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Missouri Repertory Theatre 2002-03
Season Will Feature Stoppard
and Marivaux Premieres and Guys and Dolls
Kansas City, MO (April 25, 2002)
-- Missouri Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Peter
Altman today announced his third season with the company, featuring
four shows completely new to the Kansas City area and a pair of
productions of major touchstone works. The 2002-03 lineup will extend
the Rep's season by 2 1/2 weeks and feature a lively and challenging
selection of contemporary and classic plays including perhaps the
greatest of all American musicals and the Rep's first presentation
of a Tom Stoppard play in twenty years.
Since becoming leader of the Rep in August 2000, Altman has charted
a bold new path for the theatre by producing new work, major classical
productions, and the theatre's first ever full-scale musical. The
new season's program will continue in these directions, and also
carry forward the Rep's introduction of prominent artists from all
around the nation into its established artistic family.
This year's presentation and their dates are as follow.
Incognito, written and performed by Michael Fosberg
Directed by Michael Meyers
September 12-29
Kansas City premiere
This one-man show, which Peter Altman discovered when it had its
triumphant premiere in a small Chicago theatre this season, is a
fascinating autobiographical and intensely personal journey of self-discovery.
A change of circumstances in his personal life compels the author
and performer to seek out his biological father. The rekindled relationship
between father and son introduces Fosberg to a remarkable and previously
unknown family history full of surprising characters and historic
context. His father's revelation of things about the family heritage
that his mother never told him causes him to radically alter his
sense of identity.
Missouri Rep's limited run production will be the first time
Incognito has been seen outside of Chicago.
Saint Joan by Bernard Shaw
Directed by Larry Carpenter
October 25-November 17
This passionate and moving play written by Shaw at the height of
his fame triggered his winning of the Nobel Prize. Joan of Arc became
the national heroine of France when, claiming to have heard the
voice of God, she took up arms to establish Charles VII as the country's
rightful
king. Then she was tried for heresy and executed. Five hundred years
later, she was canonized by the Catholic establishment. Shaw was
determined not to romanticize or sentimentalize Joan, preferring
instead to portray her as a remarkable, eccentric genius and to
tell her astonishing story with spiritual force, bright humor, and
stimulating attention to the range of political and religious arguments
that led to her death. Saint Joan will be directed
by Larry Carpenter (Company).
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Directed by Linda Ade Brand
November 23-December 28
Missouri Rep continues its much-loved holiday tradition with its
22nd annual production of A Christmas Carol by Charles
Dickens. The spiritual conversion of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge
takes place after he is visited by the ghost of his stingy partner
Jacob Marley and three timely apparitions. The Rep's 2001 production
was hailed as its freshest and most attractive in years, "a
classy rendering of a timeless tale." This year's production
will be similar, with further refurbishment.
Guys and Dolls, lyrics and music by Frank Loesser,
book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on material by Damon
Runyan.
Directed by David Ira Goldstein
January 24-February 23
The Rep offers its second major production of a full-scale American
musical. Following the sold-out triumph of Company, the theatre
now turns to Guys and Dolls, one of the smartest,
shrewdest American theatre masterpieces ever. It's a classic case
of the attraction of opposites when a group of gamblers, led by
Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, and the irresistible Hot Box Club
girls meet up with the pure-at-heart Miss Sarah Brown and her Salvation
Army followers. The mix of satire and romance is superb and the
score featuring "Take Back Your Mink," "If I Were
a Bell," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," and
"I'll Know" is one of Broadway's most enchanting. Guys
and Dolls will be directed for Missouri Rep by David Ira
Goldstein, artistic director of Arizona Theatre Company.
The Triumph of Love by Pierre Carlet de Marivaux
Translated and directed by Stephen Wadsworth
Co-production with Seattle Repertory Theatre
March 7-30
Kansas City premiere
Stephen Wadsworth is the man who has sparked and led virtually single-handedly
America's recent "discovery" of the 18th-century French
master of comedy Pierre Carlet de Marivaux. He has adapted three
of Marivaux's greatest works (The Triumph of Love, Changes
of Heart and The Game of Love and Chance) and directed them
to great acclaim at prominent theatres on both coasts. Now Wadsworth
will bring his talents and his nationally acclaimed design team
to the Midwest for the first time with the Kansas City premiere
of The Triumph of Love, a timeless comedy on the ageless
affinity of laughter and love.
The New York Times has called The Triumph of Love "exhilarating…Stephen
Wadsworth's direction imbues the play with a magical vision."
Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Risa Brainin
May 2-25
Kansas City premiere
Widely honored as the most brilliant playwright of our time, Tom
Stoppard (hailed for his award-winning screenplay Shakespeare
In Love as well as his witty and poignant plays Arcadia
and Tony-winner The Real Thing) has been rarely performed
professionally in Kansas City. Now the Rep will mount the first
major Midwest production of his unique play Indian Ink.
Stoppard spent an important part of his childhood in India and this
play is rich in feelings; Indian Ink is also an original,
witty and surprising triumph of invention. Risa Brainin (Morning
Star) will direct.
2 Pianos, 4 Hands by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt
Directed by Bruce K. Sevy
June 13-29
Kansas City premiere
Two amazing pianist/performers tell a hilarious story of growing
up at the piano in 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. This show is
a witty and tender account of young talents mixed with memories
of piano teachers, parents, and hours of practice. With a mélange
of music by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Jerry Lee Lewis and
Billy Joel, 2 Pianos, 4 Hands is a coming-of-age experience for
all.
Missouri Rep's limited-run season finale will be this much acclaimed
show's first time in Kansas City; it has been enjoyed by packed
houses from Toronto to Tucson, New York to San Francisco.
Season tickets will be renewed by season ticket holders through
May. For performance dates and times, please contact the Central
Ticket Office (816-235-2700) or visit it at 4949 Cherry Street,
Kansas City, MO.
Currently in its 38th year, Missouri Repertory Theatre is a not-for-profit
professional theatre operating independently of, and in cooperation
with, the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Missouri Repertory
Theatre is supported in part by on-going grants and financial assistance
from the University of Missouri-Kansas City; Hallmark Corporate
Foundation; Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation; Missouri Arts Council,
a state agency; The Francis Families Foundation; Metropolitan Performing
Arts Fund; William T. Kemper Foundation; Patricia Crowe Morgan Internship;
the Milton W. Feld Memorial Endowment Fund; and Bill Baker, Jr.
and Baker/Thomas Missouri Repertory Theatre Internships. Education
and outreach programs of Missouri Repertory Theatre are supported
by American Century Companies, Inc.; The H & R Block Foundation;
Hallmark Corporate Foundation; The Francis Families Foundation;
Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.; The Kansas City Star; The Mader
Foundation; Master Craftsmen Foundation; Missouri Arts Council,
a state agency; Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation; Oppenstein Brothers
Foundation; The Jack and Helyn Miller Foundation; SuperTarget-Shawnee;
Target-Independence; the R.A. Long Foundation; The Kansas City Star;
and Business Men's Assurance Company (BMA).
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