Hoping for COVID’s end, KC Rep plans full season, beginning with love under the stars
For the first time since the pandemic hit, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre is planning a full season of performances — including a love story, a tradition and a world premiere — but it starts with a twist.
Artistic director Stuart Carden on Thursday announced the six productions of the 2021-22 season, most of which will be performed live, inside its theaters.
But taking no chances in case COVID-19 continues to keep theaters dark into the fall, the first two shows are scheduled for outdoor venues: “Mary’s Wedding,” on the grounds of National WWI Museum and Memorial, and “Ghost Light: A Haunted Night of Songs and Stories from KC’s Cultural Crossroads,” on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
The Rep, which hasn’t had an in-theater show since “Legacy Land” on March 12, 2020, introduced “Ghost Light” last fall as a Halloween treat on the Nelson-Atkins lawn and sold out every show.
The season’s first in-theater show will be the Rep’s popular annual production of “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol” in Spencer Theatre on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus. Last holiday season, the Rep produced “A Christmas Carol” virtually with a storytelling approach.
In addition to “A Christmas Carol,” two other shows in the upcoming season were scheduled to be part of the 2020-21 season that was wiped out by the pandemic: “The Royale,” which will tour the community, and “The Old Man and the Old Moon,” a musical folktale by PigPen Theatre Co., which Carden described as his “signature show” before he came to the Rep in 2019.
Those two productions will close the season after the Rep presents the world premiere of “(The Extremely Thrilling & Occasionally Shocking Mis-Adventures of Mesdames) Holmes & Watson,” which is adapted from the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
“As we turn the page on this extraordinarily difficult time of isolation that has kept KC Rep’s theaters dark and so profoundly impacted all of us, we are so grateful to announce a return to live theater with a season of experiences that celebrate imagination, resilience, wonder and joy,” Carden said.
Season tickets are $40-$60 per show, with subscription renewals running through June 7. Single tickets will go on sale July 26. Rain dates will be available for outdoor shows; ticket holders will have the option to switch to later productions.
Contact 816-235-2700 or visit kcrep.org.
The season:
“Mary’s Wedding,” Aug. 27-Sept. 19, on the south grounds of National WWI Museum and Memorial: Set in the years before World War I, “Mary’s Wedding” is about Mary and Charlie, whose romance blossoms after they meet in a barn during a thunderstorm.
“Ghost Light: A Haunted Night of Songs and Stories from KC’s Cultural Crossroads,” Sept. 30-Oct. 17, south lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Conceived and directed by Carden, “Ghost Light” proved very popular when it was introduced last fall. The hybrid concert and ghost-story event with local storytellers and musicians will feature Enrique Chi and Juan Carlos Chaurand of the local Latinx rock ’n’ roll band Making Movies.
“Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,” Nov. 19-Dec. 26, Spencer Theatre: A Kansas City family tradition for more than 40 years will return to the stage as Ebenezer Scrooge takes his redemptive journey with Christmas Past, Present and Future.
“(The Extremely Thrilling & Occasionally Shocking Mis-Adventures of Mesdames) Holmes & Watson,” Feb. 1-20, 2022, Copaken Stage downtown: This modern take on the world’s most famous team of fictional sleuths, adapted by playwright Kate Hamill, is a darkly comical farce, with oddball female roommates serving as Holmes and Watson. In 2019, the Rep presented Hamill’s raucous adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
“The Royale,” March 8-27, 2022, Copaken Stage and throughout community: This play by Marco Ramirez was inspired by Jack Johnson, a Black man who became the world heavyweight boxing champion during the Jim Crow era. Carden earned rave reviews when he presented the play at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2017.
“The Old Man and The Old Moon,” May 3-22, 2022, Spencer Theatre: Folk musicians and puppets will perform during this whimsical fable in which The Old Man, whose job is to make the moon glow nightly, embarks on an epic adventure in search of his missing wife.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
