All performances are located in the David Theater
Park University 8700 NW River Park Dr
Parkville, MO 64152

 

The Gladstone Amphitheatre at 76th and Troost is the stage for city events and festivals. While the big players such as the Gladstone Theatre in the Park and Bluesfest are well known, other groups are getting some time on the stage. Here are three more June concerts to round out the month. These concerts are at 7 p.m. Uncle Ezra’s Chiropractic Brass plays June 15. The UMKC Jazz Quintet performs June 22 and Cherry Bomb takes the stage June 29.

The city also offers movies in the park. The June 18 show, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” starts at 9 p.m.

URBAN CULTURE PROJECT PRESENTS:
EVENT HORIZONS

A TOURING PROGRAM OF NEW WORK BY THOMAS COMERFORD, SABINE GRUFFAT & BILL BROWN 

Film, video, and new media artists Thomas Comerford (Chicago), and Sabine Gruffat & Bill Brown (Madison, Wisconsin) present a program of work that follows shimmering paths of desire across space and time

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 8PM
URBAN CULTURE PROJECT SPACE / 21 East 12^th Street, KC MO 64105
816.221.5115 / www.charlottestreet.org
$5 suggested donation

 
Featuring:

• The Indian Boundary Line by Thomas Comerford 41 mins.,16mm/8mm/S8mm on digital betacam, color, sound
• Time Machine by Sabine Gruffat & Bill Brown 40 mins., multiple channel, multimedia live performance

 
Over the last eight years, Chicago musician and filmmaker Thomas Comerford has been at work on a series of quietly-observed films that contemplate the entwined social, political, and environmental histories of Chicago (Figures in the Landscape, 2002; Land Marked/Marquette, 2005). The Indian Boundary Line (2010) follows a road in Chicago, Rogers Avenue, that traces the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis boundary between the United States and “Indian Territory.” In doing so, it examines the collision between the vernacular landscape, with its storefronts, short-cut footpaths and picnic tables, and the symbolic one, replete with historical markers, statues, and fences. Through its observations and audio-visual juxtapositions, The Indian Boundary Line meditates on a span of land in Chicago about 12 miles long, but suggests how this land and its history are an index for the shifting inhabitants, relationships, boundaries and ideas of landscape -- as well as the consequences -- which have accompanied the transformation of the “New World.”
 
Time Machine is a live, multimedia performance in which Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown explore new way of telling stories with technologies that are both cutting edge and obsolete. Our Time Machine is built from a variety of machines: a slide projector, an analog video switcher, a record player, a digital video projector, and a computer. Analog and digital signals are combined or rerouted, audio signals are patched through video inputs, and machines are utilized in ways they were not originally built for. During the performance, the stage becomes the control panel for an immense ship and the screen becomes a window through which we visualize different spaces and times. Sometimes we are aboard a transatlantic freighter; sometimes we are whisked into the future amid a constellation of unknown stars; other times we are driving down an American highway peeking into old motels. In all of these locales, we are space-time tourists driven by an exploratory urge.
 
Biographies:
 
Thomas Comerford (b. 1970, Richmond, VA) is a media artist, musician, and educator residing in Chicago. Trained in sculpture, performance, and the classics, he began making films in the early 1990s. In 1997, he embarked on an influential series of films, made with a pinhole motion picture camera and home-made microphone, under the title, Cinema Obscura (1997-2002). His recent films are site-specific to Chicago and explore the evidence, revision, and erasure of histories in the landscape. His work has screened at many festivals and venues, including the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, San Francisco Cinematheque, and the London Film Festival. Comerford has also toured the United States with his films, screening in spaces ranging from church basements and backyards to regular old movie theatres. As songwriter, singer, and producer for the rock band Kaspar Hauser, Comerford has performed his music around the Midwest and eastern U.S. and released three LP records. He currently teaches film production, DIY exhibition, and punk rock history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sabine Gruffat is a French-American artist and Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her performance, photography, and video work deals with the language and cultural significance of both old and new technologies. Her work has been exhibited and screened at venues worldwide including PS1/MOMA, Art in General, and Zolla Lieberman gallery.
 
