He has led Kansas City’s foremost opera company for the past 25 years…now he is exiting the stage.
Evan Luskin has announced that he is retiring as general director of the Lyric Opera…just as the company prepares to move to its new performance space at the Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts. Luskin, the Company’s general director since 1998, will be retiring on June 30, 2012. Mr. Luskin’s retirement will come at the conclusion of the Lyric’s first year of residence in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which will open this fall.
A lifelong fan of opera, Mr. Luskin received an MBA with a specialization in Arts Management in 1977 from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He then served as Assistant Director of the Tulsa Opera from 1977 to 1979, Managing Director of the Chattanooga Opera from 1979 to 1982, and Vice President for Finance and Administration of Michigan Opera Theatre from 1982 until coming to Kansas City in 1986. Mr. Luskin joined the Lyric on June 1, 1986 as its managing director, and became general director in 1998. He is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Andrea and his grand children in Topeka and Washington, D.C. He also plans to become involved in volunteer activities with children, take up the piano after a hiatus of many years, and travel.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City was founded in 1958 by Russell Patterson. In 54 years the Company has produced numerous works including 3 world premiere operas. In the fall of 1998, the Company began performing operas in the original language, a tradition which continues today with all operas being performed in the original language with English subtitles.
On November 4, 2010 the Lyric Opera of Kansas City announced a capital campaign for the renovation of property on 18th and Charlotte in the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District for its new Opera Center.
The Opera Center complex will consist of two buildings: a Production Arts building and an Administrative building with set rental inventory storage. The Production Arts building will include a rehearsal space that will match the footprint of the stage of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The Production Arts building also will house a full wig, costume and set construction shop and facilities for educational and community outreach programs. Such an integrated and dedicated production facility does not exist in Kansas City; the Company envisions the Production Arts building becoming a resource for other local performing arts companies.
The second building on the property will be adjacent to the Production Arts building. It would provide the Company with set rental inventory storage, parking lots and outside green spaces for the Opera Center, and house the administrative staff.
In the summer of 2011, the production and administrative offices of the Lyric Opera will be moving from its home of 40 years at the Lyric Theatre to a temporary home in downtown Kansas City at 1616 Broadway. The production and administrative offices will move to the headquarters on 18th Street when construction is completed in 2012.
Opera lovers can be fans of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City on Facebook or follow us @kcopera on Twitter.
Bruce Branit’s bosses demand a lot. Don’t all bosses? His bosses may ask him to land a spaceship on a building one week, make a skyscraper disappear another, or make him raise an army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Hollywood executives expect a lot.
Branit creates visual effects for major motion pictures, television and advertisements for his company, Branit FX, in the Crossroads Arts District. He opened his business in 2004 after working in Hollywood for 10 years, but Kansas City is his home and he wanted to come back here to raise a family. Branit grew up in Johnson County, graduated from Shawnee Mission East and earned an industrial design degree from the University of Kansas.
Randy Mason sits down with Branit to discuss the world of Hollywood special effects.
Here is a look at his short film 405. This 3 minute film, co-produced by Jeremy Hunt, shows a DC-10 airliner making a suspenseful emergency landing on a Los Angeles freeway.
Interested in finding out more about the KC Film Scene? Check out these links:
The Fifth Annual Art of the Car Concours® will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 26 on the Kansas City Art Institute campus. The show will feature more than 180 vintage, classic and special-interest vehicles, including cars, trucks, racing cars and vintage motorcycles belonging to collectors from eight states. Vehicles from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Oklahoma will be on view.
This event, a benefit for the KCAI scholarship fund, is growing in popularity and stature among vintage and classic collectors. The Concours is unique for its size and scale in having no formal judging and no classes of vehicles. The intention is to provide a wide range of very high-quality, original, vintage vehicles in an eclectic, informal setting, without the pressure of traditional Concours events. This year’s event is presented by the Mercedes-Benz Dealers of Kansas City and Aristocrat Motors.
Nick Haines talks to Kansas City Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff about what’s in store for visitors this year and what people can look forward to seeing at the zoo in the near future.
The mission of the Kansas City Zoo is to conserve and provide access to wildlife to entertain and educate our visitors in order to instill a respect for nature. We will accomplish this by:
• Offering outstanding, year-round, affordable, high-quality guest experiences;
• Demonstrating the diversity of wildlife;
• Enhancing the care and survival of wildlife through research, education and conservation;
• Operating a financially sound zoological park;
• Offering our employees a fun, rewarding work environment;
• Contributing to the cultural life of the Kansas City community and region; and
• Achieving full community support.
Vision: To be the most family friendly Zoo in the country, anchoring Kansas City as the “edu-tainment” capital of the Midwest.
The Kansas City Zoo is …
• a private non-profit
• an accredited member of the AZA (American Zoo & Aquarium Association)
• operated in agreement with the Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
After the encore has been played and the lights come up or the buzzer sounds and the fans go home, what goes on behind the scenes at The Independence Event Center? The Local Show takes a behind the scenes look at what has to happen to make the event experience a pleasant one for ticket-holders at the IEC.
“Let us amaze you” is the unofficial motto of the Independence Department of Tourism and the goal of the Independence Events Center. This state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility features an intimate arena with 5,800 fixed seats, 25 suites, 2,200 paved parking spaces on site, a first-class grill and community ice facility.
For more information on events coming up at the Independence Events Center, click here.
Rhythmic Flames describes themselves as “a Kansas City based tribe of eclectic expressive artists and fire performers that transcend the boundaries of labels and stereotypes. Our rhythmic celebration gathers community, creativity and positive energy, uplifting the spirit toward self evolution and igniting imagination with the fire of transcendence.”
Here is a look at a recent performance at The Cashew during June’s First Friday festivities:
They began as Vesuvius in 2006 and have evolved into Rhythmic Flames just this year. They will be performing at Union Station at this years Fringe Festival which takes place July 21-31 at various locations in downtown and midtown Kansas City.
Randy Mason welcomes Michael Stern to The Local Show to discuss this year’s Celebration at the Station, the new Kauffman Performing Arts Center and what’s in store for the Kansas City Symphony.
Conductor Michael Stern is in his sixth season as music director of the Kansas City Symphony, hailed for its remarkable artistic growth and development since his tenure began. The Symphony and Stern concluded their first year together by making a recording for the Naxos label which was released in 2007. Two additional CD’s, Britten’s Orchestra and The Tempest, have recently been released to critical acclaim on the Grammy Award-winning Reference Recordings label.
Stern is also the founding artistic director and principal conductor of The IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee. This unique group, beginning this season its second decade, has been widely praised for its virtuosity and programming, and has produced a string of recordings and acclaimed commissioned new works by American composers. Other positions include a tenure as the chief conductor of Germany’s Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra (the first American chief conductor in the orchestra’s history) and as Permanent Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France, a position which he held for five years, and this year he will wrap up a stint as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille, France.
