Photo Flash: Speech & Debate At The Unicorn Theatre

Have you ever found out a secret about a teacher online? One of the characters in SPEECH & DEBATE has and now three high school misfits are coming together, by way of a newly formed speech and debate team, to expose their teacher, political hypocrisy and bad casting in the school musical. This summer, Missy Koonce will direct Lauretta Pope, Doogin Brown, Tosin Morohunfola and Kathleen Warfel in a wild ride of a comedy that will make you think twice about logging on. Diwata (played by Pope) is a self-proclaimed video-blog star, Solomon (played by Brown) is an aspiring reporter and Howie (played by Morohunfola) is new to town but not to surfing the chat rooms for "hook-ups." They have all stumbled on to pieces of their teacher's secret, and though they are reluctant to trust each other, they soon realize their three voices are stronger that one; this could be their chance to finally be heard by the school and even the world. Their exposé culminates in a time-traveling George Michael-inspired musical version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

SPEECH & DEBATE runs June 12th through July 12th with previews on June 10th and 11th. The show plays Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm. New this season is a Saturday Matinee at 3:00pm the first weekend of each run (June 13th). There will be no show on July 4th. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 816-531-PLAY(7529), online at www.UnicornTheatre.org or at the box office located at 3828 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111.

Stephen Karam is the author of Speech & Debate which was produced Off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company as the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground in October 2007. He is the co-author of Columbinus (2006 Helen Hayes nomination), which ran at New York Theatre Workshop following a co-production by Round House/Perseverance Theatres. His last two plays, Speech & Debate and Girl on Girl, debuted as workshop productions at the Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre. He is currently working on a new play commission for Roundabout Theatre Company and a screenplay adaptation of Speech & Debate for Overture Films. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University.

Stephen Karam's SPEECH & DEBATE is directed by Missy Koonce who previously co-directed Bat Boy: The Musical for the Unicorn in addition to appearing on stage in such shows as bare, Loving Lucy, The Laramie Project and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The cast features Lauretta Pope as Diwata (Unicorn Theatre Debut), Doogin Brown as Solomon (Previously at Unicorn: Orson's Shadow), Tosin Morohunfola as Howie (Unicorn Theatre Debut) and Kathleen Warfel as Teacher/Reporter (Previously at Unicorn: Rabbit Hole, Omnium Gatherum, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Desert Holiday). The design team includes scenic design by Gary Mosby (Recently at Unicorn: bare, The Women of Brewster Place, Rising Water, 9 Parts of Desire and rightnextto me), lighting design by Jessica Bertine (Unicorn Theatre Debut), sound design by David Kiehl (Recently at Unicorn: 9 Parts of Desire and A House With No Walls), projection design by Jeffrey Cady (Previously at Unicorn: The Clean House, Mauritius, rightnextto me and The Pillowman) and costume design by Jon Fulton Adams (Previously at Unicorn: The Clean House, The Velvet Rut, Sister Mary Ignatius..., A House With No Walls and La Cage aux Folles) with Tanya Brown as Production Stage Manager (Previously at Unicorn: The Clean House, Mauritius, The Little Dog Laughed and A House With No Walls).

For more information visit www.UnicornTheatre.org.

Photos by Cynthia Levin.

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