WHIM NEWS
Alphabet Soup 2019 Writers Announced
2019 Soup Writers are Announced
We’re thrilled to announce the writers for the 2019 Alphabet Soup: Stories from Queer Voices LGBTQ+ short play festival!
New writers join some festival favorites.
Diane Hightower 3
B. Michael McFarland 1
Mark Mattison 1
Kevin King4
Emily Swenson 1
Isabella Tate 3
Adam Yarbrough 1
notations indicate the number of times in the festival
In other Soup news, they year we’re producing the show over two weekends so you have even more chances to catch a performance. Performances will be April 12-15 and 19-21 at the Squeezebox Theatre (1519 Oak St, Kansas City, MO )
Whim's Producing Artistic Director selected to join Midwest Dramatists Center
Kevin King, Whim Productions' Producing Artistic Director, has been selected to join the Midwest Dramatists Center. The MDC is playwright collective that is "a creative home, family and support for emerging playwrights to further the growth of their art and the impact of that art on the greater theater community."
King joins Jennifer Baker, Lavinia Roberts, and Emily Swenson in the 2018 class of MDC writers. According to an MDC release, "These writers make up the fifth class for the nascent playwriting development organization. They will join eight other writers who comprise the current residents and represent the institution’s desire to find and support new voices in theater."
The new members join the existing playwrights. They include Lindsay Adams, Dan Born, Darren Canady, Emma Carter, Bryan Colley, Michelle Tyrene Johnson, Lezlie Revelle, and Vicki Vodrey.
Whim's putting on a Pastiche!
We're seriously looking forward to the show we have coming up May! It's called Pastiche. Several Kansas City-based playwrights are teaming up to write a single play, 10 pages at time. Kevin King, Whim's Producing Artistic Director, started out the piece and then passed it on to another playwright. Successive writers will be adding to the script throughout April and May. The final product will go up May 26 at the Buffalo Room! Nobody knows how this is going to end up! Get your tickets now!
We're seriously looking forward to the show we have coming up May! It's called Pastiche. Several Kansas City-based playwrights are teaming up to write a single play, 10 pages at time. Kevin King, Whim's Producing Artistic Director, started out the piece and then passed it on to another playwright. Successive writers will be adding to the script throughout April and May. On May 26, we'll do a staged reading of the final product at the Buffalo Room! Nobody knows how this is going to end up! Get your tickets now!
Next Up: Bard on Booze Presents Julius Caesar
The next Bard on Booze production is Julius Caesar!
Our next production is another Bard on Booze show. This time up, it's the timely Julius Caesar! We're going to give it the drunk Shakespeare treatment through a pop culture lens in the way that only Bard on Booze can!
Make your plans for 8 pm on April 7 at the Buffalo Room! Get your tickets now.
Whim will present AFTER ORLANDO: Short Plays Responding to the Pulse shooting
On Dec 4 & 5, Whim will be the local presenter of the After Orlando short plays, which were curated in response to the Pulse Nightclub shooting. This event is a fundraiser for the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project.
In association with Missing Bolts Productions Inc. (Blair Baker & Zac Kline artistic directors) and NoPassport Theatre Alliance and Press (Caridad Svich, founder) Whim Productions will present a staged reading of AFTER ORLANDO, an evening of short plays in response to the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The reading will be December 4 and 5 at 7:30. The Fishtank Performance Studio (1715 Wyandotte St) is graciously hosting us!
In addition to pieces curated by Missing Bolts and NoPassport, the reading will feature works by local playwrights. All proceeds from the event will go to organizations based in Orlando that are dedicated to serving the continuing needs of the Pulse victims and their families as well as to the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project.
AFTER ORLANDO is an international playwright-driven theatre action including over seventy playwrights form the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa and Australia. Plays have been specifically written and curated in response to this tragic event and are being read at over 40 venues across the country and in the UK throughout the fall. Whim is selecting plays from the collection and curating local writers.
Partner venues include The Finborough Theatre (London); Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and the LGTB Center (NYC); Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center (DC); The Inge Center (Independence, KS); Theatre@Boston Court and the University of Southern California (Los Angeles); Miami New Drama (Miami), Philadelphia Theatre Company and The University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and many more.