Stern has led orchestras throughout Europe and Asia, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Helsinki Philharmonic, Budapest Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, National Symphony of Taiwan, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony and the Vienna Radio Symphony, among many others.
In North America, Stern has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. He also appears regularly at the Aspen Music Festival and has served on the faculty of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen.
Stern received his music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his major teacher was the noted conductor and scholar Max Rudolf. Stern co-edited the third edition of Rudolf’s famous textbook, The Grammar of Conducting, and also edited a new volume of Rudolf’s collected writings and correspondence. Stern is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University, where he earned a degree in American history.
This year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills takes place June 11 in the Fix Pasture, Volland, Kansas. If you haven’t got your tickets, you are out of luck. To give you a taste of what you can expect or what you will be missing, The Local Show now presents a look at last year’s performance featuring Lyle Lovett.
Randy Mason welcomes UMKC Conservatory’s Zhou Long to The Local Show to discuss his Pulitzer Prize winning opera, Madame White Snake.
Zhou Long (b. July 8, 1953, Beijing) is internationally recognized for creating a unique body of music that brings together the aesthetic and musical elements of East and West. Deeply grounded in the entire spectrum of his Chinese heritage, he is a pioneer in transferring the idiomatic sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments and ensembles. His creative vision has resulted in a music that stretches Western instruments eastward and Chinese instruments westward, achieving an exciting and fertile common ground. Zhou Long was born into an artistic family and began piano lessons at an early age. During the Cultural Revolution, he was sent to a rural state farm, where natural scenes of roaring winds and fierce wild fires made a profound and lasting impression.
He resumed his musical training in 1973, studying composition, music theory, and conducting, as well as Chinese traditional music. In 1977, he enrolled in the first composition class at the reopened Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Following graduation in 1983, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra of China. He came to the United States in 1985 under a fellowship to attend Columbia University and received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1993, having studied with Chou Wen-Chung, Mario Davidovsky, and George Edwards. After more than a decade as music director of Music from China in New York City, he received ASCAP’s prestigious Adventurous Programming Award in 1999.
Zhou Long is currently Visiting Professor of Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. He is the recipient of the 2003 Academy Award in Music, a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In May 2002, he was Music Alive! Composer-in-Residence of the Seattle Symphony’s “Silk Road Project” Festival with Yo-Yo Ma, supported by the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer. He has received fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, in addition to recording grants from the Mary Flagler Cary Trust and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. His awards include Masterprize (BBC, EMI, London Symphony) and the CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts, as well as winning the Barlow International Competition, with a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Madame White Snake, a classical transformation myth, is the story of a powerful white snake demon who transforms into a beautiful woman so as to experience love. She meets her true love, Xu Xian, at the Broken Bridge on the West Lake in Hangzhou and marries him. So widely celebrated is their love that a curious Abbot investigates. He sees right through her human form to the snake. When the Abbot learns that Madame White Snake is pregnant, he is horrified by what he considers a violation of all of the traditional taboos of race and religion, the divine and the profane. He decides to intervene and he confronts her husband. Not surprisingly, disaster strikes. Madame White Snake is betrayed by her husband and in the moment of betrayal, she is tragically transformed back into a snake.
In its long journey through the centuries, this simple myth has become an icon in the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. The deadly white snake demon gives up her immortal existence to assume human form in the pursuit of the most human of all emotions – love. She holds love dearly for one moment; and then love is lost forever. A powerful metaphor for each individual’s struggle to dream, the myth has spoken deeply to all who have dared to dream. The question of what it means to be truly human is always timely and each generation answers this question in its own voice.
From 1914 to 1918, the world was at war. Thirty-six countries from six continents sent over 70 million military personnel into worldwide conflict. At the end, many returned to their countries scarred and wounded, many fell, never to return home.
The Local Show now presents five brief stories of individuals from all over the world who participated in the great war. Their photos and memorabilia can be found at the National World War One Museum at Liberty Memorial.
America: Now and Here is a cross-country journey of art and ideas. Through art created by 150 of this country’s most celebrated artists – visual artists, musicians, playwrights, poets, and filmmakers – Americans are invited to come together for timely dialogues about America, now and here.
America: Now and Here will launch it’s inaugural journey, The America Show, in 2011 with installations in Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago.
In 2012, the tour will begin a cross-country journey on a convoy of trucks, spending six weeks in each of eight different regions. We are currently securing partner regions for this tour.
Proposed schedule for America: Now and Here regional tour:
At every destination, the tour will spend:
2 weeks in the CITY CENTER
1 week each in 2 SMALLER TOWNS
1 week at a STATE OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
1 week at a MILITARY BASE
Following the inaugural America: Now and Here tour, new shows and programs will be organized to explore America and timely ideas and important issues. America: Now and Here will continues its journey for years to come.
Finally this week, an update on one of the most talked about new art projects in the metro. In January, Randy Mason traveled to upstate New York for a sneak preview of a 56 foot tall sculpture destined for the lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In April, Roxy Paine’s “Ferment” was installed and dedicated and we were there. We’ll give you a much more detailed look at the amazing process on the Local Show in June, but for now here’s a “condensed” version of what went down with Kansas City’s brand new “dendroid.”
KCPT hops along with 12th Street Jump, KCUR’s jumpin’ jazz and blues comedy hour. This dynamic radio show toasts the careers of famous jazz players each week with trivia, comedy and musical offerings from their renowned house band, with added musical styling’s from featured guest artists. You can catch the show live, in person at the Downtown Marriott or over the airwaves every Saturday night at midnight on KCUR.
It’s not your father’s symphony concert. That’s one way to describe Symphonic Quixotic—the first time pairing of our own Kansas City Symphony, with our own Quixotic Fusion. If you’ve never seen them, the locally grown Quixotic troupe has dancers and aerialist and musicians and great lighting effects, and they plan to start taking their act out on the road to perform with other orchestras. On the last First Friday, they gave the art opening crowd a small taste of what’s in store when Symphonic Quixotic comes to the Lyric Theatre on May 13 & 14.
Given all the competition among hospitals today for your healthcare dollars, it seems hard to believe that just five decades ago in Kansas City where you got medical treatment was determined not by the nature of your health condition but by the color of your skin.
From Separate To Equal, a new documentary premiering at 9 p.m. tonight on KCPT, takes a look back at the disturbing legacy of segregated hospitals in Kansas City.
Filmmaker Kevin Willmott and John Bluford, the President and CEO of Truman Medical Centers, sit down with Randy Mason to discuss this ugly chapter in Kansas City history.
