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This Olathe Calendar of Events is presented by the Kansas City Real Estate Network.
January 2011 - Posts
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The February issue of KC Stage is available for subscribers. Check out this month's great articles including our annual Top Rated Shows for 2010. Read it online or download a .pdf of the magazine today.
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This big band remains a hard-driving collection of musicians playing outstanding big band music, respecting but not stuck in the past. From sax solos by Steve Lambert, to leader Clint Ashlock’s trumpet, to vocalist Megan Birdsall – to pull out just a few of the night's highlights – it’s hard to imagine Winterlude jumping off to a more musically magnificent start than it did January 20th in Polsky Theatre.
more at kcjazzlark
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The Harriman-Jewell Series recently announced its 2011-2012 season. Nine of the season’s events will be held at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (seven in the Helzberg Hall, two in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre), and nine in the historic Folly Theater.
more at the Harriman-Jewell Series
and at kansascity.com
and at KCUR
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Every Indian Creek Elementary student has two families: their home family and a school family consisting of siblings from other classrooms. Monthly Family Time gives the school families a chance to build mentoring and teamwork skills.
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Sarah Ruhl is a playwright with a lot on her mind. Whether she's as thoughtful as she would have us believe is another question. She's at her best creating audacious comic moments but she seems challenged to provide a consistent intellectual thread.
more at kansascity.com
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During their next regular meeting, members of the Olathe Board of Education will receive an update on plans to sell Millcreek Center to The Net Giver. Kelley Hrabe, president of The NetGiver, will attend the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in the Education Center, 14160 Black Bob Road, Olathe, to share plans for the property which include senior housing units.
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The collaboration between 59-year-old musical legend Stanley Clarke and 31-year-old meteor Hiromi is a beautiful collision of worlds. He practically invented modern bass technique and was playing with the likes of Chick Corea, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Chaka Khan before his counterpart could walk. She is a dynamic dervish at the piano who played with prominent orchestras by age 12 and jammed with Corea at 17.
more at the Columbia Daily-Tribune
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School Cancelled
School and facility rental are cancelled Tuesday, Feb. 1, due to inclement weather.
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School Cancelled Wednesday
Classes, activities, athletics, practices, and facility rental are cancelled Wednesday, Feb. 2, due to inclement weather. All district offices will also be closed.
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School Cancelled Thursday
Classes and facility rental are cancelled Thursday, Feb. 3, due to inclement weather. Please check this website regularly for updates on activities, practices and other events.
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Green Springs Fire, School Canceled Thursday
Classes and facility rental are canceled Thursday, Feb. 3, due to inclement weather. See article on district home page for details.
See article on district website home page for details about the Green Springs Elementary fire.
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Show and Tell at the Fishtank Performance Studio 1-28-11 -- Recorded live on Justin.tv - http://j-tv.me/ffAuLk
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Lots of young filmmakers dream of a Hollywood career. Mike B. Rollen, though, says he’s interested in cinema as an instrument for social justice.
more at kansascity.com
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The charismatic and dynamic guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero infused passion and drama into his performance with the Kansas City Symphony on Saturday night at the Lyric Theatre.
more at kansascity.com
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Bang—one shot; one shot that started a war killing over 9 million men in uniform. The assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand was the beginning of World War I and the agony of millions of men stuck in the trenches awaiting their fate. From February 11-27, the Kansas City Actors Theatre along with the collaboration of the UMKC Theatre and the National World War I Museum will perform Oh What a Lovely War at the Liberty Memorial.
more at Present Magazine
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Of all the local organizations who will be presenting for the first time this fall in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, none will be more thrilled to “stretch its legs” than the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. After decades of performing in the cramped, moldy Lyric Theatre (among other venues), the company has announced a splendid new season that plans to make full use of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre’s capabilities.
more at The Independent
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We are grateful, of course: very grateful to have these beautiful, vivid pieces today—we who are hardly aware of what pressures and emotional costs were associated with their composition. We are grateful, too, to Jean-Yves Thibaudet for reanimating them in the way he was able to do last night with such insight and consummate skill. Through the music, we might learn something about ourselves, even if we shall never be certain of the truths between Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult.
more at Chamber Music Today
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Even with the historic December 22, 2010 repeal of the commonly called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” it’s deceptively easy for civilians to think that with President Obama’s signature that a major LGBT rights milestone had been reached (true.) It was also easy to be lulled into a sheltered sense that overnight everything would change (false.)
more at Lost in Reviews
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Tony DiPardo, known as "Mr. Music" to a legion of Kansas City Chiefs fans, has died. DiPardo's TD Pack Band began playing at Kansas City Chiefs games in 1963. The band continued the tradition at every game until 2008.
more at KCTV
and at KMBC
and at KSHB
and at The Pitch
and at Plastic Sax
and at Missourinet
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The Lyric Opera of Kansas City will stage John Adams‘s “Nixon in China,” March 10 – 18, 2012 during its inaugural season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. “Nixon in China” is an opera in three acts about President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972.
more at KCUR
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Missouri’s popularity with the film industry is on the increase; more than half of the movies shot in Missouri were filmed in just the past 10 years. Already in the first years of this new century, 122 movies have been filmed here. This translates into big business. Missouri’s Motion Media industry employs more than 7,600 workers at above state average wages and adds several billion dollars to our economy each year.
more at Video/Film Production in Springfield-Branson-Ozarks
and a letter from the director of the Missouri Film Commission in the Columbia Daily-Tribune
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In the '80s, it was hard to find a Broadway show to take kids to. Maybe "A Chorus Line" wasn't appropriate, but what was? Broadway was for grown-ups. As was Times Square, where we were offered cocaine, impressing the hell out of me. The city! Its dangers! I saw "A Chorus Line" on Broadway when I was a kid, and while I was very excited that I was going into the city to do something so grown-up with my mom, I have no memory of the show itself.
more at Present Magazine
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Don’t ask, don’t tell: here’s a rubric that’s been stuck in our craw for quite awhile now, ever since our national teach-in on oral sex — the Clinton administration. So much of the past two decades has been spent with this phrase buzzing about in the background, apparently hopeless of any reconciliation — until the logjam burst after the last election, and victory was declared by its opponents. All of this might make the new show at KC Rep seem passé. That’s why you need to see it.
more at Kansas City Performs
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 Let me begin by apologizing for my tardiness in getting this contest underway! This beautiful Friday just sort of got away from me! We are thankful to our friends at Coterie Theatre for providing us with a 4-pack of tickets… more
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I shot this in about 45 minutes with no intention of editing it. I found a cool bridge near Union Station, so I put my camera on a tripod and took some shots of myself walking along it. It's interesting how editing and the right choice of music turns unassuming footage into something a bit dramatic.
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There's no getting around it: The only farce with staying power written in the last 25 years is Ken Ludwig's "Lend Me a Tenor," an artfully constructed madcap romp that even critics find difficult to resist.
more at kansascity.com
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For the second year in a row, a Missouri-made movie has received an Oscar nomination for best picture. But state programs that helped make both of those films possible could be in jeopardy.
more at kansascity.com
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T2 was asked to design the visual elements for the 2010 KCADC luncheon celebrating creativity in Kansas City. To showcase this diverse topic, the presentation spanned across the entire length of the interior wall of the grand ballroom of the Kansas City Convention center. Split over ten separate projectors, the final combined image was over 300 feet long and over 30 feet tall (wider than the new screen in the Dallas Cowboys stadium). The opening of the presentation consisted of an animated segment that covered areas of the arts in Kansas City.
[Thanks, Tony]
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So you’re a professional actor living in Kansas City and you make a life here and you keep at it, building an impressive resume of stage work, television commercials, Internet ads and the occasional made-for-TV movie.
Then one day, the roulette wheel spins just right, and you find yourself in one of the best movies of the year.
more at kansascity.com
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School Director Peter Pawlyshyn explains the importance of state-of-the-art floors for dancers. The new home for Kansas City Ballet, the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity, will have 7 studios with the high quality floors - creating a safe dance environment for students.
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The Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s presentation of Marc Wolf’s moving and often comic “Another American: Asking and Telling” is a success on two fronts: Wolf’s performance in this one-man show is impeccable, and his writing is deeply humanistic.
more at kansascity.com
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"This is jazz," Clint Ashlock told a reverent audience of approximately 125 Thursday at Polsky Theater. "It's OK- you can talk." Ashlock was attempting to loosen up the crowd at the opening event of the Jazz Winterlude festival. I'm glad he failed. I've seen his New Jazz Order big band several times at Harling's. The dingy midtown bar attracts oblivious, obnoxious talkers. (I'm guilty as charged.)
more at Plastic Sax
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"This is jazz," Clint Ashlock told a reverent audience of approximately 125 Thursday at Polsky Theater. "It's OK- you can talk." Ashlock was attempting to loosen up the crowd at the opening event of the Jazz Winterlude festival. I'm glad he failed. I've seen his New Jazz Order big band several times at Harling's. The dingy midtown bar attracts oblivious, obnoxious talkers. (I'm guilty as charged.)
more at kcjazzlark
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When "Winter's Bone" was nominated for four Academy Awards Tuesday, it put the film in rare company as one of only a few movies filmed in Missouri to receive the honor, said Andrea Sporcic, assistant director of the Missouri Film Commission. But area film experts fear such future honors could be jeopardized by proposed state budget cuts that would eliminate tax incentives that attract filmmakers to Missouri.
more at the News-Leader
and at KSDK
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Violinist Joshua Bell delighted a sold-out Folly Theater audience on January the 22nd with his signature earthy-sweet tone and lovely, long-breathed phrasing. This generous Harriman-Jewell Series recital included three meaty masterpieces of 19th-century Romanticism, and he tackled all three with aplomb.
more at the Independent
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They're calling The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts - "Kansas City's Crown Jewel" which is only fitting if we're talking about a blood diamond.
more at KC Confidential
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Richard Belske, head forensics coach at Olathe North High School, recently earned his third diamond as a coach with the National Forensics League (NFL). To achieve a third diamond degree of membership, Belske has earned more than 6,000 points and been a member of the NFL for more than 15 years.
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Shocking, funny, tragic, sad, thrilling, bleak — these are a few of the words with which you could describe David Harrower's "Blackbird," but none of them really convey the unique nature of this unsettling play about sex, love and loss.
more at kansascity.com
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The blockbuster comedy "Maybe Baby, It's You" is showing at the American Heartland Theatre, at Kansas City's Crown Center, until February 20, 2011. http://ahtkc.com
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During the Rep's lobby party after the opening night's performance of Marc Wolf’s compelling Another American: Asking and Telling, a friend and I were discussing a certain aspect of the play. We were a little surprised the show has an intermission. Many solo shows have none, although it's not a cut and dried rule. It's sometimes easier for the performer to sustain dramatic momentum without that break. My friend, asked, "What made us go back in?" We knew where the play was heading and had a good guess how it might end. Why go back?
more at Infozine
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The Kansas City Chinese Music Ensemble will perform at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for the annual Chinese New Year celebration. The event, scheduled for Jan. 28 and 29, includes family-friendly activities on Friday night with special performances by musicians and dancers, gallery games, art demonstrations and delicious Asian-inspired food.
more at Present Magazine
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Tax Help is on the way at Johnson County Libraries. AARP Tax-Aide volunteers trained with the cooperation of the Internal Revenue Service will provide help preparing individual tax returns for middle- and low-income citizens starting Monday, Jan. 31 through Monday, April 18, 2011 at several neighborhood libraries. But, anyone who needs tax help can walk [...] Tax Help is a post from: Kansas City Events
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A gaping hole floats over Kansas City’s jazz scene, asking to be filled by a club where you can expect consistently – consistency is key here – fine food, good drinks, excellent service, all tightly managed.
more at kcjazzlark
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Actors discuss how their character is portrayed in folklore, and then how they will interpret the character in this modern day retelling of Greek Mythology.
