Arts News: the1994projectkc revisits films and music from a year to remember

Elise Poehling/Nellie Maple Parman in “Dumb & Dumber” (photo by Jennifer Long)

Where were YOU in 1994?

Katie Gilchrist, winner of Best Actor by the Pitch and Best Director by Broadway World, is dedicated to bringing back those 30-year-old memories through a robust entertainment schedule.

All through 2024, the Black Box is presenting a two-part curated series of performances celebrating 1994, with The Black Box as presenting sponsor and Mark Johnson as co-producer.

“The Sessions” feature the year’s major songs and albums; Film Readings highlight the major films. These music performances and movies defined a generation.

On Jan. 27, “The Audience Mixtape” started the ball rolling, with live music, photos, prizes, birthday presents and the full program announcement. The audience was instructed to “dress to transgress” in flannel shirts, denim overalls and chunky sneakers. Nirvana’s music was featured in February.

The most recent “Sessions” performance honored “No Need to Argue,” by The Cranberries. At intermission, Gilchrist noticed an audience member in tears, who sighed, “This is the music of my teens, my twenties. There’s something so innocent about all of this. All I could do was sing and cry.”

That’s just the response Gilchrist and her team hoped for. “The mission of this project is to highlight the artists that speak to us, while creating a safe, inclusive environment for those tributes to flourish. the1994projectkc exists for us, by us. Anyone can come how they are, where they are, who they are… just Come As You Are.”

The May 18 Session, titled “Pretty Good Year,” was built around “Grace,” by Jeff Buckley and “Under the Pink,” by Tori Amos. The two albums were the series’ inspiration. Gilchrist remembers, “I found myself singing (scream singing, full-throated, in my car) to both of these records. Then I started looking at what else was released that year. It blew my mind.”

The month of June brought “Come As You Are,” a drag/burlesque tribute to 1994 hosted by Annie Cherry.

The Film Readings have included “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Speed,” “True Lies” and “Dumb and Dumber.” In May, the series presented “Reality Bites” with a live soundtrack and benefiting KC Fringe.

Gilchrist is thrilled that the readings “give Kansas City actors a playground for the wild and whimsical.” Local musicians and variety performers of all kinds get that same opportunity.

1994 was a milestone for Eboni Fondren, host of the July event, CrazySexyCool. “Moving state to state, always being the new girl, always trying to fit in, music was everything to me. Especially the music of the strong female girl groups.”

Ahafia Jurkiewicz-Miles finds the project “a source of artistic joy.” “The ’90s are a huge blind spot for me musically,” they said, “and I have loved getting to learn entire albums by some of the most influential musicians of our time.”

Shows are at 7:30. Tickets for “The Sessions” cost $19.94. The Film Readings require a minimum cash donation of $10, which helps support local charitable organizations, including KC Strong, The Arts Asylum, KC Public Theatre, The Black Box and others. By May, they had raised and distributed $1,000 dollars.

The project will culminate Dec. 30 with a live music party, but there’s still plenty of time to “join us for a trip down memory lane” and to “immerse yourself in the nostalgia of 1994.”

Upcoming performances include:

THE SESSIONS