Living Room opens with local playwright’s ‘Bastard’
By Bob Evans Family drama plays out in darkest terms as a family struggles with life verses art in a tightly crafted drama focusing on doom, gloom, and the notion that art imitates life and visa-versa, in Tyson Schroeder’s “Bastard.” “Bastard” allows four talented actors to bring new characters to light (or visible darkness) in this family, struggling to attempt balance, internally and externally, where no balance appears possible....
Hasty decisions spell tragedy for ‘King Lear’
By Bob Evans Always expect excellence with Kansas City Actors Theatre mounts a project, but add an extra dose of intensity when they select a Shakespearean tragedy and enlist the support of the UMKC’s MFA candidates to work alongside them as they do in “King Lear” in Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus. “King Lear,” a very limited run, affords the younger thespians the opportunity to work alongside one of the distinguished professors...
Broadway songs bolster ‘I’ve Got a Crush on You’ at QHP
By Bob Evans Originating on Broadway, the music in the current show at Quality Hill Playhouse traces some of the classic American standards from their sometimes forgotten shows to continued recordings and inclusion into the Great American Songbook. With the help of his vocal cast, Victoria Botero, Christina Burton, and Tim Noland, J. Kent Barnhart celebrates the songs that, in many cases, outlasted the shows where they originated....
Christie classic continues to trap audiences in clever “Mousetrap”
By Bob Evans Dame Agatha Christie developed the whodunit genre and no one since creates the volumes of masterpieces like the grand dame of England does, with her longest running play in the world–“The Mousetrap”, now in its 65th year of continuous shows in London’s West End. Even though not in London, Kansas City theater enthusiasts can peek in at the Christie macabre thriller for one weekend only at the Leawood Stage Company...
