Trussell is a veteran journalist who has covered news, arts and theater in Kansas City for almost four decades. He will also contribute to the magazine’s print publication.
He joins KC Studio following 26 years as the theater critic for The Kansas City Star. Earlier in his career at the Star he covered movies, music, culture, city government and hard news. He won writing awards from the Society for Features Journalism (2015), the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors (2009) and the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists (1997). He also contributed to the Star’s coverage of the Hyatt Regency disaster, which in 1982 earned a Pulitzer Prize for the Star and its sister paper, the Kansas City Times.
Trussell’s online reviews will launch June 5 at www.kcstudio.org, with coverage of Heathers: The Musical, opening June 4 at the Unicorn Theater. Later in the summer he will review the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s Twelfth Night, Parade at Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, the Kansas City International Theatre Festival and Kansas City Actors Theatre’s I’m Not Rappaport, featuring veteran actors Victor Raider-Wexler and Granvile T. O’Neal. The September/October issue of KC Studio magazine will feature an in-depth “Critic’s Picks” by Trussell, spotlighting the theater season’s most promising productions.
“We are thrilled to have Robert Trussell’s expertise and authority spearheading our performing arts coverage,” said Guy Townsend, president of Townsend Communications, Inc., and publisher of KC Studio. “I have followed his reviews for years, and like others in the community, found my theater experience greatly enhanced by his knowledge and insights.”
The addition of regular online theater reviews by Trussell significantly furthers KC Studio’s goal to provide timely coverage of Kansas City’s cultural organizations and the talented artists they present. Supported by a significant gift from an anonymous donor, Trussell’s theater reviews expand the online arts coverage KC Studio initiated in summer 2015, with visual arts reviews made possible by a generous donation from the Lighton Fund.
Robert Trussell is the latest addition to a roster of talented and knowledgeable writers assembled by KC Studio editor Alice Thorson, who joined the publication in March 2015. Following a total magazine redesign led by creative director Carrie Brophy, the magazine has achieved heightened scope and professionalism with the addition of Jim Barcus as staff photographer, a monthly cartoon by Tom Toro, and regular columns on Arts Policy by Susan Schmelzer and Business and the Arts by Julius Karash. The September/October 2016 issue will introduce a regular column on classical music by Libby Hanssen.
Trussell’s Background
Trussell was born and raised in South Texas and studied theater at the University of Texas. He worked as a political cartoonist for Politics Daily/Aol. An acoustic guitarist and songwriter, he released two CDs, Texas Gothic and Juice and Jive. He lives with his wife and cat in south Kansas City.