John W. Bluford has served as Truman Medical Centers’ (TMC) President/CEO for the past ten years. Bluford’s tenure at TMC is part of a distinguished career in hospital and health system administration that has spanned more than three decades. Bluford is a nationally known healthcare innovator who has been recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare. In July 2009, the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees elected Bluford as Chairman-Elect following several years of service on various committees with the association. Bluford is also a Past Chair of the National Association of Public Hospitals, and locally, he is a Past Chairman of the Missouri Hospital Association and Past Chair of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
Among the accomplishments Bluford is most proud of in his career, is helping to change the culture of the organizations he has led to become more customer service and patient safety-oriented and more innovative. Above all, Bluford has succeeded at transforming the hospitals he has led into hospitals of first choice for patients, employees and community partnerships. In 2005 TMC was honored by University HealthSystem Consortium as one of the Top Five Academic Medical Centers in the country.
Kevin Willmott is a screenwriter, filmmaker, playwright, actor and activist. He grew up in Junction City, Kansas and attended Marymount College receiving his BA in drama. After graduation, Kevin returned home to work as a peace and civil rights activist, fighting for the rights of the poor. He helped create two Catholic Worker shelters for the homeless and pressed for the integration of several long standing segregated institutions. Kevin attended graduate studies at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, receiving several writing awards and his MFA in dramatic writing. Kevin is an Associate Professor in the Film Studies Dept. of the University of Kansas.
Kevin’s film, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America is his film depicting a revision of American history, depicting an America after the South won the Civil War. It was selected to for the 2004 Sundance Film festival and was sold to IFC Films. That film was also honored by Spike Lee’s presentation. C.S.A. had its theatrical release in 2006.
At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the mid 1980’s a group of gay men came together in Kansas City to seek emotional and social support through their shared passion for singing.
Today, the Heartland Men’s Chorus is perhaps the metro’s best known and most prolific choirs. They’re celebrating their 25th season this year. Randy Mason had a chance to visit with Artistic Director Dr. Joseph Nadeau.
This season marks Dr. Nadeau’s 13th year with Heartland Men’s Chorus. This is also his 17th year as an active member of GALA Choruses Inc., an international association of more than 190 gay and lesbian choral groups.
Joe began his work with Heartland Men’s Chorus in the fall of 1998, after serving as assistant director and interim artistic director of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. Joe received a master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dr. Eph Ehly. Joe recently completed his Doctor of Music Arts in Choral Conducting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Joe has directed many instrumental and vocal ensembles on the community level and on regional/international tours of New England, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France. He has also served as clinician and adjudicator for several regional and state music festivals.
Joe is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the National Education Association, the Chorister’s Guild, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
For more information about the June performances, click here.
If you’re not familiar with George Caleb Bingham, his work Order Number 11 is considered one of Missouri’s most famous paintings. Valued in the millions of dollars, it depicts the Civil War-era plundering of a porticoed Missouri mansion. KCPT’s cameras were there when it was taken from its permanent home at the University of Missouri for an incredibly rare public showing in our area. It’s on display at the Truman Library now through September 8th. For a complete calendar of events related to the bicentennial celebration, click here.
The formative years for the state of Missouri coincide almost exactly with the time George Caleb Bingham spent in the state. It was a time when Missouri stood at the crossroads of the nation, the funnel through which trade and settlement moved in its relentless march to the West. Bingham witnessed it all, from the fur traders on the rivers to the lonely farmsteads, and from the tragedy and violence of Civil War to the growth of great cities.
His genre paintings captured visions of life on the Missouri frontier, the growth of democratic institutions, and the tragedy of war. His portraits documented the emergence of a more refined social stratum in the developing state. This exhibition uses Bingham’s visual narrative to highlight the story of Missouri’s formative years.
Rainy Day Books is a full-line full-service bookstore, carrying an array of hand-selected Hardcovers and Paperbacks for adults and children alike. They also carry a selection of boxed and individual greeting cards. Among the personal services: they special order Books daily, provide complimentary high quality gift wrapping, and they hand-select appropriate gifts for pick up or shipment.
The Rainy Day Books Author Events schedule is one of the best in America. Each year they welcome hundreds of authors to Kansas City, from debut novelists destined for greatness, to prize-winners, bestselling legends, and the biggest names in the news. Most of these Events are held off-site, at venues that comfortably seat the large crowds they draw.
Rainy Day Books is a member of IndieBound, the national community of independent booksellers. Join Indiebound’s social network, download the IndieBound app for your IPhone, and be a part of the conversation about books.
Vivien Jennings is the Founder & President of Rainy Day Books, Inc., Kansas City’s community bookseller, and the oldest independent bookstore in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Since 1975 Vivien has led Rainy Day Books in promoting a Legacy of Literacy throughout Kansas City. In the early 1990s, Rainy Day Books began placing a greater emphasis on author events as a form of community outreach. Through community partnerships and innovative Event planning, the store quickly became known nationally for the new strategy. Authors and publishers alike began to solicit appearances in Kansas City.
Rainy Day Books has developed an intricate marketing network of corporate partners, community leaders, and non-profit organizations in Kansas City. By matching special interest groups with touring authors, the company maximizes the benefits to all parties. Partners receive publicity and exposure to new markets, and many save money by delivering top-quality presentations to their membership without having to incur a speaking fee.
The community as a whole benefits by having a regular slate of authors who otherwise might not make an appearance in the Kansas City area. Today, serving third-generation customers and anchoring the same shopping center where it started in 450 square feet, the business is internationally famous for its knowledgeable staff, exceptional customer service, and commitment to the Kansas City community. Rainy Day Books also helps provide support for dozens of metro area book clubs. Store employees assist book club members with suggested reading, tips and suggestions for developing engaging discussions, and occasionally lead discussions for both newly formed and long-term groups.
Vivien Jennings serves on the Advisory Council for Reach Out and Read Kansas City, a bi-state coalition of 38 sites, having helped found the project and having provided support at cost for the initial launch period of almost two years. Rainy Day Books is also a partner in the Hooked on Books Project collaboration between the Kansas City Star and the Junior League of Kansas City. Though the League and the Star collect books during their annual drive in the fall, Rainy Day Books collects books for the project all year long, and at their Events. Vivien serves on the Advisory Council for Saint Luke’s Breast Cancer Center, and personally helped them build a substantial library that is available to patients on a lending basis for information and support in their fight against breast cancer. Vivien serves on the Program Committee for Rotary Club 13, and provides a variety of speakers to them for discussion and enlightenment on timely subjects that may impact the community.
Rainy Day Books is considered one of the leading independent booksellers in the country, profiled in the national Publishers Weekly for having “set the gold standard” for the industry for Author Events, which Rainy Day Books averages 300 per year. The business has been nominated for national Bookseller Of The Year by the American Booksellers Association, on whose Advisory Council Vivien has served. Rainy Day Books has also been recognized by Fortune Small Business as a Winning Workplace.
Rainy Day Books has served as a case study for the Entrepreneurial Program at the Block School of Business at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), which included students from UMKC, University of Kansas (KU), and Rockhurst University. The case study was subsequently published in a textbook which is used nationwide in business curricula at many leading colleges and universities. The study focuses on how independent businesses have adapted and compete with national and online competitors. Vivien was a speaker in 2008 for the Entrepreneurs Speakers Program (ESP) at the UMKC Institute held at the Polsinelli Law Firm.