Costume Designer, Allison Dillard, shares what to wear to be fashionable in Ancient Greece!
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Bullies terrorizing their classmates might not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of opera performances, but an upcoming production by the Lawrence Arts Center’s City Youth Theater and Lyric Opera of Kansas City may help tie the two subjects together in young Lawrence residents’ minds.
more at the Lawrence Journal-World
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Another America is nothing short of brilliant Rating: 5
Another American: Asking and Telling Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Another America: Asking and Telling is nothing short of brilliant. Marc Wolf author and performer has skillfully made a one man docudrama covering the history of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" through the words of those affected by it from both sides of the argument. Marc transitioned from one character to the next it was as if I was watching a carefully edited film. But I sat there in awe realizing it was one man up there on stage playing all of the characters. I was horrified and saddened by some of the stories that came from real people. It mad me angry at time that we the American people let this injustice go on for so long. The play was not without humor there where times when my side hurt form laughing. I would recommend anyone who had a stake in the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to go see this play of our recent history. I would also recommend this show in anyone interested in acting or playwriting as an example of just how it should be done. In short go see this play it's too important not to in this day and age. Thank you Eric Rosen for bring Marc and his spectacular production to Kansas City. Its one of the best and most poignant plays I've seen in a long time.
read the review at KC Stage
 
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District patrons can support Olathe Public Schools while enjoying big discounts at 15 area restaurants. Olathe elementary students will sell $10 Major Saver Discount Cards which offer 15 buy-one-get-one-free offers at Olathe area restaurants such as Pizza Street, Outback Steakhouse, and Chili's.
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Applications for the second cycle of project-based Rocket Grants are now open at www.callforentry.org. A total of $40,000 will be awarded this year, with up to $4,000 for each selected project. Deadline for applications for is April 1, 2011. Funds will be awarded in June 2011 and successful artists and artist groups will have one calendar year to complete their projects.
more at the Charlotte Street Foundation
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It’s that time of year…preschool enrollment time! It’s hard to believe that it’s time to register your little ones for Fall 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year. Many area preschools have already started the enrollment process for… more 
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The Coterie Theatre’s earnest production of “The Bridge to Terabithia,” an affecting tale of friendship and loss, never quite catches fire.
more at kansascity.com
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Music lovers around the world are celebrating this year’s bicentennial of the birth of Franz Liszt. The Harriman-Jewell Series will mark the anniversary with an all-Liszt recital by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet at 8 p.m. Friday in the Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.
more at kansascity.com
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If your sweetheart or parent is a fan of torch songs or Tin Pan Alley, you could do worse than steer that special person to Quality Hill Playhouse, where the debonair J. Kent Barnhart holds court at the grand piano on Blues in the Night, a tribute to the lyricist Johnny Mercer.
more at the Pitch (after the American Heartland review)
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Few people on earth can evoke as sweet a sound from a string instrument as Joshua Bell, the reigning crown prince of the violin. Bell appeared Saturday night at a sold-out Folly Theater, presented by the Harriman-Jewell Series.
more at kansascity.com
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Other Americans: Do Tell Rating: 5
Another American: Asking and Telling Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Don't ask, don't tell: here's a rubric that's been stuck in our craw for quite awhile now, ever since our national teach-in on oral sex — the Clinton administration. So much of the past two decades has been spent with this phrase buzzing about in the background, apparently hopeless of any reconciliation — until the logjam burst after the last election, victory was declared by its opponents. All of this might make the new show at KC Rep seem passé. That's why you need to see it.
Showing us how the overturning of this policy is not an end, but a beginning, is part of the enormous power of "Another American: Asking and Telling." Marc Wolf's one-man show introduces us to a parade of colorful characters whose stories bring the whole issue to life. Based on scores of interviews with service people and their families, reaching back to World War II, the show won an Obie for its Off Broadway production in 2000, then was revived last summer in New York.
>From now through February 6th, Kansas City is blessed with its first run since the December 18th decision to end this policy. Along with stories of enlisted men and women, their families and officers, Wolf has harvested from his interviews some of the most amusing renditions of the arguments, for and against, that I've heard. Flattened journalistic statements and pundit-speak are replaced with personal insights dripping with irony, and exhortations from the the pulpit with the simpler stuff of the locker room. Laughter once again proves to be good political medicine, though tears are sometimes not far behind.
Wolf ably conveys the personalities of his interviewees not only with impressive theatrical skill, but also with obvious respect, affection and humor. For all the attention this issues has gotten, "Another American"'s simple eloquence demonstrates how little of the human story has come through. Wolf's caharcters are not people most of us know, because of the atmosphere of fear that the policy itself and its advocates have created. His excellent, economical portrayals bring us a vibrant picture of gays and lesbians who have really wanted to serve, have done so, and have triumphed and suffered because of it. He also conveys military people's concerns about what might go wrong, without the overheated rhetoric that's predominated in mass media.
Having organized against the Vietnam war in my youth, and each other one since, I was not expecting to find this show so affecting. Wolf captures the vital essences of each of the characters for whom he speaks, and they cover the full range of experience, politics and feeling involved in the issue. Their stories establish that gay people and straight have been serving in the military all along, and that diversity of emotional responses to war can be understood as a strength. They leave us with the sobering insight that repealing "don't ask, don't tell" will not solve the problems on anti-gay feeling — plenty of it is expressed here — nor end episodes of violence such as those some of Wolf's characters, but not all, have survived.
Simply but elegantly staged, this fast-paced show is a theatrical gem. Humane, humanizing, funny, touching, illuminating, KC Rep should be applauded for bringing it to Kansas City, and you should really not miss it.
read the review at KC Stage
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Parents University will be on March 5th. Parents University is a conference designed especially for parents, caregivers and teens. It is an opportunity to learn new ideas, exchange ideas with the experts, visit with others attending the conference and view the Showcase of Exhibitors featuring businesses and agencies that serve parents, caregivers, teens and children.
For [...] Parents University is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Just Between Friends Consignment Sale is back at the KCI Expo Center. This is a great sale to get some really good bargains. It is open to the public from 9-7 on Saturday and 9-3 on Sunday. There is also a special presale on friday night for those that get on the list. Visit the [...] Just Between Friends Consignment Sale is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Join Red Star Studios at the Deborah Schwartzkopf Demo Workshop as they explore the many ways pottery can be pieced together by using wheel thrown and slab-built parts. On Saturday, February 5th and Sunday, February 6th, Deborah Schwartzkopf will demonstrate different and playful approaches to functional vessel making. Through the use of irregular and curious [...] Deborah Schwartzkopf Demo Workshop is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Open House from 5-8 p.m. Brief Program and door prizes at 6 p.m. Dinner and Networking from 6-7:30 p.m.
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I'm a fool for love, but I'm a cynic for love stories, especially those involving such tired tropes as bad blind dates, decreasingly selective dating criteria, and cataclysmically bad wedding-reception dancing. These jokes, the material of a thousand bad stand-up routines, are so old that they're like Metamucil sprinkled on All-Bran.
more at the Pitch
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Steve Ingram, Olathe South High School physical education teacher, has been named the 2010 National Girls Basketball Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) - Coaches Association.
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Molly Hammer was invited to the Kansas City Club to audition for a singing job. When executive chef Jeremy Kruse met Molly, he was instantly attracted to her.
more at kansascity.com
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The Parker Quartet wrapped up the inaugural season of the Music Alliance — a partnership between the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Friends of Chamber Music — Saturday night at White Recital Hall with a concert of romantic expressions and modern tensions.
more at kansascity.com
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Autism Resources Galore, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, Instructional Resource Center, 780-7006
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The 1914 film, “A Thief Catcher,” turned up in 2009 at an antiques sale in Taylor, Mich. Film historian Paul Gierucki thought he was buying just another Keystone Studios comedy and didn’t watch the 16mm film until last March. The discovery of a new Chaplin performance marked the first film added to the famed actor’s roster in 60 years.
more at the Lawrence Journal-World
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Marc Wolf’s one-man play Another American: Asking and Telling is not just about the American military’s bizarre and soon-to-be-defunct “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, it addresses the whole history of the armed forces’ harsh and often cruel treatment of gays and lesbians. Therefore the recent repeal of the policy – an event that could easily have kicked the legs out from under a play edged with righteous indignation about it – has in some ways made it more relevant than ever. The play, which opened on January the 21st at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s Spencer Theatre, is a potent reminder of the military’s existence outside of Constitutional principles, and of the dangers that lurk in that continued legacy.
more at the Independent
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Ziggy and Surka Perform "Hypnotize" with Dumptruck Butterlips at Speakeasy Sundays at the Jazzhaus in Lawrence, KS.
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Cordes and Severo, two of the most gifted actors in Kansas City, are immersed in an intense two-character drama making its local debut Friday at the Living Room. David Harrower’s “Blackbird,” performed in 90 minutes without intermission, depicts a highly charged confrontation between a young woman and an older man about a sexual relationship they experienced 15 years earlier.
more at kansascity.com
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With surefire Oscar sweethearts “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan” gracing local screens of late and the eighth edition of the True/False Film Fest slated for early March, it would be fair to say Columbia has movies on its mind. The response to these critical darlings, and reception engendered by True/False and like-minded festivals such as Citizen Jane, has reinforced Columbia’s budding reputation as quite the warm, gracious host for cinematic talent.
more at the Columbia Daily Tribune
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The Parker Quartet’s performance last night in the UMKC Conservatory - Friends of Chamber Music Alliance Series was superb, their cohesiveness and intensity most impressive. The unusual program showcased a sort of vivid storytelling through music, a collectivistic mode of expression at which the Parker excels. You Can’t See Dogs on the Radio, as they say, but you have no doubt that they are there, that the dogs in the story are real live dogs. The Parker Quartet plays with imagination and realism that tops the most realistic video game or interactive fiction.
more at Chamber Music Today
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"Bridge to Terabithia" is showing until February 27, 2011 at the Coterie Theatre, at Kansas City's Crown Center. Tickets at http://coterietheatre.org
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The State of Kansas is facing a $550 million shortfall, and state funding for the arts may become a victim of proposed budget cuts. Governor Sam Brownback is proposing eliminating the Kansas Arts Commission and turn it into a non-profit organization, a move that he says will save the state $574,000. The Arts Commission contends that the savings to the state would be minimal, but the real cost to the state could be dramatic.
more at Fox4KC
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J.E. Dunn Project Executive Kyle McQuiston is overseeing the construction of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City. On Friday, snow was covering the stainless steel top of the roof and part of the roof made of glass.
more at KMBC
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Joyce Castle reached a milestone last fall: Forty years as an opera singer. Forty years and 130 roles cast in her inimitable fiery bronze. From regional companies across America and Europe to the glamorous concert halls of Paris, Vienna, London and New York, the mezzo-soprano from Baldwin City, Kan., has made her mark with consummate musicianship and impeccable characterizations.
more at kansascity.com
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Photographer Todd Zimmer paid tribute to B.B. King and his band as they performed at the Independence Arts Center on January 18. Not only did Zim capture the famed blues guitarist in action, but he also shares his perspective.
more at Present Magazine
with a review at The Examiner
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In his State of the State address on Jan. 19th, Governor Nixon recommended a zero funding level for the Missouri Film Office combined with reducing the staff by 2 full time positions. As the Film Office has only 2 full time positions, this would effectively close the Film Office.
more at the KC Filmmakers Jubilee
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Go behind the scenes of Kansas City Ballet's 2011-12 photo shoot for the season brochure.
