Coterie Theatre News

Childsplay Theatre joins a groundbreaking collaboration among 37 Theatres for Young Audiences across the United States, led by the lead producing team of Bay Area Children's Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, will present  the virtual premiere of A Kids Play About Racism, a theatrical adaptation of Jelani Memory's A Kids Book About Racism.

The Coterie Theatre School is offering a 5-hour virtual writing session for teens! Explore creative story ideas and work toward developing your own play in this special teen feature of KC Fringe 2020. For grades 7-12, facilitated by professional actor, educator, and teaching artist Nancy Marcy and playwright, director, and teaching artist Lacy Cunningham.

Chip Miller has been named the associate artistic director of Portland Center Stage, the city's largest professional theater company. Miller originally joined the company in the spring of 2019, in the role of associate producer. In the past season, they directed the company's smash-hit production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the celebrated world premiere of Redwood, a play he also helped develop. Miller steps into the new role immediately. 

The Coterie Theatre School is offering its summer session of drama classes as both live, interactive online instruction as well as in-person classes (whenever possible).

Red Mountain Theatre Company (RMTC) in Birmingham, Alabama is bringing theater education through 'Play Making Live with Bradford' on Facebook Live and YouTube each Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:30 a.m.

The Coterie Theatre School is offering its Spring session of drama classes as live, interactive online instruction. Now available to youth nationwide, The Coterie's classes are led by our staff of trained teaching artists and are focused on a process-based curriculum. Classes for age three through grade 12 begin on Saturday, April 4, with additional classes starting on a staggered schedule throughout April 2020.

PUFFS is not the Kleenex tissue, though you may need one to wipe away the tears running down your cheeks from the sustained laughter. PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A CERTAIN SCHOOL OF MAGIC AND MAGIC opened Friday, February 28 at The Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. Matt Cox has written a hilarious parody of the famous boy wizard series of books and movies which should not be missed. Amanda Kibler, the Education Director for The Coterie, directs this look at the secondary characters from the seven years that Potter was at that school whose name we cannot say.

The powerfully moving play, THE WHITE ROSE: WE DEFIED HITLER, by David Meyers opened Friday, January 24, at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. The 70-minute play is produced in cooperation with the University of Missouri at Kansas City Theatre Department and produced with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. The show based on actual events runs at The Coterie through February 9.

Baruch Performing Arts Center presents the New York premiere of dwb (driving while black) from March 19-21, 2020 at 7:30 pm at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC. Tickets are $16-$36 and can be purchased online at https://ci.ovationtix.com/1091/production/1014628.

Baruch Performing Arts Center presents the New York premiere of dwb (driving while black) from March 19-21, 2020 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC. Tickets are $16-$36 and can be purchased online at https://ci.ovationtix.com/1091/production/1014628.

West Side Story is officially in previews on Broadway! The new production is directed by Tony Award winner Ivo van Hove; and for the first time ever in the United States, will feature all-new choreography by the internationally acclaimed Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. West Side Story will begin previews on December 10, 2019 and open February 6th, 2020 at the Broadway Theatre.

Rodgers and Hammerstein made beautiful music together, often receiving credit for reinventing the American musical. As a composing-lyricist team, Rodgers and Hammerstein created such musical masterpieces as OKLAHOMA, THE KING AND I, CAROUSEL, SOUTH PACIFIC and THE SOUND OF MUSIC, winning numerous Tony and Oscar awards.

The only snow I want to see this year is the snow that transforms the stage at the Coterie Theatre into a winter wonderland at opening night of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. William J. Christie directs this hilarious stage adaption by Eric Schaeffer. Written by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz the play is based on the 1965 television special by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson.

It's Delightful, it's Delicious, it's De-lovelya?"it's the musical ANYTHING GOES, with Cole Porter's magical music underscoring this age-old tale of boy meets girl. ANYTHING GOES opens Saturday, Nov. 2 at The Lewis and Shirley White Theatre, located at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City (The J). Additional performances continue Nov. 3-17. Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. and matinees are at 2 p.m. Details are available at TheWhiteTheatre.org.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the biennial festival New Visions/New Voices from May 15-17, 2020, marking the 16th showcase of this industry workshop. Dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families, this innovative series pioneers a unique and vital forum for the field of Theater for Young Audiences (TYA).

Opening on Friday night at The Coterie Theatre inside Crown Center is a?oeRise Up,a?? a four person, seventy five minute play written by British playwright Lisa Evans. The subject is the 1961 a?oeFreedom Ridersa?? project designed by James Farmer's CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). The premise is a group of four contemporary secondary students recount a conflict in the struggle for racial equality in the U.S. for a school age audience.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KCRep), announced the full schedule for this season's popular Monday Night Playwright Series, which opened with BURIED ROOTS, its first play of the series, on Monday. The series features a line-up of new and returning playwrights including Michelle Tyrene Johnson, Darren Canady, James Still, Migdalia Cruz, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen and Ellen McLaughlin. These free public events take place on the UMKC campus at the Spencer Theatre Donor Lounge.  

What a roller-coaster of emotions at a preview performance of A DOLL'S HOUSE on the City Stage inside Union Station. The three-act play produced by the Kansas City Actor's Theatre opens Saturday, August 10th and runs through August 25th. Darren Sextro adapted and directs A DOLL'S HOUSE from the 1882 translation (NORA: A PLAY) by Henrietta Frances Lord.

Nationally-recognized as one of the nation's leading producers of new works of theatre for young people and their families, The Coterie Theatre announces its 41st Season will entertain, engage, and serve as memorable experiences that all generations of the family can share.

A summer treat for the kiddies in ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE'S "WE ARE IN A PLAY" opened Friday, June 14 at the Coterie Theatre in Kanas City. Directed by Shanara Gabrielle the children's musical written by Mo Willems concludes the 40th season for the theater. Willems author of the popular Elephant and Piggie book series wrote the script and lyrics for the stage. Deborah Wicks La Puma wrote the music for the play with musical direction is by Anthony T. Edwards.