Bill Brown has been making first-person experimental documentaries since the mid-1990's. His films explore the landscapes of North America, and have screened in venues across the world, including the Viennale, the Rotterdam Film Festival, the London Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, Lincoln Center, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Film and Video Production at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 
Links:
 
Thomas Comerford:
thomascomerford.net
kasparhausermusic.net
 
Sabine Gruffat:
www.sabinegruffat.com/Timemachine.html
www.sabinegruffat.com/BIKEBOX.html
www.sabinegruffat.com/Arduino-Video-Synth.html

Bill Brown:
www.heybillbrown.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqzAv0wc09o
 
Tour Dates:
6/12 Gadabout, Bloomington, Indiana
6/13 Flyover Film Festival, Louisville, Kentucky
6/15 Minicine, Shreveport, Louisiana
6/16 The Groj, Fayetteville, Arkansas
6/17 Spencer Art Museum (Univ. of Kansas), Lawrence, Kansas
6/18 Urban Culture Project, Kansas City, Missouri
 
Urban Culture Project is an initiative of the Charlotte Street Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Kansas City a place where artists and art thrive. Urban Culture Project creates new opportunities for artists of all disciplines and contributes to urban revitalization by transforming spaces in downtown Kansas City into new venues for multi-disciplinary contemporary arts programming. For more information, visit www.charlottestreet.org.

At the Irish Museum and Cultural Center in Kansas City's Union Station (lower level, west wing)

Park in the Parking Garage on the west side of Union Station - may need to go to second level. 

5:30 pm music by Dublin-native Eddie Delahunt

7 pm play Bloomsday Dublin

Free - but donations appreciated

Join us for Bloomsday, a celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses, one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The book is set in Dublin on June 16, 1904, and follows the thoughts and actions of Leopold Bloom. Now June 16 is honored as Bloomsday with tributes to Irish arts and literature worldwide.

The play is an adaptation of Ulysses by Professor Lary Opitz of Skidmore College, depicting key sequences in Bloom’s travels through the streets, pubs and bordellos of Dublin. Directed by Sylvia Stoner, it features a cast of some of Kansas City’s finest actors. Stoner is a singer and actor who has performed across the country in opera and theater. 

The event concludes with Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, the famously earthy and erotic musings of Bloom’s wife, which provide the final affirmation of: “And yes, I said, yes, I will, yes!"

This will be a wonderful evening bringing the quintessential Irish story to life. You don’t want to miss it! But note: this is NOT for the kids.

Boulevard provides refreshments; all attending provide the atmosphere. The more the better!

Kansas City’s Bloomsday celebration is sponsored by the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Trust and Boulevard Brewery. The Irish Center is located in the lower level of Union Station; there is convenient parking in the garage immediately west of Union Station.

Tom and Nancy Shawver of Bloomsday Books have hosted Kansas City’s annual celebration for the last 14 years, each year featuring Eddie Delahunt and Sylvia Stoner. This is the first year in which the celebration finds its home at the Irish Center, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Irish heritage and cultural education, preservation and celebration.

For more information, contact Tom Shawver at 816-523-6712, info@BloomsdayBooks.com or the Irish Center at 816-474-3848, info@irishmuseum.org.

The Irish Center in Union Station is open year-round, free for browsing, genealogy research, and more Wed - Sat 10 - 4 pm, Sun noon - 4 pm.

The Irish Center is available for rent for your private or business function.

Become a member of the Irish Center at http://www.irishmuseum.org/membership/

Visit www.irishmuseum.org for more information, email info@irishmuseum.org, or call 816-474-3848.

Kansas City, MO -- Time Magazine’s theatre critic Richard Zoglin has proclaimed Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of VENICE  the best musical of the year.

Read Zoglin’s review: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1989375,00.html#ixzz0nw29xk4g

VENICE is a ripped-from-the-headlines story of war, love and the ultimate quest for peace, told through a dynamic mix of musical genres, including hip-hop, R&B and traditional theatre music.  Two brothers are in conflict over how to save their city from a terrorist war; one brother seeks peace while the other is mired in treachery and destruction.  Given a contemporary setting, Venice brings the theatricality of hip-hop to a large-cast musical.