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Patrick Rea considers himself a normal guy. And he is — in appearance anyway. But most people would not guess that Rea is anything but normal. He has produced and directed more than two dozen short films, which are in the process of playing festival after festival, with several of them winning awards. He has earned a reputation as a prolific and high-quality visual artist. And the stories he chooses to tell are anything but normal. Indeed, some of the scariest things, he points out, come from some of the quietest people.
more at Review
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The district's e-Communication program, a 21st Century High School program in animation, graphic design, web design and media production, has been selected as an Apple Exemplary Program for the 2010-11 school year. The award recognizes K-12 programs that have demonstrated a strong, well-articulated use of Apple products in their curriculum.
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Harlan Parker, Olathe Board of Education vice president, recently received the Community Goodwill Award at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration in Olathe. The award is given to an individual who has done extraordinary things to foster goodwill, brotherhood and understanding in the community. Parker has been a school board member for nearly 12 years and has long been active in the community.
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 Yes, it’s true! There really is someone (something) out there that LOVES the bitter cold snowy weather that we’ve been experiencing! I’m quite certain that the Kansas City Zoo’s Nikita is loving life right about now.
What about the rest… more 
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These works are ones of tremendous lyricism, and showcase the narrativity of song and dance for creative structure. In fact, the pieces are unusual as sonatas go—unusual for the egalitarian ways that the violin part and the piano part interact with each other. It is not a one-sided virtuoso violinistic ego trip. For example, in the second movement of Grieg’s violin sonata Op.13 we have the secondary theme introduced by the piano without the violin! There is an innovative parity between the parts’ roles that's unusual—dance-like, ballade-like, Nordic.
more at Chamber Music Today
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The Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents its final season of Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment this February in the Lyric Theater. Beginning in the fall of 2011, the new home of the Lyric Opera will be the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. This is the 53rd season of The Daughter of the Regiment with the Lyric Opera, and this season will be performed in English.
more at Present Magazine
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This is a preview video for Another American: Asking and Telling written and performed by Marc Wolf. The show is being performed at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and it is running January 14 - February 6, 2011 at their Spencer Theatre. For information go to www.kcrep.org
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Finding one book that appealed to kindergarten through fifth-grade students was the first challenge in starting the Families Read Every Day (F.R.E.D.) program at Rolling Ridge Elementary School. As school librarian, Lesley Sheldon also needed to entice every family to read 15 minutes per day from that book.
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Steve Balderson's new film, "The Casserole Club" focuses on a group of mod 1960's era suburban housewives. Close-knit and neighborly, they are all bent on one-upping each other, trying to prove that each is "the hostess with the mostess." They begin a recipe club, and hold dinner parties, testing out their new casseroles. But when the gatherings become increasingly focused on boozy flirtation, and more than recipes start getting swapped, the story moves swiftly from stylized and campy to a drama about irresponsibility, selfishness, and damaged people.
"The Casserole Club" is an intricate landscape of desolation, unspoken desires, and empty lives laid bare. Raw and uncompromising, it is evocative of classics like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and the more contemporary "American Beauty." Set in America during the NASA moonwalk, the moon, is a metaphor for the film's tragic heroines, who are filled with mystery, secrets and the untapped potential of people who exist without really living.
Starring Susan Traylor, Kevin Richardson, Daniela Sea, Mark Booker, Starina Johnson, Garrett Swann, Pleasant Gehman, Hunter Bodine, Michael Maize, and introducing Jennifer Grace.
For more information, visit http://www.CasseroleClubMovie.com
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There are cracks in the foundation. Will Matthews, president of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, is stepping down. Matthews, who has been president for one year, is resigning one year early. Matthews, guitarist with the Count Basie Orchestra, said he could no longer tolerate the direction the organization was moving.
more at kansascity.com
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After a four-year hiatus, Karen P. Brown returned to Kansas City Ballet in 2008. A native of Newark, Ohio, she danced with National Ballet of Washington D.C., Pennsylvania Ballet and as a principal dancer and later ballet mistress with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Prior to joining KCB as ballet mistress and school director in 1998, she was ballet mistress of BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Brown participates on guest faculties of many summer programs and continues to work with many choreographers, stage ballets and teach master classes around the world.
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Steve Balderson's new film, "The Casserole Club" focuses on a group of mod 1960's era suburban housewives. Close-knit and neighborly, they are all bent on one-upping each other, trying to prove that each is "the hostess with the mostess." They begin a recipe club, and hold dinner parties, testing out their new casseroles. But when the gatherings become increasingly focused on boozy flirtation, and more than recipes start getting swapped, the story moves swiftly from stylized and campy to a drama about irresponsibility, selfishness, and damaged people.
"The Casserole Club" is an intricate landscape of desolation, unspoken desires, and empty lives laid bare. Raw and uncompromising, it is evocative of classics like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and the more contemporary "American Beauty." Set in America during the NASA moonwalk, the moon, is a metaphor for the film's tragic heroines, who are filled with mystery, secrets and the untapped potential of people who exist without really living.
Starring Susan Traylor, Kevin Richardson, Daniela Sea, Mark Booker, Starina Johnson, Garrett Swann, Pleasant Gehman, Hunter Bodine, Michael Maize, and introducing Jennifer Grace.
For more information, visit http://www.CasseroleClubMovie.com
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Paris in the 12th century was a hotbed of student unrest, corruption and greed and lively political discourse – and it saw a ferment of artistic, literary and musical creativity the likes of which the Western world has rarely witnessed. Within the walled Notre Dame Cathedral complex on the city’s Ile de la Cité lived hundreds of clerics, noblemen, students, servants and choirboys. And when it came to music, they were singing not just Masses and Offices but songs about all manner of things. It was here in this enclave of creativity that polyphony in music – multiple voices sounding at the same time, each forming its own melody but blending seamlessly with the others – made several giant leaps forward.
more at the Independent
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When we think of jazz festivals, we think of summer, the outdoors, the heat, the humidity, the insects. It’s enough to make a person wonder: Could a winter jazz festival work?
more at kansascity.com
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When J. Kent Barnhart decided to put together a Quality Hill Playhouse season celebrating great American lyricists, he knew there was no way he could omit the legendary Johnny Mercer.
more at kansascity.com
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When local war veteran, Hal Parrott wrote the play, “Duty,” he knew exactly what he wanted to say. There was never a doubt in his mind about the points that would be argued or questions asked.
more at the Vignette
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I’ve never witnessed such creativity and community as I did Saturday, Jan. 15. When I walked into Swinney Recreation Center, I was overcome by the blasting music and the crowd dancing to the beat.
more at the University News
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It’s a time-honored tradition. It’s a night of pure lunacy. It’s scantily-clad men brandishing women’s clothing. It’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS)!
more at the University News
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The writers of "Maybe Baby, It’s You" are former members of the New York comedy troupe Gotham City Improv. It figures. The lighthearted show, currently playing at the American Heartland Theatre, is a series of comic sketches about romantic entanglements. If "Saturday Night Live" created a show strictly about relationships, this is how it might look.
more at Sun Publications
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Roger Oyster, principal trombonist of the Kansas City Symphony since 1997, has performed that same role, as a guest or a member, in the St. Louis Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the National Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony (Chicago), and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In a series of posts entitled “Timely and Timeless,” Oyster explores aspects of the Kansas City Symphony’s inaugural season in the Kauffman Center.
more at KCUR
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Area senior citizens and grandparents are invited to pick up an Olathe Public Schools activity pass, which will allow them free admission to middle school and high school athletic and performing arts events for the upcoming school year.
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This fiscal year, artists in Lawrence received $121,957 in grants from the Kansas Arts Commission. As it stands now, the amount artists in Lawrence can expect next year from the commission stands at exactly zero.
more at the Lawrence Journal-World
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This is based off a sad and true story written in the New Yorker about a very similar situation that took place in San Francisco.
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Gwen Poss, principal of Olathe Northwest High School, has been named to the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) Advisory Council, a statewide group organized to advise KASB regarding national, state, local and KASB issues. The council is part of an effort by KASB to facilitate communication and information sharing across boards of education and district administrators, for the shared purpose of improving students' learning.
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A sixth-grade reading seminar class at Frontier Trail has read more than 45,000 pages so far this year, which earned them a class party, sponsored by Price Chopper, including food and a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
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I’ve never witnessed such creativity and community as I did Saturday, Jan. 15. When I walked into Swinney Recreation Center, I was overcome by the blasting music and the crowd dancing to the beat.
more at the University News
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The Jan. 12 Communications student film showcase at the Tivoli Cinemas was a smashing success. The event featured students’ best works from 2010.
more at the University News
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Wine tasting/silent auction to benefit our local troops. 100% of the proceeds will be used to provide calling cards and care packages to local men and women serving our country.
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Valentines for Pets in Independence MO is on February 12th at 2pm. Come decorate a special valentine for your pet. You can choose to paint a valentine card or bandana. Supplies will be provided. Please leave your pets at home to surprise them with their gift.
When is Valentines for Pets?
2 p.m. Saturday February 12
Where is [...] Valentines for Pets is a post from: Kansas City Events
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There's a tough new tenor in town. Steve Lambert doesn't look the part. The kid is as thin as a rail. I've seen the saxophonist play in a number of configurations, most notably as a member of Crosscurrent, but Lambert was a revelation as he led his own group Sunday, January 16, at the Record Bar.
more at Plastic Sax
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Recently Governor Sam Brownback released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2012. Governor Brownback plans to issue executive reorganization orders to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission.
more at Infozine
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Sequentia, Benjamin Bagby’s early music ensemble, will perform their ‘Voices from the Island Sanctuary: Ecclesiastical Singers in Paris (1180-1230)’ program on Friday night in Kansas City, a performance in the Early Music series presented by Friends of Chamber Music. Apre-concert talk will be given by Prof. Nolan Gasser, Musicologist Emeritus of Pandora.com, and UMKC Conservatory’s Prof. Bill Everett at 6:30 p.m. in Grace and Holy Trinity’s Founders’ Hall.
more at Chamber Music Today
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This article appeared in the December 2010 issue of KC Stage
Peter Bakely’s theatrical career is, in his own words, “a long, circuitous path.” He grew up in Kansas City, Kan., having moved to Hampton, N.J. in the second grade, and outside of a year in high school and a year after college has stayed in the Kansas City area his whole life.
However, theatre is a thread that connects his life from a student in Kansas City, Kan., to a playwright studying at UMKC for a master’s degree in playwriting with a play in the Barn Players’ 3rd annual 6 x 10 Ten Minute Play Festival (the first weekend of December).
It was in high school that Bakely got bitten by the theatre bug. While his brothers and sisters had performed before, his first role was a sailor in H.M.S. Pinafore in 7th grade.
“I had three major roles, and I was very happy,” Bakely says. “This was in 9th grade, I started in 7th grade - it was a 7 - 12. So I was getting to act with the seniors when I was in 7th grade, which was really cool. But in 9th grade, I started getting leads again.”
But it was his 10th grade year, when his father took a sabbatical and the family lived a year on Cape Cod, that really started him on the path to having theatre be more than just something to do.
“I went to a huge high school: 6,000 students,” Bakely says. “Very, very different from what I came from. And the drama program wasn’t very good, but it’s what I did. And I got there, they loved me right away. But the director really didn’t do anything.
“And working with him, I realized that I could direct myself and that was a huge revelation to me,” he continues. “I really created my whole role, and that was You Can’t Take It With You - I played Mr. DePinna, and I came up with a whole set of character things that worked out incredibly well. I realized then as an actor that it wasn’t listening to the director and doing what he said. And to this day, directors for the most tend to leave me alone. It’s hard to explain how big that was, but that was the first time that I went from being a vessel to a creative force on my own.”
