Kansas City Premiere of Richard Gustin's BEING SEEN Comes to the Black Box Theatre

Playwright and director Richard Gustin today announced the casting for his tour de force world premiere comedy, Being Seen. Veteran Kansas City premiere actors Mark Robbins and Ashley Pankow will star in the exclusive Kansas City three-week engagement August 24 - September 11 at the Black Box Theatre (1060 Union Ave, Kansas City, MO 64101).

General admission tickets are $30 for previews (Aug. 24 and 25) and $35 for the remainder of the run. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.bit.do/being-seen and www.eventbrite.com/e/being-seen-a-new-comedy-tickets-260746619157.

Being Seen tells the story of a struggling actor who answers an audition notice for a highly acclaimed director. Wits and instincts collide as she tries to maneuver the web of his process. The New York production garnered rave reviews at FringeNYC playing to a sellout run and it was voted a Fan Favorite by New York audiences.

Gustin commented, "Mark Robbins was the obvious choice to star in Being Seen. He is one of the finest actors I've had the pleasure of working with and has entertained Kansas City audiences for forty years. Once we found Ashley Pankow we knew we had a dream team for the world premiere. Ashley and Mark together are a match made in heaven. This is must-see theatre at its best."

Mark Robbins and Richard Gustin trained together as graduate students at the Hilberry classical Repertory Theatre in Detroit and began their professional theatre careers together as members of the Kansas City Rep acting company in the '80's under the artistic direction of theatre legend Patricia McIlrath. Being Seen is a reunion for Mark and Richard after forty years pursuing individual theatre careers.

Mark Robbins is no stranger to Kansas City audiences. For the KCRep, he has played Oedipus (Oedipus the King), Albert Einstein (Picasso at the Lapin Agile), Sherlock Holmes, Roy Cohn (Angels in America), and most recently, Ebenezer Scrooge in 11 performances of A Christmas Carol. He has appeared in over 75 productions at KCRep.

Mark is one of the founding members of the Kansas City Actors Theatre. During his tenure there he worked as an actor in 14 productions, playing such roles as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Austin in True West, and Goldberg in The Birthday Party. He also directed 13 productions at KCAT to date, including Hamlet, Picnic, 5th of July, The Mousetrap and Private Lives. Elsewhere in KC, he has appeared at American Heartland Theatre (Solitary Confinement, a one-man show, What the Butler Saw, Little Foxes), The Living Room (title role in Titus Andronicus), Unicorn Theatre (Speed-the-Plow, The Goat, Faith Healer), and New Theatre Restaurant (Sound of Music, You Can't Take It With You). He has worked at virtually every other theatre in KC as well. For the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, he has played the title roles in Richard III and Macbeth as well as Brutus in Julius Caesar and Prospero in The Tempest, appearing in 18 Festival productions.

Mark has worked at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Arizona Rep in Phoenix and Tucson, Boston Shakespeare Company and St. Louis Rep, and in Chicago at the Court Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Oak Park Shakespeare, and North Light Theatre. He recently played Salieri in a production of Amadeus for THEATREWORKS in Colorado.

Ashley Pankow has fast become a Kansas City favorite as an actor and musically gifted wunderkind. Her list of credits includes Kansas City Actors Theatre in A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Realistic Joneses, Kansas City Rep; The Old Man and the Old Moon, New Theatre Restaurant; Million Dollar Quartet, Johnny and June, Boeing, Joseph and the ATDC, Sister Act, Addams Family, Moon Over Buffalo, Fox on the Fairway. MTH; Next to Normal and South Pacific, Starlight Theatre; Footloose, QHP; Musical of Musicals, Judy Barbra Liza. Nelly Don in Nelly Don: The Musical. Ashley's national tours include The Marvelous Wonderettes, A Christmas Carol and worked with regional theatres across the country including Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Maples Repertory Theatre, Cortland Repertory Theatre, Springer Opera House, Old Creamery Theatre, Great Plains Theatre, Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre.

After a stint in NYC performing in national tours and regional theaters, Ashley has established herself as a staple in Kansas City theatre with leading roles at nearly every professional theater in town. She moves effortlessly between starring in musicals (Diana in Next to Normal at MTH, Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at New Theatre Restaurant), slamming doors in farces (Boeing at New Theatre Restaurant) and finding vulnerability in serious works (A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Realistic Joneses with Kansas City Actors Theatre). Ashley is also an accomplished actor/musician, playing numerous instruments in The Old Man and the Moon with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Buddy Holly with Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre and Cortland Rep, and numerous productions of the Smoke on the Mountain trilogy nationwide.

Richard Gustin is an emerging playwright. A professional actor, director, teacher and producer, Richard has appeared in major roles at various regional theatres including: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets and Blanco! at Great Lakes Theatre Festival; The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Translations, What Every Woman Knows, The Three Sisters, Anthony and Cleopatra, The Royal Family, Loose Ends, Picnic and Macbeth at Kansas City Repertory Theater; A Perfect Gentleman at Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia) and Virginia Museum; Widower's Houses and Major Major Barbara at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; Fear of Filing at the Ivanhoe (Chicago); Shear Madness at the Blackstone Hotel, (Chicago); Proof at John Michael Kohler Arts Center and A Christmas Carol (including Scrooge standby) at Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

Directing credits include, The Dream of the Burning Boy, How the World Began, Crooked, Waiting for Godot, Antigone, Sweet Storm, Rabbit Hole, Everyman (Original Adaptation), Of Mice and Men, Silent Sky, Rash Acts, The God Committee, My Soldiers, Our Town, Absent Friends, Working, My Fair Lady, Almost, Maine, Picnic, Godspell, Last Train to Nibroc, Proof, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Roommate, Over the Tavern, Master Harold and the Boys, Doubt, Wings, Bus Stop, Lovers, The Dining Room, Lobby Hero, A Sparrow Falls and The Glass Menagerie.

His plays include Being Seen, Leviathan, Surviving the Cycle, A Sparrow Falls, Someone Like Me, Everyman (Original Adaptation), The Stare-Down King, Concentric Circles, Switch, Circle 7 and Crucifiction.

The Black Box is ready to welcome patrons safely back to the theatre and will continue to follow local, national and union(s) COVID-19 guidelines. Currently, proof of vaccination and masks are required to attend all Black Box events. There will be more information on safety protocol closer to performance dates. Please visit https://www.blackboxkc.com/covid for the latest information.

The Black Box is an ever-evolving stage and performance venue located in the industrial West Bottoms. It acts as a spotlight in the work of theatre shining a light on (bold and provocative) productions and experiences. For more information, please visit https://www.blackboxkc.com/.

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