Vivien Jennings is a regular source for stories on books and publishing for both trade publications, and mainstream media, notably including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Vivien has also been a consultant and packager for the major publishers, and consults on retail trends and strategies for major corporations.
Vivien was honored by the Kansas City Business Journal as one of the “Top 25 Women Who Mean Business” in 2001,” and was named “Business Executive of the Year” in 2002 by Rotary Club No. 13 of Kansas City, Missouri, the first woman to be so honored. Rainy Day Books was voted 2009 Best Independent Bookstore by the readers of KC Magazine. Rainy Day Books was also recognized as one of the Top 25 Under 25 winners for 2009 by KC Small Business Magazine.
Vivien and her partner Roger Doeren participated by special invitation from Steve Forbes of the Forbes Magazine, 2009 Global CEO Forum in Scotland to cover the topic The Global Innovation Machine: Fueling New Growth in Tough Times.
Since Vivien opened the doors on November 4, 1975, Rainy Day Books has provided the Greater Kansas City community with a gathering place, a wellspring for ideas and creative thought, and an ongoing voice for literacy and awareness. Vivien and her partner Roger Doeren support many local charitable and civic organizations in raising both funds and awareness through many of the community Author Events. Their philosophy is: “Bigger isn’t better. Better is better.” They are interested not so much in what they have done, but more in what they still want to do. Vivien finds it thrilling to watch people leave their Events with the knowledge that authors and their books can expand the attendees’ awareness, improve health, make them laugh, touch hearts, and encourage people to achieve a better life in a better world. This is truly the spirit of the ‘Legacy of Literacy’ that Rainy Day Books hopes to contribute to the community.
Play Ball! March 31 marks another Opening Day at the K. To mark the occasion, The Local Show presents this “Crown Minute” which takes a look at how the Kansas City Royal’s logo, a crown atop a shield with the letters “KC” inside the shield, was created.
Hallmark has just been celebrating its 100th birthday. As part of its celebrations, the greeting card maker has been taking a look back at its contributions to Kansas City. Did you know that it was Hallmark that designed the logo for the Kansas City Royals? Despite changes to the stadium, the uniforms and the tallies in the win column, that familiar Royals logo has endured. As our hometown baseball team begins its new season, meet the Hallmark artist who created the look you now wear on your shirts and caps.
This 56-foot stainless steel sculpture of a tree by internationally acclaimed artist Roxy Paine will be permanently installed in the Kansas City Sculpture Park at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The tree was commissioned by Martin Friedman, Hall Family Foundation consultant for the Museum’s Sculpture Park for 20 years, and was funded by the foundation.
“Ferment” was constructed at Paine’s studio in Treadwell, NY and will be transported to the Museum. The sculpture will be installed at the site over a period of two weeks.
Actress Cinnamon Schultz has been featured in dozens of local theatre productions on just about every stage in town as well as appearances on film and television.
This week, Randy Mason welcomes her to The Local Show to discuss her recent role in the Oscar nominated film, Winter’s Bone. In the movie, she plays Victoria, the wife of Ree’s menacing Uncle Teardrop.
Cinnamon made her first appearance on stage around age six, after begging her father to be included in his production of Damn Yankees at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He taught theatre, and her mother taught vocal performance at the university, so Cinnamon has been surrounded by performance for as long as she can remember.
She continued to enjoy acting on stage throughout her academic years, and decided to try and make it her career. She received her undergraduate degree in acting from the University of Kansas, and was then accepted to the Circle in the Square conservatory in New York. She found the conservatory program to be less challenging than she had expected, and didn’t feel it was helping her to grow as an actor in the ways she’d hoped, so she decided to leave New York and persue a Master’s Degree from the University of Iowa.
After receiving her MFA, Cinnamon moved back to Kansas City to marry her husband, Brian Paulette, who is also an actor. They had met during her time at KU, and remained a couple throughout her time in New York and Iowa. Their plan was to stay in Kansas City only long enough to get some professional experience, and then move on to a larger market.
She made her first appearance on a KC stage at the Unicorn Theatre in their 1997 production of Quills, and has returned to that stage many times since. She has also graced the stages of almost every other professional theatre in town, including The Missouri Rep (now the Kansas City Rep), The New Theatre, Theatre for Young America, the Coterie Theatre, Late Night Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and Kansas City Actors Theatre.
As time went on, it seemed that whenever they considered moving away, more work was offered right here in Kansas City. Eventually, the idea of moving away in order to get work, seemed pointless when there was plenty of work to be had right here.
Aside from theatre, Cinnamon has also stayed quite busy in radio, film and television. She has performed in a USA original picture, My Antonia, as well as several independent films and local and regional commercials. But as Robert Trussel put it, “Then one day, the roulette wheel spins just right, and you find yourself in one of the best movies of the year.” She feels lucky to have landed the role of Victoria in the Oscar nominated film, Winters Bone.
As much as she loves acting, however, her true love will always be her family. Until something “big” drags her away, she will happily remain in wonderful Kansas City.
Towering over the Kansas City Skyline, a beacon burns as a reminder to mankind, a charge to remember the triumph and tragedy at the turn of the 20th Century. It is a monument to a time of heroism and of innovation, but it also stands as a memorial to all those who served and to those whose lives were given so that the world would be peaceful once again. This is the legacy of the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.
Since 2006 when the doors were re-opened, more than one million people have visited, studied and learned from the National World War I Museum.
From 1921 until today, this monument stands not only for Kansas City’s dedication to preserve history, it also stands for our dedication to remember those who serve and sacrifice for the dream of peace.
The National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial inspires thought, dialogue, and learning to make the experiences of theWorld War I era meaningful and relevant for present and future generations. The Museum fulfills its mission by:
• Maintaining the Liberty Memorial as a beacon of freedom and a symbol of the courage, patriotism, sacrifice, and honor of all who served in World War I
• Interpreting the history of World War I to encourage public involvement and informed decision-making
• Providing exhibitions and educational programs that engage diverse audiences
• Collecting and preserving historical materials with the highest professional standards
This week, Nick Haines sits down with David Hawley to discuss some of the exciting new developments at the Steamboat Arabia Museum.
The steamboat Arabia was a side wheeler steamboat which hit a snag in the Missouri River and sank near what today is Parkville, Missouri, on September 5, 1856. It was rediscovered in 1988 by a team of researchers. Today, the artifacts recovered from the site are housed in the Steamboat Arabia Museum.
In the 1860s, Elisha Sortor purchased the property where the boat lay. Over the years, legends were passed through the family that the boat was located somewhere under the land. In the surrounding town, stories were also told of the steamboat, but the exact location of the boat was lost over time.