He took that lesson back to his high school teacher here - James Shepherd - and was afraid at first that he’d get in trouble for making up his own bits. “No,” he says with a smile. “He saw me making up my own bits and he was very happy with that, because he knew the creative spark, too.”
Bakely attended Park College (now Park University) in the late ‘70s, working with Jim Cox, which gave him a chance to work with original scripts. “The school put together an original script production program,” he says, “and I got to work with some good people, because Jim really pushed to get them in.” This included Charles Gordone, the first black man to win a Pulitzer Prize for playwriting, and George Gurley.
After three years, Bakely left Park, went to San Diego for a year, then returned to attend UMKC briefly, which gave him a chance to work at Missouri Rep. “I got steadily better and better parts while I was there as a student,” he says. “I was non-Equity; I acted through the ‘80s around Kansas City doing a lot of productions. I would just get into anything I possibly could: professional, non-professional.”
During this time, he continues, “I met a group of strange individuals, including Mike Taylor, who was putting together a radio show {Greenwich Meantime}, where he had written scripts and it was just one of these things that came out of nowhere. I joined up with him, after doing that and doing his scripts for a couple of months, I started writing scripts for it and the two of us started trading off scripts. We all wrote, but Mike and I did much of it, plus production, plus acting in them every week. And it really gave me a taste for writing material for myself. It was a half hour scripted radio show that we put on once a week. We had a lot of publicity at the time, and we got put on a small network - I think we were on five Pacifica stations at that point.”
“It was a really good opportunity and it fell apart, as these things do, but ever since that time, I have always wanted to go back to actually making the theatre, writing it, producing it, putting it all together with a group of people.”
A combination of burning out and getting married in 1984 and having a child in 1986 caused Bakely to give up theatre in the early ‘90s. He went back to Park College from 1990 - 1992, receiving a degree in Communications: Radio and Television, and got a job working for Sony Electronics six months after graduating.
“At the same time, quitting theatre didn’t take,” Bakely says with a laugh. “And I ran into marsha morgan, and I got to realize how good and calm a director she was, and what a great artistic non-competitive environment Park was during that time.”
He proceeded to do a show every couple of years at Park throughout the 90s (including Reckless in 1993, which is where I first met him) while he worked at Sony. A couple of years ago, Sony closed up the office he was at, and offered Bakely early retirement. “Now I was truly tired of working in an office and wanted to go back to my life, so I took it.”
A couple of years ago, he went back to UMKC and will graduate this spring with a master’s degree in playwriting.
“I’m working with some very good people there,” he says. “My playwriting instructor is Frank Higgins. I knew him from years ago, and it’s just been a delight working with him lately. And he’s got an unerring eye for excess stuff. He is just got the best person for know laser-eye for cutting - you know: no, you don’t need that; you don’t need that - because as he says, he does that, too. He overwrites and over-explains what his characters are doing and then walks through it and cuts it all out so that it’s just the mere bones of the play he pieces together. And he’s got a perfect eye for that stuff.”
In fact, the play he wrote that’s in The Barn Players’ 6 x 10 Ten Minute Play Festival is a play that came out of one of the first writing exercises in his playwriting class, which is two characters have to negotiate over an object.
“The object is a stapler,” he explains, “and the play is about two people early in the morning before work at an office who converge to loot the desk of a person who was recently removed from the company. I set it up that she was fired, so a lot of the stuff was still left there. And it’s just the two of them bantering back and forth and negotiating each of the items, which finally comes down to a staple gun.
“It’s mostly comedy,” he continues. “It’s about banter. I mean, there’re some undercurrents there, but it’s just people basically dealing with trying to keep their jobs while at the same time trying to keep their sanity and working in this type of place.”
His portfolio he submitted for graduation includes eight scripts, three of which are full-length plays he’s finishing. He’s been tentatively showing them around in the hopes of getting them produced, and even is looking into having one be a part of next year’s Fringe Festival.
When it comes down to how he writes, Bakely says he starts with a character first. “I approach playwriting as an actor, which means that as I’m writing, I’m basically playing, improvising all the parts in my head and just letting them talk to each other. I know that sounds weird, but as an actor, you understand that that’s a lot of how you do it. What would I say? What would I think? How would I react? And so a lot of times, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the scene, but I just gotta sit down and let them talk to each other. And then sometimes I have to go down and make them shut up.”
While he tries to not base any of his characters on family and friends, he admits that he is influenced by them. “One thing that I do is I generally will cast the actors in my head as I’m writing it, and that way it helps me to see how it would be performed on stage by thinking about certain people.”
As for combating writer’s block, Bakely says, “My block is starting. As I point out, the all important procrastination part of the process is that I do absolutely my best work right before I’ve told people I’m going to have it done. They’re not giving me deadlines - I’m coming up and saying, ‘I will turn this in this date,’ so that I will turn it into that date. And sometimes I’ve been writing something just up to the last second, but if I sit down and do it, I will just keep writing it. The one thing that I had to learn, and the one thing I have to keep, you know, other people in the class says, ‘okay’, if you have to write it badly but write it, you can always fix badly.
“Now, that’s not to say I haven’t come up dry every once in a while, but for the most part, you know, my mind is just shooting through. But I read everything I can get my hands on. I watch everything I can watch. I’m on the computer, on the internet, doing that. I have, I’m a person who just loves overblown information, and I take that and sift it out and occasionally seven or eight things will come together at once and go, ‘Oh!’ I’m always looking for a convergence that I haven’t seen before, that I didn’t know about.”
His advice for new playwrights follows that tip. “Write something bad as opposed to writing nothing,” Bakely says. “The only way you get good is by being bad many, many times. Don’t pace yourself against other people around you. You’re always you’re own unique identity and you really cannot compare yourself to anybody else, so if you try to, you’ll drive yourself crazy. And just let it happen.”
But how to deal with the inner editor that tells you you’re writing something bad? Bakely has a quick response for that as well. “I trust the inner editor for one thing for a lot of stuff, because the inner editor’s fairly lazy and will want to get away with quite a lot,” he says with a laugh. “The big trick is the same thing with acting. You have to watch just working something to death, thinking something to death. It’s very easy to take something to death. So, the best thing to do, and the best thing I learned as an actor, is that after all the rehearsing, after all that stuff that you’re doing, you end up walking in and trying to absolutely clear your mind before you go on stage in front of an audience or before you sit down in front and to just let it flow out. You think about all the stuff, you do all that stuff, and then you just go through. I’d rather lose a good idea then fall in love with a mediocre idea. That’s a technique I learned as an actor is learning how to clear everything and just go. And that’s a huge, important part of it.”
So, who’s his audience? “I’m writing for me. The main reason for that is that I don’t know what other people would want. I write for me, assuming that what I find funny or what I find moving or what I find interesting will touch other people, but that’s my only choice. I don’t ever want to think, ‘Well, you know, I’m going to miss the general audience.’ Anybody who goes to plays are smart enough to figure out what I’m writing.”
Bakely has directed before, and so the question came up as to whether he considered putting his hat in the ring to direct his own play at The Barn Players. “Not at this point. I trust the process. And if the people let it flow. The one good thing - directors can be good or bad, but if you’ve got anybody halfway decent, it’s just great to have another set of eyes on it.
“The thing is that the creative process, the theatre, is a communal art form. You cannot do it by yourself. And you send this thing out, but what you’ve got to do is when you put the other eyes on it and you put those actors on it, then what you’re attempting to do is create an equation that’s bigger than the sum of its part. You are looking to add one plus one plus one and get five or six or seven. You want the convergence of all these things to create something entirely new out of itself.
Peter Bakely’s play “Vicky’s Desk” is part of The Barn Players’ 3rd annual 6 x 10 Ten Minute Play Festival, which performs Dec 3-5. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students, and more information can be found at www.thebarnplayers.org/tenminute.
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Sequentia, Benjamin Bagby’s early music ensemble, is renowned for bringing history alive through its very creative programming.
more at kansascity.com
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This past Christmas, UMKC Alumnus and musician Griffen Alexander received a present from his fans and friends. Alexander recently called upon his fans to help him make his second album. In order to make the album, he needed to raise at least $10,000 to pay for the production costs.
more at the University News
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So here’s a quiz. Every question is about a Kansas City jazz musician performing at Winterlude. Think you know our local jazz stars? Now is your chance to find out, with the ten questions that follow. Answers are at the end.
more at kcjazzlark
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The music of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinù is not nearly as well known as it should be, but who would have guessed that his Symphony No. 4 would be such a blockbuster?
more at kansascity.com
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Naomi Wallace's extraordinary play, a densely concentrated, richly nutritive, surreal, poetic, black tragicomedy, reminds us of the spirit's improbable ascent from the elemental facts of food and waste, illness and death, blood and effluvia and rot.
more at the Pitch
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As you might expect, the Quality Hill Playhouse reprise of "Blues in the Night: The Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" is a memorable succession of arresting moments, thanks to fine musicianship and the performers' sensitive handling of outstanding material.
more at kansascity.com
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Sequentia, Benjamin Bagby’s early music ensemble, is renowned for bringing history alive through its very creative programming.
more at kansascity.com
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Taste of Leavenworth event starts on February 26th. Taste of Leavenworth is a sampling of Leavenworth County’s finest in food, beverages, music, businesses, artisans & auction.
When is Taste of Leavenworth?
From Saturday, February 26 2011 - 5:30pm
To Saturday, March 26 2011 – 10:00pm
Where is Taste of Leavenworth?
North End of Leavenworth Plaza
3400 4th St.
Leavenworth, KS 66048
Phone: 913-682-4113
Title: [...] Taste of Leavenworth is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The 7th Annual Power Palooza in Independence MO will be on Saturday February 5th. Spend a cold Saturday in February at this carnival. Bring the whole family and enjoy the festive atmosphere at Power Palooza. This event is for children ages 12 & under.
Play carnival games,
get your face painted,
watch a puppet show,
bounce around in the [...] Power Palooza is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Now the Los Angeles Philharmonic has stepped into the big-screen transmission spotlight, giving viewers a taste of even more things likely to come.
more at kansascity.com
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Broadway Across America and the Theater League have announced a joint 2011-2012 season of touring Broadway shows.
more at kansascity.com
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Saturday night was cold enough outside for wearing a big coat to the Folly Theater, then, once inside, settling coat and body into your seat to hear jazz guitarist Earl Klugh, presented by the Folly Jazz Series.
more at kansascity.com
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American Heartland Theatre in Kansas City chose Maybe Baby, It's You as a sparkling way to welcome in 2011. Director Paul Hough, who has directed maybe 50 or more productions for American Heartland Theatre, comes to this production having directed its Kansas City premiere to welcome in 2001, also at AHT. I'd love to have seen that version for comparison, but I'm convinced it couldn't have surpassed this one as a universally entertaining evening!
more at Infozine
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The third annual Women’s Play Festival — coming Feb. 17 through 19 at a location to be announced — will offer five new plays by such accomplished playwrights as Pamela Turner and Kimber Lee. And IAT has captured director talent with Kirsten Olson Malinee, Katie Hays and Amy Darnell, all of Columbia.
more at the Columbia Daily Tribune
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The DreamWorks "Shrek" film series has certainly become a beloved classic by children and adults alike. When it came time to adapt the piece for the Broadway stage, its producers ponied up an estimated $30 million on the production - the record holder as the most expensive Broadway production, only recently dwarfed by SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (now in previews) which is hovering around $65 million dollars. The show closed at a loss, and the creative team set about tweaking the property to better play in other markets.
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The Independence Groundhog Day Celebration is on February 2nd at 10am. Celebrate the end of winter at the nature park. After a story, we’ll:
watch a puppet show,
make a groundhog craft, and
eat a groundhog treat.