The  VENICE cast of twelve musical theatre performers includes: Uzo Aduba as Anna Monroe (Coram Boy, 365 Plays/365 Days); Clifton Duncan as Markos Monroe (Twelfth Night); Anna Eilinsfeld, ensemble (I Come for Love, In the Bubble); Jay Garcia, ensemble (Altar Boyz, Legally Blonde tour, Avenue Q);  J.D. Goldblatt as Theodore Westbrook (Broadway revival Les Miserables); Andrea Kiyo Goss as Willow Turner (Rent); Colin Hanlon as Michael Victor (I Love You Because, How Now, Dow Jones); Javier Muñoz as Venice Monroe (In the Heights); Angela Wildflower Polk as Hailey Daisy (Crowns, Permanent Collection, Bat Boy, the Musical—Unicorn Theatre); Matt Sax as Clown MC (Clay); Brandon Sollenberger, ensemble (Moisés Kaufman’s Into the Woods, KC Rep); Jasmin Walker as Emilia Monroe (Avenue Q, 365 Days/365 Plays).

The creative team includes musical director Curtis Moore (Into the Woods at KC Rep, The Bridge Project, The Coast of Utopia, Sam Mendes’ The Cherry Orchard), choreography by John Carrafa (Tony Award nominations for Urinetown, Into the Woods) and Tanisha Scott (Sean Paul, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Rihanna), set and costume design by Meghan Raham (Clay), lighting design by David Weiner (Steven Cosson’s Bus Stop at KC Rep, Equivocation, Reasons to be Pretty), projection design by Jason H. Thompson (assistant design, Jersey Boys) and sound design by Joshua Horvath (Clay).

The Rep’s co-producing partner for VENICE is Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles, which commissioned Rosen and Sax in 2007 to write another musical following the success of their critically acclaimed show Clay, which premiered in Los Angeles and had subsequent sold-out runs at Kansas City Rep and in New York, where it kicked off Lincoln Center Theater’s new programming initiative LCT3, devoted to producing the work of emerging playwrights, directors and designers.  

VENICE closed the Rep’s 2009-10 season on May 9.

About Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Now in its 45^th year, Kansas City Repertory Theatre is one of the nation’s leading professional theatres and a member of the League of Resident Theatres.  The Rep produces a full season of plays and events at Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus, where the Rep is the professional theatre in residence, and at Copaken Stage downtown. Its diverse repertoire includes new works, musicals and classics of literature.  The theatre serves approximately 100,000 patrons annually and employs more than 250 professional artists, technicians and administrators.  This year, more than 8,500 students from 150 schools in the two-state region will attend special matinee performances, and more than 1,200 students will experience the Rep’s classroom programming and workshops.

Friday/Saturday, May 21–22

The concert, by the Conservatory's resident dance company, includes Desire, by Gary Abbott, co-director of Deeply Rooted Productions in Chicago, To Each Her Own, choreographed by Conservatory faculty Paula Weber, and multi-media works Moore in Time and Southern Exposure choreographed by Conservatory faculty Mary Pat Henry, co-founder of Wylliams/Henry. Both concerts begin at 8:00pm at the Spencer Theatre, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus. Tickets are $24 and $18 for adults or $18 and $15 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.wylliams-henry.org or by calling the Central Ticket Office at (816) 235-6222, http://www.umkc.edu/cto

Contacts:  Pat Paton, PPPR, 913-491-4000, pppr@kc.rr.com, or Eric L. Magnus, Artistic Director, 913-432-9100, emagnitude@yahoo.com

Special pricing on mid-season tickets for the four remaining productions this theatre season have been announced by The Barn Players, the area’s premiere community theatre.

The remaining season productions are:

‘THE BOYS NEXT DOOR’, June 4-20, rated PG-13

‘THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES’, July 23-August 1, rated R

‘ASSASSINS’, September 12-October 3, rated R

‘RENT’, November 5-21, rated PG-13

All performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30, with Sunday matinees at 2:00 at The Barn Players Theatre, 6219 Martway in Mission, Kansas. 

Mid-season ticket prices for all four shows are $45.00, a savings of $15.00 off  individual ticket prices.  For information on the remaining productions and to order show and/or season tickets go on line to The Barn Players website www.thebarnplayers.org, or call 913-432-9100.

Tickets are also now available for the Barn Junior productions of “FROG AND TOAD KIDS”, July 27-29^th and the Third Annual “SIX BY TEN”, December 3-5.  Both productions are rated G.  Tickets may also be ordered on line at www.thebarnplayers.org or by calling the theatre at 913-432-9100. Adults $10.00, students $7.00 and children under 5 are free.