Shows for the 2008-2009 season
Clay
Sep 6th — Sep 28th, 2008
Copaken Stage
Written By Matt Sax
Directed by Eric Rosen
Clay was created by the phenomenal young artist Matt Sax in collaboration with Eric Rosen,the Rep's new Artistic Director. Clay is a coming-of-age story told with the great humor, intensity, and lyricism of contemporary hip hop music. The story follows Clifford, a boy from the suburbs who escapes the dissolution of his family and comes under the tutelage of Sir John, a Falstaff-like master of the spoken word. As Clifford ascends to stardom as the rap-star Clay, his world is turned upside down as his past comes back to haunt him. Matt’s solo tour-de-force performance won him Chicago’s prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award and critical acclaim for its recent Los Angeles run. This award-winning musical will have a limited three week run at Copaken Stage before moving to Lincoln Center Theater in New York. “Sax (is) so assured as both writer and performer that he redefines charisma for a hip new age.” Variety
Radio Golf
Oct 17th — Nov 9th, 2008
Spencer Theatre
Written By August Wilson
Directed by Lou Bellamy
"Radio Golf" centers on Harmond Wilks, an ambitious young politician in Pittsburgh who is balancing his mayoral campaign with a high-stakes real estate venture that depends on federal money for its success. Complicating Wilks’ life is the realization that as he pursues the glamour of public office, he could lose his own family history and racial identity. "Radio Golf" prophetically addresses some of the issues of the current presidential campaign and is the last and most contemporary work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s 10-play cycle about black life and culture in 20th century America.
A Christmas Carol
Nov 22nd — Dec 27th, 2008
Spencer Theatre
Written By Charles Dickens
Directed by Linda Ade Brand
Don't miss this memorable production which has been a Kansas City holiday favorite for twenty-eight seasons. You are sure to get in the spirit of the holiday season with the beautiful costumes, charming scenery and delightful music. It is the perfect way to enhance this magical season and celebrate with family and friends. Ghostly apparitions, festive dancing and traditional carol-singing will make you feel the warmth and spirit as you follow Ebenezer Scrooge on his ageless journey from miser to munificent, kind citizen.
The Glass Menagerie
Jan 2nd — Feb 8th, 2009
Copaken Stage
Written By Tennessee Williams
Directed by David Cromer
Tennessee Williams’ enduring classic is an award-winning portrayal of a disintegrating family during the depression of the 1930s. Looking back through the eyes of Amanda Wingfield’s son Tom we share an intimate moment of their family life in a St. Louis tenement house in the delicate atmosphere of time remembered. Amanda, a former Southern belle, places well-meaning but unrealistic demands on her exceedingly shy and slightly crippled daughter Laura, driving her to seek refuge in a world of fantasy that revolves around her collection of glass animals. Torn between loyalty to his sister and his desire to be free of his family, Tom escapes into a world of alcohol and poetry. When Tom brings home a friend to meet Laura, Amanda hopes this might finally be the suitor who can bring her daughter out of her reclusive shell. Vulnerable and tragic, The Glass Menagerie is one of Williams’ most intimate and heartrending dramas and introduced him as one of the preeminent American playwrights of the 20th century.
The Arabian Nights
Jan 30th — Feb 22nd, 2009
Spencer Theatre
From the creator of the Broadway and Kansas City smash Metamorphoses comes this glorious and extraordinary retelling of one of the greatest epics of world literature. Zimmerman’s stunning theatrical event is a series of stories brilliantly woven by the beautiful princess Scheherezade to save her own life. As long as she can keep the king entertained with her magical stories of beauty, honor, love, and the search for wisdom, he will spare her. With Zimmerman’s famed fusion of gorgeous music, inventive staging, and highly theatrical storytelling, The Arabian Nights gives us an exhilarating view of the lush, rich legacy of the place we now know as Iraq. Creator/director Mary Zimmerman is the recipient of a 1998 MacArthur ”Genius” Grant, the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director and ten Joseph Jefferson Awards. "If you want theatre at its most unpretentiously poetic, most fetchingly stylish, as humane as it is elegant, I commend to you The Arabian Nights." --New York Magazine
Winesburg, Ohio
Mar 13th — Apr 5th, 2009
Spencer Theatre
Based on the Novel by Sherwood Anderson Book and Lyrics by Eric Rosen With Music and Additional Lyrics by Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman Directed and Developed in Collaboration with Jessica Thebus Directed by Eric Rosen An award-winning new musical by KC Rep’s new Artistic Director Eric Rosen and three of Chicago’s most talented theatre artists. Based on Sherwood Anderson’s classic stories of life in a small Midwestern town at the turn of the 19th century, Winesburg is a passionate ode to expressing the secret passions that lie beneath the quiet surface of everyday life. George Willard is just 18 when the musical begins, full of hopes of a great life as an artist, but because of his ailing mother, he can only dream of escaping Winesburg for the big city. One by one, George encounters the citizens of Winesburg, and begins to learn that secret histories and deep hidden passions are lurking just beneath the surface. At once hilarious, heartbreaking, and triumphant, Winesburg, Ohio is one of the most original new musicals to come along this decade, and an homage to one of the greatest works of 20th century literature. Winesburg won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work and the Barrymore Award for Best Musical.
The Borderland
Apr 4th — May 4th, 2009
Copaken Stage
Written By Jim Grimsley
Directed by Kyle Hatley
In this explosive thriller, a young couple who think that escaping the rat-race and having a child might save their crumbling marriage decide to pack up their urban life and move to the country. On a stormy night, their illusion of security is quickly upended when an impoverished young mother of five is chased onto their property by her abusive husband. Alliances are formed and relationships are betrayed as the two couples face off in a battle for their homes, their marriages, and their futures. With spine-tingling intensity, Grimsley’s exciting new play explores the uneasy borders that exist between men and women, rich and poor, and urban and rural.
A Flea in Her Ear
May 15th — Jun 15th, 2009
Spencer Theatre
Written By Georges Feydeau/David Ives
Directed by Gary Griffin
Having recently directed "The Color Purple" on Broadway, Olivier Award-winner Gary Griffin brings us a new adaptation of Feydeau’s masterful French farce that was a recent hit at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The story begins when Madame Raymonde Chandebise suspects that her husband Victor’s lack of affection indicates he is having an affair behind her back. To prove her suspicions, Raymonde writes an anonymous letter to him requesting a romantic rendezvous at a disreputable hotel. Victor misinterprets the letter and sends his friend Tournel, a notorious womanizer, in his place. This results in a series of misunderstandings, misplaced jealousies, mistaken identities and numerous side-splitting complications. “A good many laughs along the way, and laughter is always a fine medicine.”