Emily Shackelford News

The rock musical Hair has been produced many times over the years in Kansas City, but never has it been presented the way the Kansas City Repertory Theatre brought it to the Spencer Theatre on opening night March 27. Artistic Director Eric Rosen directs Hair: Retrospective, which runs through April 12 at the theater on the University of Missouri at Kansas City campus. The retrospective may actually be more enjoyable than the musical itself, (not just my opinion, heard from audience members also).

Performances begin tonight, Friday, March 20 and run through Sunday, April 12. Press night is scheduled for Opening Night Friday, March 27. Appropriate for ages 17 +. As a concert production, there will be no live nudity, though documentary photographs of the original production will be projected.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Eric Rosen announced today the casting for HAIR: Retrospection, under his direction.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark opened on Saturday night June 7 at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. The play written by Lynn Nottage takes place in 1930's Hollywood, where Vera Stark is a black housekeeper for a Hollywood starlet. Directed by Missy Koonce, Vera Stark lands a part in a movie starring her white boss Gloria Mitchell. What happens in the next two acts are the hilarious relationships of Stark, Mitchell, and the other characters in the cast over a 75-year journey.

The comedy about Hollywood stereotypes, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark comes to the Unicorn Theatre tonight, June 4, with opening night on June 7. Missy Koonce directs the Unicorn production written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 for her play Ruined. At the time, she wrote Ruined she was working on a second project, which ended up being By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

The comedy about Hollywood stereotypes, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark comes to the Unicorn Theatre June 4, with opening night on June 7. Missy Koonce directs the Unicorn production written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 for her play Ruined. At the time, she wrote Ruined she was working on a second project, which ended up being By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

If you have seen the current performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live! at The Coterie, or if you have not seen it and are 13 years old or older you should see it again. The best production of The Coterie season gets even better on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. when it is transformed to a teen-adult sing-along presentation.

Whoever says that learning is not fun, has not seen Schoolhouse Rock Live at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City? Schoolhouse Rock Live opened Friday night April 11 to a sold-out house. The show is without a doubt the best production of an already fantastic season, but they are not done yet with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang coming in June.

The world premiere of Afflicted: Daughters of Salem, written by Laurie Brooks opened Friday January 31 on the stage of the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. The National Endowment for the Arts award winning drama directed by Jeff Church, Producing Artistic Director at the Coterie, is the tale of the teenage girls who were instrumental in the infamous Salem witch trials.

Afflicted: Daughters of Salem, a World Premiere, opens Tuesday January 28 at the Coterie Theater, in Kansas City, Mo. The UMKC Theatre Department is co-producing the National Endowment for the Arts award-winning drama by playwright Laurie Brooks, and directed by Jeff Church. The Coterie, an equity theater, has been co-producing plays with the UMKC Department of Theatre since 1992, in an effort to give MFA actors an opportunity to work with established theater professionals.

The Coterie will launch its 34th season of live theatre tonight, September 8 with the pop rock musical Spring Awakening, the winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. The show will feature a cast of powerful, young musical theatre performers from the Kansas City area and can be seen in a series of evening shows and Saturday matinees. Spring Awakening is based on the 1891 play of the same name by German playwright Frank Wedekind and explores what has changed-and what hasn't-on the path to understanding sex.

The Coterie will launch its 34th season of live theatre on September 8 with the pop rock musical Spring Awakening, the winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. The show will feature a cast of powerful, young musical theatre performers from the Kansas City area and can be seen in a series of evening shows and Saturday matinees. Spring Awakening is based on the 1891 play of the same name by German playwright Frank Wedekind and explores what has changed-and what hasn't-on the path to understanding sex.

The final production in American Heartland Theatre's 25th anniversary season will be a Kansas City Premiere: BINGO! The Winning Musical, described as 'a splashy, zippy, and outrageously funny new musical' starring Debra Bluford, Jennifer Mays, Stasha Case, Jeanne Averill, Rick Williamson, and Emily Shackelford.

The final production in American Heartland Theatre's 25th anniversary season will be a Kansas City Premiere: BINGO! The Winning Musical, described as 'a splashy, zippy, and outrageously funny new musical' starring Debra Bluford, Jennifer Mays, Stasha Case, Jeanne Averill, Rick Williamson, and Emily Shackelford.

Once upon a time, there were disgruntled parents who were bored with their children's mindless entertainment. Whatever were they to do? How could they enrich their children's lives with the wonders of live theater without becoming grumpy, sleepy, or dopey? The answer: the toe-tapping, fluffy Lucky Duck at the New Victory Theater, which goes far beyond most children's shows to be, as the title character puts it, "an average simple mega superstar."

What happens once the Ugly Duckling comes out of her shell? She takes a show business journey to become a singing swan superstar! Kansas City audiences can catch the one-night-only performance of Lucky Duck by the Coterie Theatre at 7 p.m. March 8 at the Folly Theater, 1020 Central. The musical comedy with its Kansas City cast will then take flight for its debut at the New Victory Theater in New York March 16-25.

What happens once the Ugly Duckling comes out of her shell? She takes a show business journey to become a singing swan superstar! Kansas City audiences can catch the one-night-only performance of Lucky Duck by the Coterie Theatre at 7 p.m. March 8 at the Folly Theater, 1020 Central. The musical comedy with its Kansas City cast will then take flight for its debut at the New Victory Theater in New York March 16-25.

The New Victory Theater presents the New York premiere of Lucky Duck, a musical from the Broadway team of Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls, Side Show), Bill Russell (Side Show)and Jeffrey Hatcher (Tuesdays with Morrie). With live musicians, clever lyrics and crisp choreography, this satirical, rags-to-runway musical created for young people puts a modern spin on classic musical theater. Lucky Duck will run at The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street, from March 16 through March 25.

SEUSSICAL, one of the most popular new musicals in the United States performs November 1 through December 31 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.