Student Matinee Series

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens | Directed by Kyle Hatley

Student Matinees: Friday, November 18; Tuesday, November 22; Tuesday, November 29; Wednesday, November 30; Thursday, December 1; Tuesday, December 6; Wednesday, December 7; Thursday, December 8, Tuesday, December 13; Wednesday, December 14; and Thursday, December 15, 2011.  Performances begin at 10:30 am.

Cost: $15 per student ticket with one complimentary chaperone ticket per 10 students; $100 deposit required to hold tickets.

Location: Spencer Theatre, James C. Olson Center for the Performing Arts, 4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO  64110, on the campus of UMKC.

Recommended for grades 4 and up.

Connect the arts to your classroom!  Adapted from the classic novel by Charles Dickens, the Rep’s beloved production brings Victorian London to life as your students travel with Ebenezer Scrooge on his journey from bitter, lonely miser to warm-hearted,  generous citizen of the world.  These student matinees will sell out so reserve seats for your students - the next generation of theatre-goers - today!

Themes and Topics: British literature; Victorian society and culture; an individual’s responsibility to society; generosity and celebration; personal growth and discovery; compassion and redemption; literature adapted for the stage.  Genre: drama.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Based on the novel by Mark Twain | Adapted for the stage by Laura Eason |  Directed by Jeremy B. Cohen

Student Matinees: Tuesday, January 31; Tuesday, February 7; Thursday, February 9; Tuesday, February 14; Wednesday, February 15; Thursday, February 16; Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Cost: $10 per student ticket with one complimentary chaperone ticket per 10 students.

Location: Spencer Theatre, James C. Olson Center for the Performing Arts, 4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO  64110, on the campus of UMKC.

Recommended for 4^th grade and up.

In a new adaptation of Mark Twain’s great American novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, acclaimed playwright Laura Eason and veteran director Jeremy Cohen have created a family-friendly production that is full of imagination and fresh theatrical style.  This is lively, adventurous theatre and an invaluable way the professional arts can enhance students’ understanding and enjoyment of classic literature.   

Themes and Topics: 19^th century American literature; Missouri author; Mark Twain’s first novel; literature adapted for the stage; the joyful innocence, adventures and discoveries of childhood; friendship and community; Midwestern life, history and values; young protagonists; rites of passage. Genre: comedy/drama.

The Great Immensity

World premiere of a new musical; Supported with a National Science Foundation Grant

Written and directed by Steven Cosson | Original score by Michael Friedman

Student Matinees: Tuesday, February 28; Thursday, March 1; Tuesday, March 6; Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Cost: $10 per student ticket with one complimentary chaperone ticket per 10 students.

Location: Copaken Stage, 13^th & Walnut, One H&R Block Way, Kansas City, Missouri, 64105, located in the H&R Block Building.

Recommended for High School and up. Contains strong language.

Obie Award-winning theatre innovators The Civilians are celebrated for their endlessly inventive and entertaining spin on the most pressing issues of our time.  They now bring their provocative and ground-breaking approach to storytelling to the Rep for the world premiere of The Great Immensity, an original musical that is part mystery and part morality tale.

While searching for her missing sister, a young woman embarks on a harrowing international search that takes her from the tropics of Panama to the Canadian Arctic.  Throughout the story, we meet an assortment of people – both fictional and real – whose lives have been deeply affected by the realities of climate change, the unlikely topic for this unconventional new musical.  Woven into the story are authentic interviews with top scientists, indigenous community leaders, tour guides and others who have been touched by the reality of global climate change, deforestation and endangered ecosystems.

Following Kansas City Rep’s world premiere production, The Great Immensity will have a New York premiere and a national tour.  Through a grant from the National Science Foundation, future productions of The Great Immensity will be paired with extensive public educational programming that will serve as a model for how theatre can increase public awareness and knowledge of and engagement in vital science-related societal issues. 

Themes and Topics: Scientific theories, research and discovery; climate change, deforestation, and endangered ecosystems; global environmental concerns and movements; contemporary society, characters and plots; community engagement and ecological activism.   Genre: musical theatre.

The Whipping Man

Written byMatthew Lopez | Directed by Eric Rosen

Student Matinees: Thursday, March 29 and Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Cost: $10 per student ticket with one complimentary chaperone ticket per 10 students.

Location:Spencer Theatre, James C. Olson Center for the Performing Arts, 4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO  64110, on the campus of UMKC.

Recommended for High School and up.

It is April 1865 and the Jewish holiday of Passover begins the day after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox. Caleb, a Jewish Confederate soldier, returns to his war-ravaged family home in Virginia from which his parents have fled.  Simon and John, his former slaves, are now living in the house. All three men now face the devastation that the war has brought to their lives as well as the challenges and possibilities of their new relationship to each other. Each man must come to a new understanding of their faith and of what freedom means to an individual and a society.

Playwright Matthew Lopez links the historical enslavement of the Jews with the enslavement of African-Americans in the United States in a compelling drama blended with surprising moments of humor as secrets and truths propel our three fascinating protagonists into a new day. 

Themes and Topics: Prejudice and racism; physical and psychological hardships of slavery; activism and social commentary; courage in the face of adversity; faith and religious beliefs; racial and religious prejudice and discrimination, American History, religious identity, personal and political power, liberation. Genre: drama.

Little Shop of Horrors

Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman | Music by Alan Menken

Based on the film by Roger Corman; screenplay by Charles Griffith |Directed by Kyle Hatley

Student Matinees: Tuesday, May 1; Thursday, May 3; and Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Cost: $10 per student ticket with one complimentary chaperone ticket per 10 students.

Location:Copaken Stage, 13^th & Walnut, One H&R Block Way, Kansas City, Missouri, 64105, located in the H&R Block Building.

Recommended for Middle School and up.

Long before Bill Gates made nerds trendy, there was Seymour Krelborn, a hapless florist searching for love, aided by a gigantic plant with an insatiable appetite for human blood. With music reminiscent of 1960s Motown and true to its original roots – Roger Corman’s 1960s black comedy film and the subsequent Off-Broadway show – Little Shop of Horrors is a love story about what happens when botany goes horribly wrong.Set in the intimate Copaken Stage indowntown Kansas City’s Power & Light District, Little Shop of Horrorspromises to become a Kansas City cult favorite.

Themes and Topics: Film adapted to stage; 1960s styles and cultures; popular and pulp fiction comics, books and films; comic characters, surreal plot and events. Genre: musical theatre, science fiction, dark comedy.