KCRep Season Features Five Plays All Written By And About Women

Kansas City Repertory Theatre honors strong women everywhere, be they community leaders, artists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, students or stay-at-home moms, as they announce the second half of their 2018/19 season with FIVE plays by FIVE female playwrights, all of which celebrate the strength, intelligence, and bravery of women everywhere.

INDECENT kicks off the spring line up with the emotionally-intimate Broadway sensation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel. Running January 18 through February 10, 2019, at Spencer Theatre, INDECENT is a co-production with Arena Stage and Baltimore Center Stage and is directed by former KCRep artistic director, Eric Rosen, with choreography by Erika Chong Shuch, and music direction and original music by Alexander Sovronsky.

Inspired by the 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch's Yiddish drama GOD OF VENGEANCE and the controversy swirling around its themes and censorship, Vogel explores timely topics such as immigration, and anti-Semitism alongside the behind-the-scenes story of the courageous artists who risked not only their careers, but their lives in bringing the play to the stage. Infused with traditional Yiddish folk music of the early 20th century including klezmer, INDECENT is the kind of story that demonstrates the power theatre can have on our lives.

Next up is the Off-Broadway hit direct from New York, SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY, written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by KCRep's Artistic Associate/Resident Director, Chip Miller. Bioh's hilarious reimagining of Tina Fey's Mean Girls story is a once joyful and heartbreaking, bitingly funny, and poignant. SCHOOL GIRLS, running February 22 through March 17, 2019, at Copaken Stage, is a loving exploration of the real lives of young African women trying to negotiate the confusion around Western ideas of beauty.

March 22 through April 14, 2019 brings the much-loved classic PRIDE AND PREJUDICE to Spencer Theatre for the end of the mainstage season. Based on the book by Jane Austen and written for the stage by Kate Hamill, the KCRep production will be directed by its recently-departed Associate Artistic Director Marissa Wolf, who recently assumed the role as Artistic Director at Portland Center Stage at The Armory. Hamill's celebrated adaptation of Austen's novel is both reverently devoted to the source material and also remarkably hilarious, moving, and filled with theatrical surprises.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre concludes its five-month GIRL POWER commemoration with the OriginKC: New Works Festival, celebrating two more fierce female playwrights and plays with strong women protagonists. Written by 2018 Foundation Actress-in-Residence Vanessa Severo, FRIDA - a self-portrait runs from April 19 through May 19, 2019, at Copaken Stage. Through beautiful physicality and raw honesty, the difficult yet exuberant life of acclaimed artists Frida Kahlo is explored. Severo wrote and stars in this powerful one-woman turn, directed by Joanie Schultz.

Running April 20 through May 19, 2019, in repertory with FRIDA is playwright Dipika Guha's UNRELIABLE. This new play looks at the slippery slope regarding culpability and expectations using absurd humor as a powerful tool. UNRELIABLE will be directed by Ailin Conant.

In honoring all the women in the KC Metro area, KCRep is offering any three-play packet for only $129. Patrons are welcome to pick any three of the five remaining shows for that one low price.

KCRep is underwritten in part by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to the following donors for their lead support of these projects: Celebrating our Heritage Fund - Miller & Jeannette Nichols, the Hall Family Foundation, the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, the Copaken Family Fund, H&R Block, and the Neighborhood Tourism Development Fund.

Founded in 1964 by Dr. Patricia McIlrath, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the professional theatre in residence at UMKC, is led by Interim Artistic Director, Jason Chanos and Executive Director, Angela Lee Gieras. KCRep is nationally known as an incubator of new plays and producer of innovative musicals and reimagined classics. Together with an active board of directors, a year-round, part-time, and seasonal staff of 210, and over 300 volunteers, KCRep serves patrons from more than 40 states on their two stages, the Spencer Theatre and Copaken Stage in downtown Kansas City. More than 12,000 school students and educators see live theatre productions at KCRep annually, many of whom are experiencing the genre for the first time. The company dedicates itself to producing works which are compelling, passionate, and entertaining. Visit www.kcrep.org.

More information is available by visiting http://kcrep.org/show/GirlPower or by calling the KCRep box office at 816-235-2700. Groups of nine or more receive discounts by calling Andrew at 816-235-6122.

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