Groundhogs are an interesting native Missouri mammal that gets little attention. This special celebration is for children 2 – 5 years old.
Preregistration [...] Groundhog Day Celebration is a post from: Kansas City Events
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A claymation piece I made for my stop motion class
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The Kansas City Symphony today announced details about its 2011-2012 season, its first in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
more at KCUR
and at kansascity.com
and at KMBC
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 If you’ve been blessed with a child born in the middle of winter…then you know well that swimming, farm, baseball and outdoor parties are not an option for celebrating birthdays. We’ve done gymnastics parties and even gone to see a… more
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Shrek the Musical” is full of wit, inspired satire, bathroom humor, ho-hum music, some impressive puppetry and amazing costuming, but it works best as a simple love story.
more at kansascity.com
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The American Heartland Theatre production of “Maybe Baby, It’s You” is full of nice surprises, thanks mainly to the work of two talented actors.
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Henry and Thomas Bloch join Randy Mason for a discussion about the new book Many Happy Returns and the documentary No Shortcuts which chronicle the story of America's Tax Man.
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“Shrek the Musical” has almost everything you could ask for in a truly entertaining all-ages romp based on the first and best installment of the Dreamworks hit animated movie franchise.
more at KC Confidential
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Mezzo Soprano Joyce Castle speaks with the Lied Center about being from Kansas, teaching at KU and celebrating 40 years of performance.
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Building Information Modeling (BIM) is defined by the National Institute of Building Sciences as “a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility”: a virtual building. It’s a 3-D look at structural concrete, steel, electrical components, plumbing and mechanical systems.
more at KCUR
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Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to phase out state tax funding for the arts. Brownback proposed Thursday that the Kansas Arts Commission become a privately funded nonprofit organization.
more at KSHB
and KAKE in Wichita
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It would be easy to automatically assume that “Shrek The Musical” is nothing more than a stage adaptation of the 2001 Dreamworks Animation film. While the story behind the musical uses the source material pretty closely, there are a few tweaks here and there. The magic mirror is no where to be found most notably. Thus if you are a fan of the animated film, the live adaptation is a pretty easy to recommend.
more at Lost in Reviews
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For many, it’s still the definitive date in the seven years of the True/False Film Fest. When James Marsh’s luminous “Man on Wire” enveloped and enraptured the packed house that Sunday evening at Jesse Auditorium, those present for the closing-night festivities knew they had witnessed something special, shared a rare experience.
more at the Columbia Daily-Tribune
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The City of Kansas City, Mo., Office of Civic and Community Engagement has leveraged a partnership with the Kansas City Theater League to provide local students complimentary tickets to attend the Broadway musical "Shrek" on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at the Musical Hall. Following the performance, students will receive an extra treat when they meet the cast of the production.
more at Infozine
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Metallic stethoscopes, syringes and multicolored pens lie on a table backstage as the performers and stage crew position the props and prepare for the dress rehearsal. With the help of a single yellow boat, 13 actors and actresses, ages 8 to 19, will teach Columbia about a child's experience with a life-threatening disease.
more at The Missourian
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An area film production company, Resonate Pictures, in Lawrence is getting national attention for its humorous take on corporate ethics training.
more at FOX4
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The acoustic guitar was pushed to the sidelines of jazz by its electric counterpart about 70 years ago. But no one’s had better luck at bringing it back to the middle of the field than Earl Klugh.
more at kansascity.com
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Ladies Night Out at Keller Williams Realty is a customer appreciation event that will be on Thursday Jan 20th from 6-9pm. Some of the vendors at this events are:
Massage therapist
Hair dresser
Photographer
Aesthetician
Chiropractor
Beijo Bags
Tastefully Simple
Premier Designs
Pampering Chef
Arbonne
Scentsy Candles
When is Ladies Night Out at Keller Williams Realty?
1/20/2011
6pm – 9pm
Where is Ladies Night Out at Keller Williams Realty?
Keller [...] Ladies Night Out at Keller Williams Realty is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, in cooperation with a national research program, said today that it is beginning a project to evaluate local spending by nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences.
more at kansascity.com
[Thanks, Tony]
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Aaron and his biological mother, Vickie, return in their mother-son roles in the third and final “Over the Tavern” play, “The Last Mass at St. Casimir’s,” which opens at 8 tonight at City Theatre of Independence.
more at The Examiner
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Shrek might be the title character, but his noble steed, Donkey, won this Midwestern audience over with his sultry voice, dancing hooves and adult humor. Proving Kansas City to be just a little too sophisticated for repetitive fart jokes. But even with Shrek left in the wind - so to speak - the show still managed to shine.
more at KC Confidential
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Discussion led by panelists Dave Harrison, Caymus Real Estate, LLC, Ed Elder, Grubb & Ellis/Winbury Group and Becky Goodman, Block & Company, Inc., Realtors.
Click here to download the flyer!
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Discussion led by panelists Dave Harrison, Caymus Real Estate, LLC, Ed Elder, Grubb & Ellis/Winbury Group and Becky Goodman, Block & Company, Inc., Realtors.
Click here to download the flyer!
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 If you’re headed to downtown Kansas City this week or this weekend with your kids to see Shrek the Musical at the Music Hall or Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Healthy Heroes at Sprint Center, you are probably already thinking about… more
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I enjoy ham and cheese sandwiches.
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Mid-Winter Art Fair at Roeland Park Community Center will be on January 22nd. Drop by the Roeland Park Community Center for our Mid-Winter Art Fair. View artwork created by all age groups from our Clay Creations class to the Senior Arts Council. Refreshments provided. This event is free and open to the public!
When is Mid-Winter [...] Mid-Winter Art Fair is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Celebrated pianist André Watts joins Michael Stern and the Symphony for Rachmaninoff's dazzling Second Piano Concerto. Originally written as a string quartet, Beethoven's Grosse Fuge has been called the "wildest, grandest fuge ever composed." Completely deaf when he composed it, Beethoven's Grosse Fuge is an energetic, introspective and powerful work. The Fourth Symphony of Bohuslav Martinù is an optimistic, radiant work filled with vigor and lush melodies.
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Ugh! I'm so annoyed at how sloppy the bridge is, but I'll live. Hope you like it.
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The Independence Youth Sports Expo is on January 22nd. Stop by and get information on area youth sports. This is a free event The Youth Sports Expo will feature exhibit booths from various:
camps,
facilities,
teams,
leagues,
organizations and
other related firms.
When is Independence Youth Sports Expo?
1/22/2011
Time 1 -4 p.m.
Where is Independence Youth Sports Expo?
Truman Memorial Building
416 W. Maple
Independence MO
Title: [...] Independence Youth Sports Expo is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Tim Oberhelman's AP Environmental Science students at Olathe South High School are committed to improving their world. In the past two years they've received regional honors, recycled tons of paper and plastic, and cut the cost of lighting their school.
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You’ve got to hand it to the daring folks at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre. Who else would have the audacity to feature a "lighthearted romp through the Bubonic plague"?
more at Sun Publications
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Four University of Missouri journalism students have the opportunity to be on the red carpet for the 83rd Academy Awards. Two-person teams — Erica Coghill and John Regan, and Alex Holley and Ryan Brown — are finalists in the MTV-U & The Oscars competition.
more at The Missourian
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I must admit: I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into when I decided to take in the Fishtank’s Eat Their Words. I had barely perused the Facebook invite – and just knew it was a show with lots of names I recognized from the theatre community that sounded like a lot of fun in a performance space I’d not had the time to check out yet.
more at Stage Savvy
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Interview with director, Jeff Church, on imagination and the creative process of staging a play that mixes reality and fantasy.
Interviews with young actors on developing friendships and how their personal experiences influence their character creation.
Interview with scenic designer, Megan Gross, on creating Jess's world of 1970's rural Virginia.
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Do you still have your natural Christmas tree? The Christmas tree recycling event is going on right now in Johnson County. Recycling natural Christmas trees helps the environment and JCPRD will help you do your part – for FREE! Each year JCPRD collects natural Christmas trees from late December through the end of January from [...] Christmas Tree Recycling is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The 37th Annual Snow Ball benefiting Catholic Charities Foundation of Northeast Kansas will be this Saturday, January 15, 2011. This is a Black Tie event.
Snow Ball Presidents: Pat and Mel McAnany
Honorary Snow Ball Presidents: Ben and Betty Zarda
When is The 37th Annual Snow Ball?
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Six o’clock Reception
Eight o’clock Formal Dinner, followed by Dancing
Where [...] Annual Snow Ball is a post from: Kansas City Events
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2011-12 Kindergarten Round-Up activities will begin in the Olathe Public Schools at the end of February. Each elementary school will hold kindergarten enrollment on a specific day, Feb. 28 through March 4. By Kansas law, children who turn 5 years old on or before Aug. 31, 2011, are eligible to attend kindergarten in the fall.
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Do you like jewelry? The Silver Craze (formerly The Silver Source) Jewelry Event at Independence Center starts on January 14th. Spice up your Winter wardrobe with beautiful jewelry from The Silver Craze (formerly The Silver Source). A gorgeous selection of silver and semi-precious gemstones for all budgets!
Pendants,
chains,
rings, and
earrings
will be available to complete your fabulous Winter [...] The Silver Craze Jewelry Event is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The Home Based Business Expo at Independence Center Mall starts this Friday, January 14th, and will run through Monday January 17th. Independence Center is kicking off the year with an event you won’t want to miss. Visit all your favorite home based businesses to browse or place orders on the spot.
When is this Home Based [...] Home Based Business Expo is a post from: Kansas City Events
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A short film documenting life before the apocalypse of 3555.
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The eccentric mix of performers attracts a unique crowd by featuring varying yet always entertaining performances including music, burlesque and comedy.
more at the University News
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The public is invited to join the Olathe School District Board of Education in watching the State of the State address by Gov. Sam Brownback at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, in the Board of Education room at the District Education Center, 14160 Black Bob Road, Olathe. School districts across the state will be closely monitoring the governor's proposed budget and how it might affect public school funding. The governor's address will be carried live on KTWU Channel 11.
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Maria Vasquez Boyd presents a monthly photography series called What We Do Is Secret that explores artists in situ. This month, she meets with musician, composer, and poet Kevin Hiatt.
more at Present Magazine
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This article appeared in the December 2010 issue of KC Stage
Where did the year go? It seems like yesterday I was cutting open a watermelon, exploding fireworks, and re-watching my DVD of 1776 (I still vote for the turkey). The next thing I knew, there’s holiday music playing at the store — which means it’s September, when the retail world believes hearing “Ding Dong, Merrily on High” will get me to buy stuff for other people during a non-charitable month. Nice try, Price Chopper, but I didn’t fall for it, because all my attention was focused on the most important holiday of the year – Halloween. How can I think of Santa Claus and mistletoe when I’m putting the finishing touches on my awesome Eye of Sauron costume? I scared a few kids that night! The days were a blur, however, and a few Baby Ruths later I found myself at my folks eating a turkey dinner, and that’s when it dawned on me – the holidays are here, and I’m not prepared. I’ve got to go shopping, wrap presents, hang the stockings, trim the tree, deck the halls, mail the cards, put Ringo Starr’s I Wanna Be Santa Claus on my iPod, and figure out which holiday shows I’m going to see. I’m seriously late.
Halloween trumps Christmas
How could I have forgotten about Christmas? What happened to my holiday cheer? How did I get so dispirited? Oh, I remember now. It’s because last year the Kansas City Repertory didn’t stage A Christmas Carol. December just wasn’t the same. Somehow it made the whole holiday season empty and meaningless. Oh, I tried. I went to the Rep’s worthy replacement – A Christmas Story – and as tuneful and nostalgic as it was, it just wasn’t A Christmas Carol. I even tried to seek out other Christmas Carols, only to learn that Christopher Durang isn’t very nice to Christmas at all.