In 1987, Bob Hawley and his sons, Greg and David, set out to find the boat. The Hawleys used old maps and a proton magnetometer to figure out the probable location, and finally discovered the Arabia half a mile from the river and under 45 feet of silt and topsoil.
The owners of the farm gave permission for excavation, with the condition that the work be completed before the spring planting. The Hawleys, along with family friends Jerry Mackey and David Luttrell, set out to excavate the boat during the winter months while the water table was at its lowest point. They performed a series of drilling tests to determine the exact location of the hull, then marked the perimeter with powdered chalk. Heavy equipment, including a 100-ton crane, was brought in by both river and road transport during the summer and fall. 20 irrigation pumps were installed around the site to lower the water level and to keep the site from flooding. The 65-foot-deep (20 m) wells removed 20,000 US gallons (76,000 l) per minute from the ground. On November 26, 1988, the boat was exposed. Four days later, artifacts from the boat began to appear, beginning with a Goodyear rubber overshoe. On December 5, a wooden crate filled with elegant china was unearthed. The mud was such an effective preserver that the yellow packing straw was still visible. Thousands of artifacts were recovered intact, including jars of preserved food that are still edible. The artifacts that were recovered are housed in the Steamboat Arabia Museum.
On February 11, 1989, work ceased at the site, and the pumps were turned off.
Christopher Elbow landed his first cooking job at the Lincoln Country Club in 1992, while attending the University of Nebraska. After graduating in ’96 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Restaurant and Business Administration, he returned to Kansas City to head up Shiraz Restaurant.
Three years later Christopher landed in Las Vegas to help celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse open Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian. Shortly after that he moved to Paris – as in the Paris Resort and Casino – to help acclaimed chef Jean Joho open the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.
Christopher returned to Kansas City the following year and briefly resumed his role at Shiraz before accepting the pastry chef position at the American Restaurant. It was here that he began perfecting his chocolate-making skills. Before long, he was offering limited quantities of his new creations to local markets. Demand swelled, and to satisfy it Christopher started his own company.
Today, Christopher’s Artisan Chocolates have been featured across the nation, from magazines like Oprah, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking and InStyle to syndicated TV programs like Food Network’s What Hot, What’s Cool. His confectionery creations are available online and at discriminating retailers like CocoaBella Chocolates in San Francisco, Biagio Fine Chocolates in Washington D.C. and Trotters To Go In Chicago.
Bob Petersen’s background reflects a lifetime commitment to agriculture. Most recently, he has operated his own consulting business which provides management services to various agricultural trade associations, including the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City. From 2000 to 2004, he served as president and CEO of the Kansas City Board of Trade. For 20 years prior to that he worked for the Washington, DC-based National Grain Trade Council, serving as its president for the last 18 years of that stint. He is a native of Nebraska where he grew-up on a family ranch.
The first American Royal started in 1899 as the National Hereford Show, the first nationwide show for the exposition and sale of purebred cattle. It was held in a tent in the West Bottoms from Oct. 23-28, 1899, and featured 541 registered Herefords. During the 3-day sale, 300 Herefords were sold, at an average price of $334. The estimated attendance was 55,000.” Printed in the KC Star, 10/13/1908: “A small young lady was among the spectators in the ‘big top’ yesterday. With intense interest she watched the great cattle led into the ring by their attendants. Each of the men who led the entries wore placards, sandwich-man fashion, showing the number of the animal entered, its age and weight. The little girl puzzled over the cards for some time. At last turning to her father she said, in a loud whisper, ‘Papa, those men must have got their cards all mixed up. That little man there must be more than two years old, and he can’t possibly weight 1,430 pounds.’” On November 7, 1921, the cornerstone was laid for the first American Royal building. The building was dedicated on November 19, 1922. The estimated cost of the building was $800,000. The floor area was 7.5 acres.
Here is a look at the history of this Kansas City institution:
This week, video blogger Ramsey Mohsen gives us a behind the scenes look at the American Royal rodeo.
If it is happening in Kansas City, Ramsey Mohsen is probably there. As one of Kansas City’s most influential web consultants and video bloggers, Ramsey turns his webcam onto an event, provides his optimistic commentary, and posts the final cut on his blog, YouTube, Facebook and several other social media sites. His video blogs are often embedded and linked by other major Kansas City blogs. He is also the creator and author of Across the Board (www.acrosstheboardblog.com), a popular entertainment blog (now closed) that has over 2 million unique all-time visitors and 8,200+ blog post.
Ramsey is a pioneer in the video blogging space, as the first “life-caster” in the Midwest featured on the famed Justin.tv Website and now is a major “event-caster”. He is often specifically sought after by event organizers and marketing directors throughout the metro area to help publicize their events to the keytwentysomething demographic nationwide. He has also been asked to speak to a number of organizations (including the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, KC Social Media Club and the University of Kansas) on the application of social media technologies to business.
A Springfield, Missouri native (but graduate of the University of Kansas), Ramsey has become a major booster of the Kansas City area and uses every opportunity to promote Kansas City. He is active in a number of community organizations, serving on the steering committees of the Young Friends of Union Station and Hilloween (benefiting the Manna Fund). In fact, Ramsey has turned his well-attended annual “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party” into a fundraiser for Operation Breakthrough. In 2008, benefit party which he organized from the ground-up donated over $50,000 to the charity.
And if you have not seen Ramsey or his blog, you most likely have seen his work. As a consultant for the leading e-business firm Digital Evolution Group, Ramsey has lead the concepting, design and implementation of the primary websites for the Hallmark Blog (blog.hallmark.com), Timberland Community (community.timberland.com), Timberland Blog (blog.timberland.com), Kansas City International Airport (www.flykci.com), Crown Center (www.crowncenter.com), the KU School of Business (www.business.ku.edu), and the State of Missouri Division of Tourism (news.visitmo.com) and City of Overland Park (www.opkansas.org). Ramsey has also lead the design and implementation of several Facebook projects for such brands as AMC Theatres, Hallmark Cards, Gordmans, Kansas City Steak, Crocs and Helzberg Diamonds.
A new book about Dream Jobs in the metro lists Kansas City author, illustrator, poet and founder of the Dream Studio, Shane Evans. He’s listed as an extraordinary creative force.
In the business of illustration, design and creative development, Shane W. Evans is a multi-talented artist and visionary who combines his world travels with his art to influence creative expression in others. Evans studied at Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts and graduated in 1993 and began traveling the world. In addition to contract work in illustration, graphic design and web design for major companies, Evans has conceptualized and illustrated numerous children’s books. Many of the books have been featured in the media such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, NBA Inside Stuff, Reading Rainbow and Late Night with David Letterman. Shane has received much acclaim within the children’s literary field for his work on children’s books such as “Osceola,” “The Way The Door Closes,” “Shaq and the Beanstalk” and “Take It To The Hoop Magic Johnson.” His accolades range from being honored by First Lady Laura Bush at the 2002 National Book Festival, The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction for Children.
