And so, in the end, Nora just did it. She gathered her things, told her husband goodbye, and slammed the door on her way out. In so doing she left not only her spouse, but two young children and an upper middle-class life that came with all the requisite bourgeois benefits. She also made history. […]
Before “Hamilton,” there was “In the Heights,” which marked composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda’s auspicious Broadway debut in 2008. As he would do in “Hamilton,” Miranda incorporated rap and hip-hop into a musically diverse score for this pulsing love-letter to the largely Hispanic community in Washington Heights, a neighborhood at the northern tip of Manhattan. Whether “In […]
Let us begin with a confession. As I drove home from the lively opening-night performance of “Shakespeare in Love” at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, I found myself contemplating a basic question: Why, exactly, did there need to be a stage version of the 1998 Oscar-winning movie co-written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom […]
Kansas City Actors Theatre brings together an ensemble of gifted stage veterans for its thoughtful production of Paul Osborn’s gentle 1939 comedy “Morning’s at Seven.” And the results are what you might expect: detailed character work, great timing and a level of commitment that actually elevates the material. A show like this makes perfect sense […]
Actor/playwright Logan Black’s “Bond” is, among other things, a tale of service, bravery, fear and endurance in a time of war. But beyond that, this extended monologue is a love story. And like any good love story should, it packs a punch. Black and a smart yellow lab named Diego served together in Iraq as […]
Virtually every emotional trauma and competitive humiliation we associate with high school is on full display in Jocelyn Bioh’s “School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play,” now running at Copaken Stage, Kansas City Rep’s downtown venue. Precisely directed by Chip Miller, the production showcases superior work by a gifted cast. Bioh’s tight, 75-minute one-act […]