That’s why I was thrilled to look in KC Stage and see that A Christmas Carol was back at the Kansas City Rep. Sure, they built a new set and changed a few things here and there, but I don’t care. I’m just happy it’s back – happy and warm inside – as if I’d set fire to that lump of coal Santa gave me. For a moment I thought my only Christmas Carol option was going to be The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Production of A Christmas Carol by the Corbin Theatre in Liberty. Sounds like fun, but it’s just not the same. I need A Christmas Carol that only the Kansas City Rep can give me.
Now that my spirit’s rekindled, I think I’ll over-indulge in holiday shows this year. Why get fat on my mother’s fudge when I can gorge myself on live entertainment? I’ll start with all the classics. It’s a Wonderful Life? I’m off to Ottawa to see the ACT Ottawa production. White Christmas? I’ll go to Topeka to see the Topeka Civic Theatre’s production. The Nutcracker? Yes, I’ll see all four productions – Ballet North, Owen/Cox Dance Group at Union Station, The American Youth Ballet, and the venerable Kansas City Ballet – and I’ll like every single one of them. Give me a belly full.
With the standards out of the way, I’ll check out some of those alternative holiday plays – you know, plays that haven’t been done every year for the last 30 years. Playwrights love to write new plays about the holidays, because it gives them an opportunity to make a living wage. Put the word “Christmas” in your title and somebody, somewhere, will produce it. That’s how we get Rented Christmas, the Musical at Blue Springs City Theatre and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Topeka Civic Theatre. I’m sold! Some of these alternative plays don’t sound like Christmas at all though. The Mystery Train’s Terror on the Toyland Express might be a holiday show, but it’s got killers and murder and trains. Shiver! But if you really want to get wacky, Martin City Melodrama’s got a Triple Threat Holiday Show, which not only features their famous Water Glass Symphony, but two short plays called “Hamletta, or the Three Little Pigs” and “A Star Trek Christmas, or Beam Me Up Santa.” Everyone knows I like Star Trek, so I’ll be first in line.
Now that I’m fat on pure yuletide cheer, it’s time to plump up the kiddies, starting with Theatre for Young America’s Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at Union Station. They’re already laughing, just hearing the title. The River City Players has a children’s Christmas play called A Gift for Santa. Well, I think it’s time Santa got a gift, so we’ll road trip it to Lexington and catch that. Of course, what the kids really like is puppets, so we’ll be seeing A Holiday Happening at the Puppetry Arts Institute and then catching the Paul Mesner Puppet’s annual Nativity. The kids think holiday shows are swell, and if theatre were food their bellies would be swollen too.
For dessert, nothing beats a little music, and there’s plenty of sweet treats to choose from this year. Should I sample Christmas in Song at the Quality Hill Playhouse, or spice things up with the Musical Theatre Heritage’s Christmas Spectacular? The Lee’s Summit Symphony is offering some Holiday Magic, but across town I can hear the Dickens Carolers in Concert at the Chestnut Fine Arts Theatre. Which one should I taste? You know what, I’m just going to have to try all of them. Yep, that will round the holiday out nicely.
It’s so nice to be back in the holiday mood. Who knew the Kansas City Repertory had so much influence over my whole demeanor? Now when I sit down to open presents with my family, I’ll be a cheerful and gracious, unlike last year when I left a bear trap in front of the fireplace as a little Santa surprise. I’ll finish out the year and the holidays with some New Years’ entertainment – Memories Are Made of This at the Chestnut Fine Arts Center, and the New Years Eve Cabaret at Quality Hill Playhouse. Yes, 2011 is going to be sweet.
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UMKC’s Department of English at the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music and Dance have received a $1 million estate gift in support of student scholarships. The gift, which is to be divided equally between the English Department and the Conservatory is from Jo Anna Dale, a UMKC alumna who received her BA in English in 1952. The money will be used to create a new Jo Anna Dale English Scholarship, and support the existing Jo Anna Dale Scholarship in Creative Writing (established in 2007) and the Jo Anna Dale Conservatory Scholarship (established in 2010).
more at UMatters
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School in Session Wednesday
All Olathe Public Schools will be in session Wednesday, Jan. 12. Bus riders — dress warmly for the bus stop temperature. Buses may also be running a little late due to road conditions.
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Celebrate Earth Day at the Olathe Chamber's Networking coffee. There will be expo booths, a drawing for 2 rain barrels and several other door prizes. The first 400 attendees will receive a reusable tote from Olathe Ford.
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Celebrate Earth Day at the Olathe Chamber's Networking coffee. There will be expo booths, a drawing for 2 rain barrels and several other door prizes.
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Celebrate Earth Day at the Olathe Chamber's Networking coffee. There will be expo booths, a drawing for 2 rain barrels and several other door prizes.
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“It’s a new me!” the Magic Jazz Fairy cried out, fist pumped high, as the doors to detox swung open.
more at kcjazzlark
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The setting for Naomi Wallace’s play, One Flea Spare, is London in 1665 during the flea-delivered, rat-transported, outbreak of bubonic plague that killed over 100,000 people in England: a disastrous prelude to the Great Fire of London in September of 1666. Four people quarantined in a house with a guard who ensures they stay indoors. A recipe for cabin fever in more ways than one.
more at Present Magazine
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With all the talk on Broadway about Spiderman’s medga-budget problems, it’s refreshing (and fun) to see what the second biggest payout in Broadway history hath wrought.
more at KC Confidential
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For almost 50 years, Pryor, 68, has specialized in “industrials,” promotional and training films made for corporate clients. The Texas native was studying journalism at the University of Oklahoma when he began to dabble in film.
more at kansascity.com
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This emotion-heavy play set in the 1980s is based on the true story of a young Benjamin Saar, a boy born with congenital hemophilia who contracted AIDS during a blood transfusion. The young actors from the Performing Arts in Children’s Education focus on the positive story of Benjamin’s life in “The Yellow Boat” as they bring to life his gift as an artist and passion for drawing and painting.
more at the Columbia Daily Tribune
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Kansas Arts Commission grant guidelines are available on the agency website at http://arts.ks.gov. The following grant opportunities are offered:
Upcoming online/telephone grant guideline workshops:
Fiscal Year 2012 Grant Guidelines Workshop, Wednesday, January 19, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, or Thursday, January 20, 10:00 - 11:00 am, This workshop provides an overview of all KAC grant programs
Click here to register!
Fiscal Year 2012 Artist Project and Collaboration Grant Guidelines Workshop, Wednesday, January 26, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, A more in-depth look at the guidelines and program ideas for artist grants.
Click here to register!
Fiscal Year 2012 Arts in Education Grant Guidelines Workshop,
Thursday, February 3, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, A more in-depth look at the arts-in-education guidelines and program ideas.
Click here to register!
For questions, please call 866-433-0688 (toll free) or 785-296-3335, or e-mail kac@arts.ks.gov
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The Kansas City Auto Show will be from March 2nd to March 6th. In an effort to generate more excitement, energy, and fun, the 2010 Greater Kansas City International Auto Show will reach back to a simpler time when cars developed muscles, cars were special, cars were central to who we were. A time when [...] Kansas City Auto Show is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The 37th Annual Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be on March 17th starting at 11am. After many years Downtown, the nationally-recognized parade will follow a more traditional, neighborhood path. If you want to be in the Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, you can still apply. Download the application form from the website [...] Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The Olathe Public Schools are served by seven board members representing area positions in three districts plus one at-large position. Elections will be held this spring for four seats on the Board of Education.
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School Cancellation
All Olathe Public Schools will be closed Monday, Jan. 10, due to inclement weather. Most activities are typically canceled, but please read the Cancellation Information news article on the district's home page, or contact your child's school if you are unsure whether an event has been affected.
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This Scrapbook Crop Fundraiser is sponsored by Girl Scout Troops 1457 & 1655 to raise money to pay for their troop to take a Spring bike tour of the Katy trail in Missouri. The all day Scrapbook Crop Fundraiser will take place on saturday, February 5th from 9am – 9pm at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church [...] Scrapbook Crop Fundraiser is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Several weeks ago, we asked local music-minded folks to send us their original songs about Kansas City. Dozens of musicians responded, and after two rounds of voting online, we have a clear winner.
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The combination of youthful exuberance and mature mastery suited the Kansas City Symphony quite well at its concert Friday night at the Lyric Theatre.
more at kansascity.com
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Pianist Andre Watts can’t remember how many times he has performed in Kansas City, but it’s a special occasion whenever he’s in town.
more at kansascity.com
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If you’ve followed the veil of tears known as “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” you may have read that its $65 million budget makes it the most expensive Broadway musical in history. Well, this week Kansas City audiences will get to see what the second-most-costly Broadway show in the annals of showbiz looks like when “Shrek the Musical” opens at the Music Hall.
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The life of a topical play usually goes one of two ways: It quickly loses its relevance and falls into obscurity, or it catches a wave of historical change that allows it to be revived. Playwright and actor Marc Wolf is glad to see that his one-man play, “Another American: Asking and Telling,” is experiencing the second fate.
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Playwright Naomi Wallace achieves something remarkable in "One Flea Spare" — she evokes an entire society while limiting the claustrophobic action to a handful of characters in a single room.
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We’ve already been receiving emails asking where the 2011 Kansas City-area Father-Daughter Dance list is going up on the site! (We’ve included a few mother/son events as well.) Many of these will sell-out – so call the Parks & Rec… more 
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PITCHAPALOOZA is the American Idol for books. Bring your book pitch to a panel of judges consisting of Book Doctors:
Arielle Eckstut and
David Henry Sterry plus
guest industry insiders and
local authors.
You get a minute for your pitch before the judges critique everything from idea to style to marketplace potential and much more. The judges pick a [...] PITCHAPALOOZA is a post from: Kansas City Events
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FitMom Free Demo Week starts on January 17th in Prairie Village, KS. FITMOM provides prenatal fitness, mom and baby fitness, and late-evening Fitwoman classes. FITMOM is designed to meet the specific needs of moms to be, new moms and veteran moms interested in health and wellness in the childbearing years. FITMOM is an effective, fun, [...] FitMom Free Demo Week is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The Roving Imp Theater deals with an unexpected guest as John O'Hara Diynews.org rolls in. See how they deal with him in their gentle improvisational way.
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Last month, a packed house at the Mid-America Arts Alliance's event space witnessed an inspired, synergistic event: the visitation of National Endowment for the Arts Chair Rocco Landesman and a dialogue between some of the most influential luminaries in the Kansas City arts and development scene. The director of Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mary Kennedy McCabe, with the former Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City President/CEO, Joan Israelite, introduced moderator Henry Fortunato, who preceded to eloquently reflect upon the esteemed panel of local forward thinkers, Suzie Aron, William Dietrich, and David Ford. The group had collected to discuss many topics, but the subject of creative place-making emerged as dominant in many conversations.
more at Review
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"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is a poem by Wallace Stevens, and MU theory and composition professor Thomas McKenney wanted to do something with it for years.
more at the Missourian
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Party Arty: Zen’d at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will be on January 22nd and January 23rd. Get ready for Party Arty and put yourself in a Party Arty state of mind. Join the Young Friends of Art for an exciting night of Asian culture, food, drinks, music and art in the world-renowned Bloch Building [...] Party Arty is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Ready for the Photo Contest at the Kansas City Zoo? Get your favorite photo professional critiqued by world-class National Geographic photographer, Joel Sartore. Now through January 12, bring your favorite photo to the Kansas City Zoo for display in the Zoo’s Lobby. On Wednesday, January 12, Joel Sartore will choose his favorite photos and discuss [...] Photo Contest at the Kansas City Zoo is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The KC Unveiled Bridal Show will be on January 29th. The Cotillion is hosting a fun-day filled with ideas, expert advice and plenty of prizes for the lucky bride-to-be and her groom! Meet wedding professionals ready to assist with all aspects of wedding planning & enjoy fashion shows that feature the latest in wedding attire. [...] KC Unveiled Bridal Show is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Mid-America RV Show will be at the end of this month, from January 27th to January 30th. The Mid-America RV Show is the recreational vehicle consumer show in the Midwest designed to address the need of today’s savvy shoppers who are as comfortable browsing the Internet as they are browsing the exhibits on the Show’s [...] Mid-America RV Show is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Some cast interviews and general zaniness from CYT Kansas City North's 2010 production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Sorry this took so long to get out there!
