With completion estimated between fall 2025 and early 2026, the Boone Theater project will serve as the new home of the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, Black Movie Hall of Fame, multimedia production company DistrKCt and a local law firm. (photo by Jim Barcus)
Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City will move to permanent quarters at the renovated Boone Theater in the 18th and Vine District
While its move-in date is likely a year from now, the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City has found a permanent home at the Boone Theater in the historic 18th and Vine District.
The Boone Theater, 1701 E. 18th St., held a groundbreaking event Oct. 17 to officially launch its historical redevelopment project. Vine Street Collaborative leads the project that will preserve and renovate the 45,000-square-foot structure. With completion estimated between fall 2025 and early 2026, the Boone Theater project will serve as the new home of the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, Black Movie Hall of Fame, multimedia production company DistrKCt and a local law firm.
Damron Russel Armstrong, founder and executive artistic director of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, is eager to establish operations at the Boone. BRTKC has been a “vagabond company” since its inception. A veteran director, producer and actor, Armstrong has led the company through eight seasons of productions and educational programming presented at other Kansas City venues.
With a dedicated space, “you don’t have to recreate a theater space just to create theater,” Armstrong said.
Gem Cultural and Educational Center president Pat Jordan connected Armstrong with the developers tied to the Boone Theater’s redevelopment. She realized early on that “the Boone Theater could provide the home that the Black Repertory Theatre needed.”
“Over the years, I watched as Damron produced theatrical shows going from venue to venue. Producing live theater is difficult enough. Yet, producing them and being forced to do so in different locations adds challenges that are beyond belief,” said Jordan.
Vine Street Collaborative is a partnership between developers and local business owners Shomari Benton, Tim Duggan and Jason Parson. The partners successfully launched the nearby 2000 Vine development, which houses Vine Street Brewing and other businesses. The Collaborative and Armstrong discussed the possibility of purchasing a stand-alone building in 2020-21 for BRTKC, but the plans never manifested.
The Boone Theater project presented another opportunity to work together with Armstrong’s company as an anchor tenant.
The Boone Theater will serve as a destination for arts-goers as well as a foundation for Armstrong to continue his mission.
“Since Trayvon Martin’s death, I told myself to be the change you want to see,” said Armstrong, recalling Martin’s fatal 2012 shooting by George Zimmerman in Florida. “I left New York City and came back to Kansas City to tell African American stories by an African American, featuring African American artists, written from an African American perspective.”
BRTKC will not only present plays and stage shows at the Boone, but also educational programs for youth and solo artist-led cabaret shows, according to Armstrong.
Armstrong’s mission-driven work and the Boone’s heritage reverberate with cultural echoes of the past and present. In time, he and the company will occupy a space in a historically Black community where contemporary audiences may experience stories worthy of amplification.
Once known as The New Rialto Theater, the venue opened in 1924 as the city’s jazz scene began to sizzle during the Pendergast years. Renamed after nationally known, Missouri-born ragtime pianist and composer John W. Blind Boone, the theater remained unused since the 1950s and needed drastic restoration.
Jordan, active in the 18th and Vine District community for years, led the revival of the Gem. Historic preservation and redevelopment of the Boone Theater will add to the area’s revitalization, she noted.
“Another cultural organization in the 18th and Vine District will only add to the richness of programs being offered here. The Boone will complement The Gem Theater. Because The Gem is a community venue open to all, it can be difficult to book it for an ongoing yearly theatrical series. I’m happy to say The Gem is fulfilling the purpose I originally envisioned. I think the two facilities will work well together,” said Jordan.
Jordan observed that the district’s growth is not solely dependent on redeveloping and constructing brick-and-mortar buildings.
“We need to learn to celebrate the extraordinary individual artistic talents that we have in our city as well,” said Jordan. “It’s extremely important that we provide support for non-profits that not only provide artistic programming and entertainment, but also cultivate and nurture individual visual and performing artists. The Black Rep is an organization that deserves more support. Its new home in the Boone Theater will allow that to happen.”
Armstrong said the Boone will benefit the Vine District overall. Visitors to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum will have yet another cultural attraction to explore.
“It’s another reason for customers to come to 18th and Vine and walk through the district,” said Armstrong. “After nine years, the Black Rep is still new to people in Kansas City. I want to encourage them to see what we have to offer.”
For more about the Boone Theater project, www.boonetheaterkc.com. Visit Black Rep at www.brtkc.org.