We're Doing Shakespeare Again - as "The Bard on Booze"
Whim Productions is trying to destroy Shakespeare once again. This time we have our sights on The Taming of the Shrew!
For our first drunk Shakespeare event, we produced "MacDrunk" to a SOLD OUT crowd at the Buffalo Room. On November 17 at 7:30, we're returning to Shakespeare and unveiling a new name for these special drunken events. We're calling them The Bard on Booze!
We had so much fun last time, we had to do it again. We took a poll to help pick our next show. The people have spoken so we're presenting The Taming of the Shrew: The Bad Hombres and Nasty Women edition!
Like with MacDrunk, some actors will be designated drinkers who start out the evening after taking several shots. Then they'll have to drink when they trigger drinking games rules, along with the rest of the cast.
We'll also have a drinking game for the audience!
The Bard on Booze presents The Taming of the Shrew will be at The Buffalo Room (817 Westport Road) where you can get full menu and bar service from the comfort of your seats!
Get your tickets now!
"DIRTY BIRDIE STORY HOUR" BEGINS
Each month, Whim is producing a naughty storytelling show! Don't miss Dirty Birdie Story Hour!
Starting Sept 27, Whim Productions is producing Dirty Birdie Story Hour! It's a curated monthly storytelling event where entertainers (actors, writers, burlesque performers, stand up comedians) share some of their naughtiest stories from their lives with an room full of strangers!
Hostess Susanna Lee (Lucky Deluxe) leads off each show with a tale of her own before turning the show over to her guests. And - audience members can sign up for the chance to share a story of their own! There will also be some great games you won't find anywhere else with some truly unique prizes!
We can't wait to hear these tales of depravity and debauchery! It all starts Tuesday night, Sept 27, at The Buffalo Room! Tickets are just $10 online or at the door! Showtime is at 7:30, but join us at 6:30 for dinner!
Drunken Shakespeare: MacDrunk - The Scottish Play
We've scheduled a fundraiser event in support of our upcoming season. It'll be drunken insanity! On Sept 9th, at the Buffalo Room, we're staging Macbeth like you've never seen it before.
We're going to name a couple of the actors as "designated drinkers." They'll start out the night with a few shots. And we'll make them drink at other key points during the show.
We'll also have a drinking game for the audience. And... we're going to take suggestions from the audience for drinking game rules for the actors!
Why call it MacDrunk and not Macbeth? Superstition, that's why! Why do this Shakespeare play first? Because people want to see Evel Knievel jump over 16 semis, not a Ford Festiva.
We'll post a ticket link soon. Tickets will be just $10!
Whim will Co-Produce "Lesbians Beyond the Fringe" on Sept 16
Whim Productions has signed on to co-produce Lesbians Beyond the Fringe, an evening of two theatrical works by Jamie Mayo and Diane Hightower. Join us at the Center for Spiritual Living on Sept 16 for this evening of works exploring the intersection of sexuality, innocence, shame, and love.
We'll present Jamie Mayo's storytelling piece Impenetrable Innocence and Diane Hightower's one act play The Last Michigan. Both shows debuted in this year's Kansas City Fringe festival.
About Impenetrable Innocence:
"What if the sunshine, undulating red and orange across your eyelids, slides down a little lower, lights a sweet fire in your belly? What if your fingers dancing across your friend’s arm light a fire down low in her belly? What if what makes you feel alive is cast into the shadows, staining your experience of sex? Can you find your way back to that light that first warmed your body when you were a child? I’ve got stories. Come a little closer and I’ll whisper them in your ear."
About The Last Michigan:
"Annie is driven to the edge by her cravings for physical touch; Michelle struggles to feel more confident about her cancer-ravaged body. What starts out as a carefree journey to the annual women's music festival of Michigan turns into unanswered questions about what makes a relationship work. This new play follows two lesbians deep into a forest full of feminists."
We'll have ticketing info and more details up soon! Advance tickets are $10 and tickets are $15 at the door.
Note: This is evening is recommended for Mature Audiences for sexual content and adult themes.
Save the Date: "Alphabet Soup" Returns Oct 7-9
Alphabet Soup: Stories from Queer Voices is a festival of short plays by LGBTQ playwrights from the KC metro.
The second annual Soup runs from October 7 to Oct 9 on Stage 2 in MTH Theater in Crown Center. We'll announce more details in the coming weeks!