When not writing for publication or pleasure, Victor is honing his stand-up routine, which he has performed at numerous clubs and special events around New York, the Midwest, and elsewhere. In June 2010, he was named New York’s second-funniest amateur Jewish comedian by The Jewish Week. Seriously.