As the theater community reels from a community-wide shutdown ordered by public officials on both sides of the state line, artistic leaders are faced with two questions: How long? What next? In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Quinton Lucas on March 13 issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency in Kansas City that […]
My regular readers know that my tolerance for plays about the theater is extremely low, but every now and then I run across a happy exception. The Unicorn Theatre (in collaboration with UMKC Theatre) offers up a well-acted production of Theresa Rebeck’s ambitious “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” in which the playwright toys with the historical fact that French […]
I wasn’t sure what to expect from “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” Lucas Hnath’s inventive sequel to the Henrik Ibsen classic. What surprised me is how funny it is. Director Darren Sextro, who staged his own adaptation of the Ibsen original in August for Kansas City Actors Theatre, now returns to direct Hnath’s compressed follow-up […]
Good actors. Good director. Interesting play with a self-indulgent sense of humor and a salient point to make. The Unicorn Theatre closes its 2018-19 season with a lively production of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists,” a two-act piece that could be described, more or less, as a feminist meta-comedy set in 18th-century France — a time […]
Stephen Karam’s “The Humans,” a big hit in New York and London, is a play with an intriguing premise, detailed characters and a palpable sense of foreboding. The production now onstage at the Unicorn Theatre showcases nice work by talented actors who wrestle gamely with material that seems designed to remain just beyond their reach. […]
The stage has never been a comfortable home for sports stories — mainly because you can’t really show the fights, games or marathons — but Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” is a remarkable effort to capture the politics, angst and hormone-driven conflicts on a girls’ soccer team. This play earned praise in New York and Chicago, […]
