John Rensenhouse

Review: TROUBLE IN MIND at Kansas City Actors Theatre

It is funny. It is a slice of life. It is a literal peek behind the curtain. Kansas City Actors Theatre production of Alice Childress’s TROUBLE IN MIND allows audiences a long-delayed opportunity to vision America (and its theatrical community) as it appeared in 1955 from an African American point of view. I was struck by how much our country has matured (mostly for the better) over eighty years.

KCAT to Bring TROUBLE IN MIND To KC For The First Time In 50 Years

Kansas City Actors Theatre will continue their 2024/2025 20th Anniversary Season with Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress. Over 65 years after it was written, Trouble in Mind finally made its Broadway debut in late-2021, and comes to the City Stage this August!

Review: THE LEHMAN TRILOGY at Kansas City Actors Theatre

The Lehman Trilogy studies American Dream Mythology as seen through the eyes of Italian playwright and poet Stefano Massini. The English translation by Ben Power transfigures itself into an absorbing and poignant exercise in stellar storytelling as one might imagine it by three brothers around a metaphorical campfire.

KCAT Kicks Off Season 20 with THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

Kansas City Actors Theatre will kick off its 2024/2025 20th Anniversary Season of productions with the award-winning The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini, adapted to English by Ben Power.

Review: GASLIGHT at Union Station

They say you never forget your first.  That was certainly the situation for a former Scotland Yard Police Inspector named Rough (played by John Rensenhouse).  Oddly, Inspector Rough had no known first name. Rough’s first bloody murder case in 1865 remained unsolved fifteen years after the event.

Kansas City Actors Theatre Present The Classic Victorian Thriller GASLIGHT

Kansas City Actors Theatre presents the classic Victorian thriller 'Gaslight (Angel Street)' by Patrick Hamilton. This edge-of-your-seat thriller starts January 17th at the City Stage in Union Station.

Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Last night, November 21, 2023, a Kansas City tradition, the 42rd annual (almost) Kansas City Repertory Theatre production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” opened at the Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus for an extended run through Christmas Eve. Except for the Covid year when the live production was replaced by a video version, audiences have gathered for “A Christmas Carol” since 1980. The house lights dim and a cast of Victorian holiday carolers appear complete with an onstage costumed orchestra. Our Storyteller (Nedra Dixon) also dressed in stunning early Victorian garb, welcomes us. Ms. Dixon is elegant and charming in this her first stint as the Storyteller.

Kansas City Actors Theatre Reveals 2024/2025 20th Anniversary Season

Kansas City Actors Theatre has announced the line-up for its 20th Anniversary season, which will feature one classic work receiving its first professional regional production, a revival of a contemporary classic, the regional premiere of a new adaptation of a classic thriller, and the regional premiere of an award-winning new play.

Interview: Jason Chanos of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Kansas City Repertory Theatre

The Kansas City holiday season officially begins on November 21st with the forty-second annual iteration of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre Production of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol.  Director Jason Chanos is excited about this new mounting of the annual classic. Chanos is both the director of this production and the Associate Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Announces Cast For A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2023-24 season with the beloved holiday classic, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, adapted for the stage by Geoff Elliott and directed by Kansas City Repertory Theatre's Associate Artistic Director of KCRep/UMKC Partnership Jason Chanos.

Lyric Opera Of Kansas City Announces THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Lyric Opera of Kansas City has announced the beloved American Broadway Musical, The Sound of Music, Nov. 4-12, 2023 at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC Comes to Lyric Opera of Kansas City in November

Lyric Opera of Kansas City has announced the next production of the 2023-2024 season, The Sound of Music. Learn more about the musical and find out how to get tickets here!

Pearl Cleage, Dale R. Shields & The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City Receive Paul Robeson Awards

The Paul Robeson Award will be bestowed on Dale R. Shields for 2021, Pearl Cleage for 2022 and The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City for 2023.

Kansas City Actors Theatre Announces 2023/2024 Season

Classic plays, new works, and modern adaptations make up the incredible plays featured in Kansas City Actors Theatre 2023-2024 season. KCAT has announced its 19th Season of productions that showcase the leading professional theater talent in Kansas City – local and familiar favorites, KCAT founders, and exciting new artists to KCAT’s stage.

Kravis Center Production Raises Funds For Ukrainian Refugees This Week with Reading of FOUR CHILDREN

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts today announces that its presentation of the dramatic reading “Four Children,” opening Friday, March 25 through Saturday, March 26, will raise funds for Ukrainian refugees with all ticket purchase proceeds benefitting the Town of Palm Beach United Way's United for Ukraine fund.

The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival ROMEO AND JULIET Casting Announced

To celebrate its 30th anniversary season, The Heart of  America Shakespeare Festival will once again produce a live performance this summer.  

Kansas City Actors Theatre Announces Lineup For 18th Season

Warm, poignant, witty, whip-smart, and heartfelt – all words that describe the works included in Kansas City Actors Theatre lineup of plays selected for 2022-2023. This is KCAT’s 18th Season of productions, showcasing the leading professional theater talent in Kansas City.

Kansas City Actors Theatre Announces 2022/2023 Season 18

Warm, poignant, witty, whip-smart, and heartfelt – all words that describe the works included in Kansas City Actors Theatre lineup of plays selected for 2022-2023. This is KCAT’s 18th Season of productions, showcasing the leading professional theater talent in Kansas City.

KCRep Announces Cast For A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2021-22 season with the beloved holiday classic, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, adapted for the stage by Geoff Elliott and directed by Kansas City Repertory Theatre's Associate Artistic Director of KCRep/UMKC Partnership Jason Chanos. Performances run November 19 through December 26 at Spencer Theatre.

BWW Review: FOUR CHILDREN at Kansas City Actors' Theatre

The World Premiere production of “Four Children” has been brought to life by the Kansas City Actors Theatre on the City Stage inside Union Station as a minimalist, sadly shocking view of war against children and on a number of levels. It is not to be missed during its several week run. The playwright has taken snippets from the diaries of four childhood victims of successful or attempted genocides. Their testimony is woven together paragraph by paragraph into a seamless, searing whole despite each being separated by decades and thousands of miles.