Shane Evans’s talent does not stop at illustration and children’s books. His design work includes unique, one-of-a-kind hand crafted furniture pieces, clothing, CD cover art, photography and a number of other custom made items.
Evans’s work is influenced by his travels to Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. Firmly believing in education and creative development for all people, Evans has produced a unique presentation designed to share his gift with all ages, cultures, ethnic groups and backgrounds. His presentations and workshops are specifically tailored to each audience and combine storytelling, art projects and slide presentations from his own work and world travel.
Shane W. Evans is capable of delivering finished illustration, web design, graphic design and a full range of customized design services to fit the needs of his clients.
The Kauffmann Performing Arts Center won’t be the only dramatic new addition to the city’s arts scene this year. The Kansas City Ballet is well underway on construction of the Todd Bolender Center, their new home in the old Union Station powerhouse on Pershing Road. That’s where Randy Mason and cameraman Dave Burkhardt got a behind the scenes peek at what’s in store for the company.
A new book about Dream Jobs in the metro lists Kansas City author, illustrator, poet and founder of the Dream Studio, Shane Evans. He’s listed as an extraordinary creative force.
In the business of illustration, design and creative development, Shane W. Evans is a multi-talented artist and visionary who combines his world travels with his art to influence creative expression in others. Evans studied at Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts and graduated in 1993 and began traveling the world. In addition to contract work in illustration, graphic design and web design for major companies, Evans has conceptualized and illustrated numerous children’s books. Many of the books have been featured in the media such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, NBA Inside Stuff, Reading Rainbow and Late Night with David Letterman. Shane has received much acclaim within the children’s literary field for his work on children’s books such as “Osceola,” “The Way The Door Closes,” “Shaq and the Beanstalk” and “Take It To The Hoop Magic Johnson.” His accolades range from being honored by First Lady Laura Bush at the 2002 National Book Festival, The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction for Children.
Shane Evans’s talent does not stop at illustration and children’s books. His design work includes unique, one-of-a-kind hand crafted furniture pieces, clothing, CD cover art, photography and a number of other custom made items.
Evans’s work is influenced by his travels to Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. Firmly believing in education and creative development for all people, Evans has produced a unique presentation designed to share his gift with all ages, cultures, ethnic groups and backgrounds. His presentations and workshops are specifically tailored to each audience and combine storytelling, art projects and slide presentations from his own work and world travel.
Shane W. Evans is capable of delivering finished illustration, web design, graphic design and a full range of customized design services to fit the needs of his clients.
This weekend, the Steelers take on the Packers in Super Bowl XLV. Of course, many Kansas Citians may still be lamenting the fact that the Chiefs are not there. Did you know you can re-live some of the greatest moments in Chiefs history all year long at the new Arrowhead Stadium?
The Chiefs Hall of Honor allows fans to celebrate the legendary players, the greatest teams and the most breathtaking moments from both the Chiefs and the old American Football League.
Anyone with a Chiefs ticket can take a walk through the Hall of Honor on game day. During the off-season, Arrowhead Stadium tours are offered most Saturdays at 10 a.m. and one p.m. You can not only see the Hall, but also get a behind-the-scenes look throughout the Stadium. The pricetag is 10 dollars for adults, 5 dollars for children.
The Local Show gets a tour of the Hall of Honor from team historian, Bob Moore.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has recently experienced some changes in leadership as well as potential competition as other cities look to open similar exhibits. Nick Haines sits down with Dr. Raymond Doswell, Board President and Vice President of Curatorial Services, to discuss what the future holds for this Kansas City institution.
Through the inspiration of Horace M. Peterson III (1945-1992), founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America, a group of local historians, business leaders, and former baseball players came together to create the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the early 1990s. It functioned out of a small, one room office in the Lincoln Building, which is located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District of Kansas City, MO. It quickly incorporated, built a board of directors and staffing, and created a licensing program to support operations.
In 1994, it expanded to a 2,000 square-foot space in the Lincoln Building, which include a number photographs and interactive displays. Designed by ESA Design of Abilene, KS, this exhibit became the flagship for redevelopment in the historic district. Several hundred visitors, including school groups and dignitaries, marveled at this once “untold American history.”Highlights of our stay in the Lincoln Building included the 75th Anniversary Reunion of the Negro Leagues and a visit from Vice-President Al Gore.
The 18th & Vine historic district was the center for black culture and life in Kansas City from the late 1800s-1960s. It was the hub of activity for homeowners, business, jazz music, and baseball enthusiast. Just outside of the district stands the Paseo YMCA building, which was built as a black YMCA in 1914. It served as temporary home for baseball players, railroad workers, and others making the transition to big city life in the Midwest. It was here that the Negro National League was founded in 1920. Although the district and the YMCA building were becoming blighted by the 1980s, they were recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.
During the late 1990s, plans were underway by city officials to create a new home to showcase Kansas City’s jazz heritage and to revitalize the Historic District. City officials and the mayor worked to raise over $20 million in bonds to build a new facility to host the new American Jazz Museum and a new, permanent and expanded, home for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. This new 50,000 square-foot building opened in September 1997 and the Baseball Museum opened in November.
Our permanent home uses 10,000 square feet of the new space. Also designed by ESA Design, the new exhibit features multi-media computer stations, several film exhibits, hundreds of photographs, Field of 12 bronze sculptures and a growing collection of baseball artifacts. The museum raised over $2 million dollars to complete design and construction of this space. It has also welcomed several thousand visitors and dignitaries since, including Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, General (Ret.) Colin Powell, Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, Judith Jamison, Mike Dukakis, Walter Cronkite, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Barry Bonds, Tony Larussa, Isaac Hayes, Ossie Davis, Sinbad, and many, many others.
In 1995, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum appointed Raymond Doswell as its first curator. He has played an increasingly integral role in the growth and development of the museum since his appointment. As the interim President, Doswell oversees all museum operations, programming, development, marketing, and curatorial responsibilities. The museum’s collections include a few hundred photographs and artifacts. Doswell also directs all education initiatives and partnerships with universities and school districts.
Doswell was born in St. Louis, MO and spent his adolescent years in East Saint Louis, IL. He earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in History from Monmouth College in Illinois, where he was also trained to become a teacher.
He received his Masters of Arts Degree from the University of California at Riverside in Historic Resources Management in 1995. The program featured graduate course work in 19th & 20th Century American History with specialized training in museum curatorship, archival management, and historic preservation. Before completing graduate studies in California, he served as an intern for the Anacostia Museum, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.
Doswell earned a doctorate from the College of Education at Kansas State University, where he researched the links between museums and education.
Doswell received a gubernatorial appointment to the Missouri Historical Records Advisory Board in 2003 and has served as a grant review panelist for the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2006, Doswell served on the special selection committee for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where 17 new Negro Leagues veterans were selected for induction. Doswell also serves as a board member for the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, and an Education Committee member for the National World War I Museum. In addition, he serves on the editorial board for Black Ball: A Journal of the Negro Leagues and is a member of Rotary International.
