I was thinking back to the year that was as I count down the days to Christmas and New Year’s Eve. There’s something awesome and a little daunting when you look back at the work you have accomplished that year. In a way, I am little amazed at how many words I typed and how many people I interviewed during the past year. In return, I have merely been the vehicle, the transport from the conversation to the printed magazine that reaches thousands in the metropolitan area.
During the January/February 2012 issue, artist and dancer Lily Zhang Li Taylor and her dance academy students performed for The Chinese New Year at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Playwright Sean Grennan, who has strong ties to Kansas City, especially the American Heartland Theatre, got ready to put up two shows at the theater. His first was Beer for Breakfast. Quality Hill Playhouse was in the performARTS spotlight with Executive Director J. Kent Barnhart and Managing Director Rick Truman sharing the Great American Songbook. The team at Quixotic communicated the diversity of a multimedia group with dancers, musicians and computer artists. Dean Peter Witte answered Five Questions and Dr. Michael Scheibach captured the impact the atomic bomb with the collaborative effort with the Mid-America Arts Alliance/Exhibits USA for the Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow exhibit.
In the March/April 2012 issue, the comedy and jazz troupe 12th Street Jump proves they can make beautiful music despite the lack of a performing venue. Retiring Executive Director Evan Luskin shared the many years and lessons from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. The Kansas City Chorale was the performARTS featured organization. The organ at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts was inaugurated by James David Christie, a world-renowned organist. Schools marked the importance of music and some high school students found dual credit courses with the Kansas City Art Institute as a stepping stone into the collegiate world.
By the May/June issue, I wrote about the 20th anniversary season of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and the return to the rotating repertory. The collaboration of the non-profit group Thank You Walt Disney and the Buttonwood Art Space came in the form of an art exhibition and auction to help improve the Laugh-O-Gram Studios on 31st and Forest. Charlotte Street Foundation was the performARTS organization. Some Kansas City women found themselves “stars” as part of a Women & Girls Lead project. The five women were Pastor Alice Piggie-Wallack, artist Peregrine Honig, musician Elizabeth Suh-Lane, Kansas City Star columnist Jeneé Osterheldt, cancer patient and mother Monica Steiner and student athlete Brionna Williams.
In the July/August issue, with the political climate charged for the coming presidential race, I interviewed Dr. Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, for the exhibition of political symbols at the Spencer Museum of Art. Gladstone Theatre in the Park marked 25 seasons of community theater. There was also the performARTS and the Kansas City Actors Theatre.
For the September/October issue, the Lied Center on the University of Kansas campus took center stage as did the diversity of acts. I also talked with the students and faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance as they used September and October to prepare for the early November prism concert in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Several clothing designers are finding their place locally while hoping to expand to a national setting. Paul Mesner Puppets took the performARTS feature.
In the November/December issue, I talked to three actors who starred in Nuncrackers, the Christmas tale that is part of the Nunsense canon of musicals at the American Heartland Theatre. Deb Bluford returns to the habit as the Mother Superior and the equally dimpled Ken Remmert takes back up his frock as Father Virgil. American Heartland Theatre sweetheart Jessalyn Kincaid played Sister Robert Anne. The Coterie Theatre ended Shrek the Musical, the world premiere version for young people and families with Dana Nicholson as Shrek; Lauren Braton, Fiona; and Tosin Morohunfola, as Donkey. The Toy & Miniature Museum staff, volunteers and supporters marked the museum’s 30th anniversary.
And the series titled performARTS was such a huge success for its first year that supporters – the underwriting team of The Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, Bank of America; The Speas Memorial Trusts, decided to select six more groups. Executive Director Gale Tallis shared some of the finest moments of the Folly Theater while extolling its future. The other five are the Unicorn Theatre (January/February 2013); Kansas City Ballet (March/April 2013); Jewish Community Center – Performances at the White Theatre (May/June 2013); American Jazz Museum/Gem Theater (July/August 2013); and Mid-America Arts Alliance (September/October 2013).
So as 2012 comes to an end, I am getting ready for 2013 and the chance to spend time with even more artists and arts organizations.