The full strike party from CYT Kansas City North's 2010 production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Sorry it took so long to get out there!
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Board members invite the public to view the address at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Education Center
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The Olathe School District's transition to K-5, 6-8, 9-12 schools has received overwhelming positive marks from students and parents, the Board of Education heard during its regular monthly meeting Jan. 6. Deputy Superintendent Alison Banikowski presented an update on various aspects of the sixth- and ninth-grade transitions and success of the elementary/middle/high school grade configurations.
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More than 90 percent of the students and parents involved in the district's 6-9 reconfiguration say the transition has gone well this year, Deputy Superintendent Alison Banikowski said in a report to the Board of Education. Surveys help district leaders monitor the overall success of the 6-9 reconfiguration that occurred last summer. Further analysis will continue in the second semester, she said.
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January 7-9, 2011; Michael Stern, Music Director; Haochen Zhang, piano
Dukas- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Prokofiev- Piano Concerto No. 3
R. Strauss- Also sprach Zarathustra
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Leigh Morgan Koechner, 44, an Overland Park native and Shawnee Mission South graduate, is one of 10 finalists competing to be the host of their very “OWN” show on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
more at kansascity.com
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In David Crespy’s dream, the main character in a play he is working on appears in a courtroom. But it is a court of animals, and the judge is Lucy the Australopithecus, the skeleton that links apes and humans. “Wallace’s Line” is about a young teacher trying to decide whether she can teach evolution, which goes against her religious views.
more at the Missourian
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The Overland Park Boat Show will be from January 27th to January 30th. The Lake of the Ozarks Marine Dealers Association brings the Lake of the Ozarks to Overland Park in the heart of winter. Relive the summer and visit with numerous Lake of the Ozarks marinas and vendors with all the newest boat models [...] Overland Park Boat Show is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The 4th Annual Wine and Art Event will be on January 28th. Learn about a selection of special wineries chosen just for this event, taste the wines they are producing- from Sauvignon Blanc to Syrah, with appropriate hors d’oeuvres pairings. Enjoy live music and a silent auction of art by our very own Head Start [...] 4th Annual Wine and Art Event is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City Open House is a special Event for Members & Non-Members. It is a free family fun event. There will be:
free Snacks & Refreshments
free Group Exercise, -Jazzercise® Zumba® and more.
free Youth Fitness Zone Activities.
free Family Boot Camp.
Enter to Win A FREE LCD TV. Members that Bring a Non-Member [...] Jewish Community Center Open House is a post from: Kansas City Events
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I got a lot of requests for this one. I LOVE this song. I really hope you guys like it.
This song is from Rihanna's latest album, "Loud". I'm absolutely in love with it. *Requested by Tiffany* I get a tad emotional so it gets a little shaky at the end. Sorry bout it.
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The American Jazz Museum is embarking on an effort to build individual supporters of its programs. The museum is creating a series of free events called “Take Five Tours” that will provide potential supporters with an opportunity to learn more about the mission, facility and future direction of the operation.
more at kansascity.com
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The KC Weddings Bridal Spectacular is back this Saturday January 8th at the Overland Park Convention Center. Come to KC Weddings Bridal Spectacular, the largest and longest-running bridal show in the Midwest, for extraordinary prize giveaways worth thousands of dollars and to meet some of Kansas City’s top wedding professionals that can give you advice [...] KC Weddings Bridal Show is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Mid-West Regional Gift Market will be from January 14th to 16th at Reardon Convention Center- Hilton Gardens in Kansas City KS. Mid-West Regional Gift Market is a great way to start the new year with new buyers! This is a wholesale event held at the beautiful Jack Reardon Convention Center in Kansas City KS. Open [...] Mid-West Regional Gift Market is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Arts lovers are eagerly awaiting the opening this fall of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. But until then, there’s a lot to look forward to as 2011 unfolds.
more at kansascity.com
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Want a Complimentary Cardio Tennis Study? Midtown Athletic Club, in Overland Park KS, is looking for volunteers, ages 25-65, to participate in a complimentary Cardio Tennis Study.
What is Cardio Tennis?
Cardio tennis is a fun group activity that integrates several tennis drills with a heart-pumping, high intensity workout designed to help improve your tennis skills while [...] Complimentary Cardio Tennis Study is a post from: Kansas City Events
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Julie Daicoff, math teacher at Olathe Northwest High School, Natasha Erb, international language teacher at Indian Trail Middle School, and Elizabeth Hunt Esco, science teacher at Olathe North High School, have received National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
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Other promising shows scheduled so far for the New Year include “Shrek the Musical,” opening Jan. 12 at the Music Hall. Before “Spider-Man,” “Shrek” held the honor of being the most expensive musical in Broadway history, and is from the director of “Avenue Q.” This show kicks off the Broadway Across America season.
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The Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas has received a $3,675 grant from the Kansas Humanities Council to support the 2011 Kansas City Chinese Film Festival.
more at Infozine
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Chisholm Trail Middle School has been selected as one of five finalists for the School of the Year Award by the National Association of Middle School Principals (NAMSP).
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Joel Martin, Olathe Northwest High School orchestra teacher, has been named the Outstanding Music Educator by the Northeast division of the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA). Martin has been teaching in Olathe schools for 14 years. In addition to teaching orchestra and music theory at Olathe Northwest, he provides fifth-grade strings instruction at Ravenwood and Manchester Park elementary schools.
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This Warm Winter Art Extravaganza exhibition showcases the wonderful art creations by members of the Greater Kansas City Art Association. Perfect for gifting and adding to your home decor. Holiday ornaments created by local artists are available.
When is Warm Winter Art Extravaganza?
December 3, 2010 – January 28, 2011
Where is Warm Winter Art Extravaganza?
Buttonwood Art Space
3013 [...] Warm Winter Art Extravaganza is a post from: Kansas City Events
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The ArtsKC Awards has become one of Kansas City's most popular events. Selling out to crowds of over 500 business, civic, and arts leaders, the event features some of the metro area's finest visual and performing arts talent. This year for the 8th annual ArtsKC Awards Luncheon on January 28, 2011 from 11: 00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. we are proud to announce the following four performers:
Voler Thieves of Flight, an edgy and experimental collaboration of aerial dance and acrobatics, comprised of various performing artists from the Kansas City area. Performances are an exciting display of skill, athleticism, coordination, and flexibility.
Kansas City Ballet, a 25-member professional ballet company, performs three mixed repertory seasons per year as well as the ever-popular Nutcracker. The ballet reaches over 15,000 Kansas City students and adults each year through its community education programs, and provides dance training through the Kansas City Ballet School.
Luna Breeze, a cirque hoop dancer, integrates modern and contemporary dance forms, creating non-conventional hoop dance choreography that focuses on the magic of illusion and the interaction between the hoop and her body.
Paul Mesner Puppets, a theatrical puppet company, presents classic stories recast in contemporary terms. Audiences across the United States have delighted in the precise craftsmanship, dynamic presentation and joyful blending of humor and education in all of their productions.
more at ArtsKC
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Please join us as we welcome the 2011 Leadership Olathe class. Network with past and future graduates of the Leadership Olathe program. Hear about ways to get more involved as an alumni.
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Kansas City is more than ready for its close-up and Peter Witte is an integral part of that snapshot.
more at 435 South
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Eric Z. Price was shot in the head outside of Waldo Pizza on November 30. Amazingly, he survived and continues to recover.
more at The Pitch
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Call it karma or coincidence, but the Broadway theater scene in Kansas City is getting a double dose of "reclamation." The touring company of the hit Broadway show "Shrek the Musical" will appear at the Music Hall beginning Jan. 12. It’s about "a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land." Meanwhile, KC-based theatrical presenter Theater League is about to reclaim its deed to a major corner of the local theatrical landscape.
more at Sun Publications
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Fee-based, Full-day Kindergarten
Frequently asked questions and answers now available in Featured links area below
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Prospective students are invited to learn about the graduate and undergraduate programs available on the Edwards Campus. Free GMAT and GRE test prep classes offered at 10:30 a.m.
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In response to this group's requests for more practical information about utilizing social media in the workplace, the Chamber is introducing "Techie Talk: How do I..." discussion series as a feature of its HR Roundtable. Periodically throughout the year, this series will help you gain practical tips as we explore basic and advanced principles about today's technology.
This month, Garmin recruiter Raedawn Johnson will lead a discussion and live demonstration on how Garmin embraces Facebook and LinkedIn in their day-to-day business activities and recruiting efforts. Bring a notepad and a list of questions to share!
What is the HR Roundtable?
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It offers a unique environment for human resources practitioners to interact with their peers on a monthly basis, discuss and share related best practices, emerging trends, and workplace issues.
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Meeting registration opens two weeks prior to the event date and ends the Friday before the meetng date. Cost is $10 per person for catered lunch or FREE for the "B.Y.O.Lunch" option. Complimentary Pepsi beverages always available.
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Payments for catered lunch are accepted online or at the door. Notify staff of B.Y.O.Lunch option via email or phone call. Cancelations must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the event in order to avoid charges.
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Space is limited to 30 people. A waiting list will be maintained as needed and individuals will be contacted if space becomes available.
Mission Statement:
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The Olathe HR Roundtable offers human resource practitioners of member organizations a forum to discuss and share related best practices, emerging trends, and workplace issues. The main purpose of the roundtable is to create a unique environment where information can be shared in an open-exchange format that is collaborative, engaging, and valuable to represented organizations and the HR profession.
Who is it designed for?
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The HR Roundtable was created as a networking and problem-solving opportunity for human resource practitioners who are directly involved in the personnel and hiring process of their organization (i.e. HR managers, recruiters, payroll administrators, etc.).
Can vendors attend?
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Due to limited space and because of the nature of the topics that are openly discussed by the HR practitioners, some attendance restrictions do apply. Thus it is crucial to the group’s success that attendance is restricted to vendors that provide uniquely human resources services and/or products.
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Up to five seats will be reserved for vendors representing a relevant product or service may attend each meeting, with only one representative per business or organization each month.
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Vendors are sometimes the “solutions experts” to the questions and concerns that the HR practitioners have; therefore vendor input is welcome while “sales messages” are not.
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In determining the appropriateness of the various vendors in attendance, Chamber staff will consider the relevance to the hiring and employment situations that the HR practitioners face in their day-to-day jobs or to the topic of the month (i.e. vendors who deal with payroll services, pre-employment testing, staffing assistance, training, benefits, etc.).
Can non-members of the Olathe Chamber attend?
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One representative of a non-member organization is welcome to attend one meeting a year.
Can vendors make presentations to the HR practitioners that attend?
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Presentations are at the sole discretion of the Olathe Chamber of Commerce. Please consider the sponsorship opportunity described below.
The “Quarterly Lunch Sponsorship” program is an exclusive opportunity for vendors to promote their products and services. Please contact Chamber staff for details. It is offered to Olathe Chamber members in order to best serve its membership while continuing to discourage “sales messages” from meeting discussions:
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Vendors are offered an opportunity to provide printed materials and promotional items on a designated table and to be available afterwards to answer questions. Chamber staff will oversee the quantity and duration of displayed items and the length of the meeting.