Dr. Doswell travels extensively as a public speaker/lecturer and has appeared on several national media outlets on behalf of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, including ESPN, NPR, Showtime, and the BBC. His publications also include contributions to the Kansas City Star newspaper and Memories & Dreams Magazine for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
You can follow the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on Facebook. Just click on the logo below…
Last summer, Kansas City hosted one of the largest watch parties in the country. The Kansas City Wizards beat Manchester United in July. Now after a name change to Sporting Kansas City and a new stadium ready to be unveiled this summer, Kansas City is poised to become a bona fide soccer town.
ROBB HEINEMAN serves as the President and is one of five owners of Sporting Kansas City, where he sits on the Board of Governors of MLS and Soccer United Marketing, LLC. He is also the CEO of OnGoal, LLC, and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. After taking over as OnGoal CEO and Sporting President in 2006, Heineman worked with several local municipalities around the Kansas City metropolitan area to get a soccer-specific stadium built for Sporting KC. In January of 2010 the work of Heineman and others involved with the project finally came to fruition as the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Commissioners unanimously approved OnGoal’s plan for an 18,000 seat stadium, an 18-24 field youth soccer complex. Between the stadium, offices and fields, the development is expected to create over 8,000 new jobs in the Wyandotte County area, with a total economic impact of over $500 million annually.
Heineman is also notable amongst sports team owners due to his openness and accessibility to the fans. Since taking over the team, Heineman has put a special emphasis on the power of social media, making use of sites like Twitter and Facebook to keep fans in touch with the latest going on with the squad. This past year, Heineman used social media to notify fans of the announcement of the team’s new stadium, and publicized Sportings’ draft-day picks before they were announced on television. Heineman has even taken the step of registering on the Sporting fans’ message board at Bigsoccer.com, where he regularly solicits input from fans on a wide array of issues relating to the team and organization.
In addition to his duties with Sporting and OnGoal, Mr. Heineman also serves as the Director of Healthe Athlete, a division of the Cerner corporation that is developing athlete health records and club management systems for leading sports organizations. In 2007, Heineman was named in Ingram’s business magazine’s 40 Under Forty list, highlighting the best young leaders and businesspeople in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Heineman has been involved in sports ownership since 1992 as an owner/operator of the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League.
Here is a look at the new stadium which will host its first game in June. Click on the picture to take a virtual tour of the new stadium… And finally…here is a look at last summer’s watch party in the Power & Light District that was hosted by Sporting KC…
Hello Art is a membership program created and sponsored by the Arts Incubator, where artists and those who appreciate (and want to buy) their work come together to build community. We offer fun and informative events that help take the intimidation factor out of buying art. We strive to break down the barriers that keep people from exploring all of the outstanding art, artists, galleries and museums that Kansas City has to offer.
Our goal is to bring together all who want to appreciate and support art—including artists, gallery owners, experienced collectors, curious beginners and intimidated patrons—through a year-round calendar of events. First Friday Trolley Tours, Artist Talks and Demonstrations, and Hello Art Member Exhibitions are just a few examples of the types of events we offer.
Eric Rosen is a nationally recognized playwright, director and producer and the fourth artistic director in the 45-year history of Kansas City Repertory Theatre. He is also co-founder and former artistic director of Chicago’s acclaimed About Face Theatre, where he developed, wrote, produced and/or directed nearly 30 world premieres in his thirteen seasons there.
His Rep credits include direction of Metamorphoses and The Trip to Bountiful prior to his appointment, and direction of Clay; Winesburg, Ohio (for which he also wrote book and lyrics); the world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical! (which he will direct for 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle for their 2010 holiday season); and the world premiere of Venice, a new musical he co-wrote with Matt Sax, his creative partner on Clay, (which he will also direct at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles in the fall of 2010).
Rosen’s original plays and musicals include Winesburg (Chicago’s Jefferson Award for best new work, and five Barrymore Awards including best musical), Dream Boy (Jeff Award for best direction and production) and Wedding Play (Jeff nomination for best new work), Dancer from the Dance, Whitman and Undone. His production of Clay was seen at Kansas City Rep, About Face and Lookingglass Theatres in Chicago, Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, and Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 in New York.
Other directing credits include the world premieres of M. Proust by Mary Zimmerman (Jeff nomination for best new play) and Theater District (Jeff Award for best new play), and the Chicago premiere of Take Me Out, all in About
Face/Steppenwolf co-productions. Regional credits include work at Steppenwolf, the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Hartford Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, St. Louis Rep, 7 Stages in Atlanta, and workshops at Playwrights
Horizons and Center Theatre Group.
As dramaturg and producer, Rosen collaborated on Doug Wright’s play I am My Own Wife, winner of the Tony Award for best play and the Pulitzer Prize; produced the famed site-specific performance Eleven Rooms of Proust created by Mary Zimmerman; and was dramaturg for Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty’s Loving Repeating at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Moisés Kaufman’s One Arm at Steppenwolf Theatre, all in About Face Theatre partnerships; and Kaufman’s 33 Variations at Sundance Theatre Lab, where he also directed Carlos Murillo’s Diagram of a Paper Airplane in 2009.
Rosen earned his Ph.D. in performance studies from Northwestern University, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including a Human Rights campaign Community Leadership Award and a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)/Theatre Communication Group (TCG) Career Development Fellowship for Directors. He has twice served as a theatre panel member for the NEA and has participated in the TCG/ Pew Charitable Trusts’ National Theatre Artists Residency Program. Rosen has taught at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Brooklyn College, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, his alma mater.
Rosen stops by The Local Show to talk with Randy Mason about the current projects which have him dividing his time among Seattle, Kansas City and New York.
KCPT’s Randy Mason profiles Musical Theater Heritage and speaks with their Executive Director, George Harter.
Known simply as MTH, Musical Theater Heritage was founded in 1998 by George Harter, as a 501c3 production company to entertain and enlighten new generations with the legacy of the American art form known as Musical Comedy.
MTH presents classic musical theater and review performances in the 240 seat,Off Center Theatre at the Crown Center Shops in Kansas City. These are professional productions using all local talent and are presented in concert or semi-staged form.
In 2009 MTH’s production of Big River was named “The Best Musical of the Year” by The Johnson County Sun, in a year where there were many other fantastic productions in KC including a touring production of Wicked.
Other MTH productions have included: Guys & Dolls, On The Town, Carousel, Man of LaMancha, The Fantastics, Into The Woods, Brigadoon, The Pajama Game, and How To Succed In Business…. MTH original productions include: Bernstein’s Broadway, A Spectacular Christmas, and a review of songs by Jacques Brel.
MTH also produces “A Night on the Town”, a weekly syndicated radio show on the American Musical, written and hosted by George Harter and sponsored by the historic Algonquin Hotel in New York City.
In Kansas City, “A Night on the Town” is heard on KPR, at 91.5 FM, Saturday nights at 9. The program is also heard in Dallas, Atlanta, south Florida and on New York Public Radio. Special licensing arrangements enable us to also make the show available on this website.
Several times a year, MTH takes theater fans to New York for organized trips that include Broadway shows, fine dining, four nights at the Algonquin Hotel and fascinating insights into the history of Broadway and the American Musical.
Skip the studio. Miss the museum. If you want to see Stan Herd’s artwork, you’ll have to stand on a rooftop or peer out of a plane.
The world’s preeminent representational earthwork artist, Herd has been creating art for more than 30 years – by digging, disking, plowing and otherwise manipulating acres of green space. His subjects range from American folk hero Will Rodgers to Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta to commercial products like Absolut Vodka and Papa John’s Pizza. And his canvas is the great outdoors – literally, a farmer’s field, an abandoned park or even a soil-capped landfill.
"Amelia" Photo by Jon Blumb
"Medicine Wheel" Photo by Jon Blumb
Stan Herd is currently part of the Visions of the Flint Hills Show at the Buttonwood Art Space through November 20.
For five decades, the DiCapo family greeted visitors to the Italian Gardens. During that time, the restaurant become a Kansas City favorite. Italian Gardens hosted countless local and national celebrities over the years, many of whom were members of the Sabenadica Club. Derived from the restaurant’s so-called Sabenadica Table, a place where lone travelers could sit together rather than occupy a table that could otherwise be used for a larger group, the club grew to over 2,000 members and consisted of local regulars as well as celebrities such as Yogi Berra, Rocky Marciano, “Cinderella Man” James Braddock, John Cameron Swayze, Basil Rathbone, Mayor H. Roe Bartle, and Lenny Dawson.
Skim through your daily newspaper or watch your evening news and you’ll often hear mention of Mattie Rhodes. It might be abut a new art exhibit…or a story about domestic violence or the challenges facing Latinos in the metro. As part of our Difference Makers series here on KCPT, we try to bring a brighter spotlight on our area non-profits. This week we go inside an agency that many of us have heard of…but few may know much about.
The Local Show will feature an extended excerpt from the new documentary Rails to Suburbia. The documentary is about the commuter rail line that city founder William F. Strang established in the early 1900s between Kansas City and the area that today is Overland Park. The excerpt examines Strang’s efforts to attract potential home buyers to the suburbs. The half hour documentary may be seen in its entirety on the Oct. 21 edition of Screentime.
The concept for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts began with civic leader and philanthropist Muriel McBrien Kauffman as early as 1995. Mrs. Kauffman, Ewing Kauffman’s wife and partner, discussed her vision with her family and many in the community, and upon her death her, Ewing and Muriel’s daughter, Julia Irene Kauffman, carried the idea forward. As chairman of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, Julia Kauffman has been the energetic force to turn her mother’s dream into one of the most technically and architecturally perfect performing arts centers in the world.
Currently under construction in an area connecting downtown with the revived Crossroads District in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled to be open for the 2010-2011 performance season. A world-class team of architects, acousticians, theater designers and other technical experts is creating a state-of-the-art performance venue, featuring the very latest technology in acoustics, theater and lighting equipment, staging and sightlines, and comfortable ergonomic seating.
The center will include a 1,600-seat concert hall and a 1,800-seat proscenium theate, and will be the performance home for the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Kansas City Ballet. The Kauffman Center will also feature a diverse range of performances in both halls including dance and music of all types from pop to rock, light classical to country, jazz groups to bands, and gospel to folk music, as well as smaller Broadway and off-Broadway touring productions.
The Local Show would like to thank Chris Barnes of Overland Park for sharing his video from the Great Midwest Balloon Fest. If you have interesting video you would like to share, please contact The Local Show and perhaps you could be the next videographer in the making!
It is Soap Box Derby time in Kansas City. The Local Show will be presenting a video feature about the derby in advance of the big race in Kansas City. To find out more information, please visit their website at kcsbd.com
Nick Haines talks to John McDonald of Boulevard Brewing about remaining independent and competing with the beer giants and to Stacia Stelk of Ripple Glass about keeping it local in the glass recycling business.
The Local Show is designed to highlight artists and entrepreneurs, leaders and overachievers from all walks of life – and in the process, help Kansas Citians discover substantially more about this place we call home.
“The Local Show is really going to allow us to tackle areas of the news that rarely get much television coverage in the metro. At KCPT, we tackle local politics and public policy well, but what about the arts and entrepreneurship, education, health and science? Finally, we have a place to regularly tell those stories.” Nick Haines, Executive Producer, The Local Show
Nick Haines is the show’s host and executive producer. Assisted by Randy Mason (and other guest interviewers from time to time), Nick will sit down for fast-paced chats with people who are making a genuine difference in fields as varied as education, health services, technology, and the arts.
The pilot episode, for example, features Kathleen Collins, retiring this year as president of the Kansas City Art Institute; and Bryan Hansel, whose company, Smith Electric, is manufacturing electric powered trucks right here in Kansas City. KCPT’s The Local Show will also spotlight “difference makers” in the community. In this first program, KCPT goes inside Operation Breakthrough, the nation’s largest low-income daycare facility. More than 600 kids a day are served at the facility on Troost Avenue. But with rising poverty, 1200 children are on the waiting list.
The Local Show will also feature segments showcasing items from the WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial, and from time-to-time, some aptly named “Start-Up Stories.” These profiles will peek behind the scenes at fledgling ventures across the metro, and then with the aid of expert analysts, pinpoint the companies’ strengths and weaknesses.
KCPT President & CEO Kliff Kuehl conceived The Local Show after spending much of his first year on the job meeting business and civic leaders all over town. “I was amazed at how many fascinating stories I heard, and how much of it might not be known by a lot of our audience,” he says.
As The Local Show launches in July and August, each half-hour program will air once a month. Beginning in September, it will have a more frequent presence on KCPT, agile enough to accommodate special editions of Imagine KC and other newsworthy topics as the need arises.
Submissions to The Local Show
If you have a suggestion for a Local Show interview, video segment or if you have some interesting HD video you would like to share, please contact us at thelocalshow@kcpt.org.
125 East Thirty-First Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816)756-3580
Evan Luskin has announced that he is retiring as general director of the Lyric Opera…just as the company prepares to move to its new performance space at the Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts. Luskin, the Company’s general director since 1998, will be retiring on June 30, 2012. Mr. Luskin’s retirement will come at the conclusion of the Lyric’s first year of residence in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which will open this fall.
The center will include a 1,600-seat concert hall and a 1,800-seat proscenium theate, and will be the performance home for the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Kansas City Ballet. The Kauffman Center will also feature a diverse range of performances in both halls including dance and music of all types from pop to rock, light classical to country, jazz groups to bands, and gospel to folk music, as well as smaller Broadway and off-Broadway touring productions.