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On occasion, the Chamber might invite various “experts” to address the group as deemed necessary and helpful to the overall group and topic of discussion. This is not a sales opportunity and may not qualify for the HR Roundtable Lunch Sponsorship program.
Discussion is facilitated by Susan Wallace, Olathe Chamber, Personnel & Projects Manager
To RSVP w/o online pre-payment, you may submit the form below and indicate "RSVP," your name, email, and lunch choice: (1) Catered lunch option but pay at the door, or (2) Free B.Y.O.Lunch option. We will respond to submitted questions at our earliest convenience, or you may call the Olathe Chamber (913) 764-1050.
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The Kansas Citizens for the Arts invites arts organizations leaders — staff and board members — arts audiences, arts educators — and everyone who cares about the arts in Kansas — to attend its free arts advocacy workshop on Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 6:00 pm, Leawood Branch Library, 4700 Town Center Drive. A light meal and drinks will be provided. This workshop, led by KCA Executive Coordinator Sarah Carkhuff Fizell, will help you become an expert in developing a message for local arts advocacy. To RSVP, send an email to directorartsjoco@sbcglobal.net or call 913-894-2720.
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 There are several fun events and performances in town that you might want to check out. Better get your tickets because they are going fast…we even have a special discount to the Elmo’s Healthy Heros shows at Sprint Center.… more
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Ericka J. Coulter, an executive songwriter for El Debarge, was recently nominated for the Grammy for at the single "Second Chance."
more at the Kansas City Kansan
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For the third year, the Olathe School District has received the Kansas City Power Light MPower Participation Award for lowering electricity consumption during peak hours.
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After six seasons preparing the Kansas City Symphony for a great leap forward in 2011, Michael Stern has signed on for another five years at the helm.
more at kansascity.com
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Daisy performs at the Kansas City Society of Burlesque's Festivus Winter Wonderland show.
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A few weeks ago, Nadia Iozzo and some of her co-workers saw the new Natalie Portman ballet movie, “The Black Swan.” Her biggest complaint is that the movie didn’t spotlight enough of the joy of their job.
more at kansascity.com
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The New York Times wrote about Harold O’Neal: “He comes with a full, orchestral piano sound, rippling, weaving, punching like Kenny Kirkland’s solos did in the 1990s….”
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The Olathe Public Schools Special Services Site Council will host a free seminar for parents of students with disabilities. Autism Resources Galore! is the topic of the Jan. 20 meeting. It begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Instructional Resource Center, 14090 Black Bob Road, Olathe.
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Whittle was in a gym, but she was not exercising. She was performing in front of an audience, moving her body in an exaggerated way to satirize our culture’s obsession with sports. Whittle and her collaborator, musician and composer Paul Sprawl, chose an unexpected venue — the gym of the Westport-Roanoke Community Center — for the November premiere of their performance, “WorkArtOut.”
more at kansascity.com
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The Olathe Board of Education will handle a variety of topics during its regular monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, in the Education Center, 14160 Black Bob Road, Olathe. One action item is the potential sale of Millcreek Center, and the board will hear a report on the success of the 6/9 grade reconfiguration.
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The Olathe East High School Talons drill team will combine a major dance competition with a fundraiser for Harvesters on Jan. 21-22. The Kansas Spectacular, featuring about 80 junior/middle and senior high school drill teams and private dance studios, will be held at the school, 14545 W. 127th St., Olathe.
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What if every other home in Brookside were boarded up, and others were abandoned altogether? What if three out of four shops on 63rd Street were closed indefinitely? And what if trucks came through the neighborhoods at night to collect corpses and take them to a massive pit beyond the city limits?
more at kansascity.com
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One year ago I became a blogger, a word that didn't sit too well with me. It conjured images of people keeping cat diaries and New Year's journals that never lasted longer than January 14. It was only later that I found out there's a word for what I do: "curator". I liked the sound of that much better. So now your humble curator is spending New Year's Day looking back at 2010.
My daily chore has created 2,702 postings and the blog has an average of 9,200 views a month. Many more people are reading the blog through Facebook and Twitter or in their email or RSS reader. Visits peaked during the KC Fringe Festival, when over 100 show reviews were posted on the KC Stage website. Thanks to a link on the Spring Awakening website, the most popular blog post has been an interview that Spring Awakening star Elizabeth Judd did with the Lied Center.
But rather than talk about the blog stats, I'd like to share some of what I think has been the best local arts coverage from last year.
The Kansas City Star amounts to about a quarter of the content on the blog, and its quality reporting makes the daily paper a dominant source for performing arts news in Kansas City. Unfortunately, Star articles don't last very long at kansascity.com. They don't even show you where to find an article once the story is archived - you just get a dead link. So looking back at Kansas City's history is not only a difficult endeavor, but it pretty much removes the Star from the world wide web except for the most recent news. This means the voice of authority diminishes rather quickly, along with any readers' comments that might actually make the articles more informative, relevant, entertaining, or factually correct.
The following are the Star articles I felt were particularly interesting, even though the links to many of them no longer work. If you really want to read the articles, you can search for the headlines in the Star archives for free with your library card through the Kansas City Public Library, The Johnson County Public Library, the Mid-Continent Public Library, or the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library.
- Feb 25 "Talent has a second act as musicians make a mark in the theater world": Robert Trussell offered a nice look at artists that straddle artistic boundaries, mostly musicians who frequent the theatre world and vice-versa.
- Apr 12 & Jun 19 "East Coast filmmakers plunge into Missouri’s backwoods for ‘Winter’s Bone’" & "‘Winter’s Bone’ star Jennifer Lawrence draws on dark reserves for her dramatic roles": Robert Butler championed the excellent film Winter's Bone from the start, and now that it's looking like a major Oscar contender, his interviews with director Debra Granik (who came to Kansas City for the film's premiere at FilmFest KC) and star Jennifer Lawrence remains a highlight of the year. Both articles are still available on the Star's website.
- May 26 "Lee’s Summit West drama teacher retiring after 35 years": Emily Jarrett did a great job highlighting the career of Lee's Summit School District's Ben Martin when he retired from teaching theatre.
- May 29 "Local filmmakers take the road less traveled in making Civil War saga": Robert Butler outdid himself with this extensive Star Magazine article on the locally-produced film Arkansas Traveler, still available on the Star website. He even came back at the end of the year for an update on the production. The Blue Springs Journal also gave Arkansas Traveler some outstanding coverage that's also worth reading. Can't wait to see the movie.
- Jun 4 "Jeff Harshbarger taps his bass instincts and others tap his talents": Timothy Finn's extensive profile on musician Jeff Harshbarger's busy, skyrocketing career is well worth reading.
- Jun 5 "Who will be the first KC SuperStar?": This look at the Jewish Community Center's KC SuperStar competition is personal and dramatic. A similar competition held at the Lyceum Theatre was also given great coverage by the Columbia Tribune.
- Sep 2 "Arts groups grapple with education budget cuts": Ann Spivak's look at arts organization budget cuts was some rare hard reporting for the performing arts scene.
- Oct 15 "KC becoming a hub for animation companies": Robert Trussell's coverage of local filmmaking is sporadic, but when he does write something it's usually good. His look at local animation was detailed and informative.
- Nov 5 "Amy Farrand has traveled a reckless road to become a top local musician": Timothy Finn's interview with Amy Farrand is another all-encompassing treat from the Star.
- Dec 4 "Walter Bryant : He has a musical way with TV ads": Lee Hill Kavanaugh gave us a nice look at local composer Walter Bryant.
- Dec 22 "UMKC jazz students loved musical visit to Japan": Steve Penn's article about UMKC jazz students' visit to Japan is highlighted by a terrific set of photos from the UMKC Jazz Posterous blog.As of this posting, the article is still live.
- Dec 30 "When you’re Walter Coppage, The Voice is the key": Robert Trussell finished off the year with a great interview with one of our biggest local actors, Walter Coppage. It was a great way to end 2010.
Aside from the Kansas City Star, here are some of the other great blog posts from this past year:
One of the best things to happen on the web in 2010 was kcjazzlark's phenomenal history of the American Jazz Museum, pieced together trough 11 blog posts. It is extensively researched and everything that makes the internet great. I was also intrigued by his background history on some local ruins.
Another highlight of the year: the University of Kansas explored the creative process with some amazing in-depth video interviews with Steven Eubank, Jeff Church, Paul Hough, and Ron MeGee. Johnson County Community College also did a great video interview with local voice talent Tom Kane. These are all well worth your time.
435 South Magazine offered several great interviews this year, including child actor Willie Aames, who now lives in Olathe, and eight talented Johnson County teenagers.
KC Stage liked University of Missouri Research Board's article on UMKC professor Felicia Londré so much that we asked for permission to reprint it in our March issue so that more people might get a chance to read it. She is the authority on Kansas City's theatrical history, and theatre history in general.
At the end of the semester, the Kansas City Art Institute posted several student animations on Youtube, which I compiled into a blog post (some of which have been deleted, unfortunately). Three of the students even received national attention after their short film "Dried Up" won a student Academy award. It was shown at the first CinemaKC meeting.
The Lyric Opera pointed me to an interview at commandopera.com with Norma star Brenda Harris. Great for opera buffs, it went far beyond the average interview.
Adrianne DeWeese with The Examiner gave us a lovely look at the life of musician Drew Dimmel, now suffering from Parkinson's, and the touching story of U.S. Army Sgt. Chris Holmes getting to see his son perform in The One and Only Santa. She also informed me who the Tamburitzans were. All of it great reading.
An offbeat story in the Lawrence Journal-World told how a group of KU students saved a theatre in Creede, Colorado, and the connection it maintains with the university today.
I was so thrilled by Lawrence High School's lip-dub rivalry with Free State High School, as covered by the Lawrence Journal-World, that it inspired me to co-direct my own lip-dub video for the Kansas City Fringe Festival.
Some arts news from Columbia made it into the blog. Perhaps the most interesting was an article by Aarik Danielsen on conductor Alex Innecco.
Jerry Rapp has done some excellent writing for Review, like his interview with Cowtown Ballroom creators Joe Heyen and Tony Ladesich, but the best has to be his authoritative history of the Calvin Company.
Television news is particularly lousy with arts coverage, not to mention getting anything in-depth, but Tess Koppelman's interview with Tech N9ne on FOX4 is pretty remarkable for a local broadcast station. Unfortunately, the interview has been deleted from Youtube.
Actor Training Studio guru Andy Garrison gave an extensive three-part interview with Sean Pratt that appeared on suite101.com. Garrison also gave Curtis Smith a hilarious tour of his studio.
Speaking of funny videos, The Unicorn Theatre went far beyond the average show promotion with a short film about Joan Crawford coming to check out A Very Joan Crawford Christmas, and comic upstarts Ogrot made a series of shorts called That's Science before their Fringe Festival debut. Check them out here and here.
The blog dabbled with contemporary music throughout the year, but the field is currently too vast and complex for KC Stage, and it's covered better by other publications. That didn't stop me from curating complete coverage of several local musician's trips to the SXSW festival this year. Best of all is over five gigabytes of free music from the festival, which I've been dipping into all year and haven't heard a bad track yet. As for local blues music, I was impressed with Skaught Peterson's four part interview with musician Brandon Hudspeth at examiner.com.
And that, in a nutshell, is some of the best that the KC Stage blog has offered over the year. I'm really looking forward to what 2011 will bring.
If you love local performing arts, you can help support the KC Stage blog by subscribing to KC Stage or advertising on our blog and website.
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