The Coterie Announces its 2021/2022 Season

Nationally-recognized as one of the nation's leading producers of new works of theatre for young people and their families, The Coterie Theatre's 42nd Season will offer multiple new plays and musicals created to entertain, engage, and serve as memorable experiences for every generation of the family.

Back by popular demand, The Coterie's 2021-2022 Season begins in September with the return special engagement of Union Cemetery's Historical Society (UCHS)'s Electric Poe, performed outdoors at sunset in one of Kansas City's hidden gems, Union Cemetery, through Halloween for families with ages ten and older. Electric Poe 2021 features new adaptations of two classic stories from Edgar Allan Poe. In 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' a man is sentenced by The Inquisition to various unspeakable tortures in a diabolical chamber of horrors, while 'The Tomb of Ligeia' envisions Poe's twist on reanimating the dead.

"The stories in Electric Poe 2021 are different from last year's production," explains The Coterie's Production Artistic Director, Jeff Church, who adapted Poe's work for graveside storytelling again this year. "We're really excited to give audiences the literary hit 'Pit and the Pendulum,' with the rats and the torture table and everything, as well as 'Tomb of Ligeia' which allows us to add a female character, played by Alisa Lynn. We are also adding a tribute poem about Poe written by H.P. Lovecraft. What will be the same is the atmospheric electric guitar underscoring by Rex Hobart and R.H. Wilhoit as the main characters in each of the pieces. We will also continue to have the successful question and answer session after each show with a Union Cemetery historian -- which was so fun last year! This year, patrons bring their own chairs or we can provide and reserve one for them."

Hailed as "haunting... Wilhoit, in the style of an 1850's orator, is magnificent bringing to life two masterpieces by the wizard of the macabre... an outstanding performance" by BroadwayWorld and "creative... gripping... genuinely creepy (Hobart's leering guitar chords are a major part of the chill)" by ThePitchKC, Wilhoit and Hobart will once again utilize suspenseful storytelling in front of Union Cemetery's "Holding Vault," built circa 1857, to bring the stories to life. Also new this year, audiences have the opportunity to learn about the historical significance of Union Cemetery and the many important figures in Kansas City history that are buried there with guided, pre-performance tours. Led by a member of the UCHS, 60-minute walking tours are available on September 17, 18, 19, 25 and 26. A portion of each show and tour combination ticket will benefit UCHS and their efforts to preserve Kansas City's oldest public cemetery.

Beginning in November, The Coterie will move back indoors to its mainstage in Crown Center for the world premiere of the new Theatre for Young Audiences version of The SpongeBob Musical. Adapted from the hit Broadway show by Church through The Coterie's Lab for New Family Musicals program, The SpongeBob Musical for Young Audiences uses the music of a legendary roster of Grammy Award winners to turn one of the world's most beloved and unforgettable characters loose on stage in the undersea town of Bikini Bottom! The ever-optimistic yellow sea sponge named SpongeBob shows everybody that he is not "just a simple sponge" by proving to one and all that optimism really can save the world.

In February 2022, The Coterie will shine a spotlight on little known Kansas City history with the world premiere of Only One Day a Year, a new play commissioned by The Coterie and written by Michelle Tyrene Johnson, a fourth generation Kansas City, KS native and former KCUR reporter. This National Endowment for the Arts award-winning play intertwines present day with the last segregated days of Fairyland amusement park, formerly located at 75th and Prospect in Kansas City, MO, which, in the 1960s, allowed African Americans to enter only one day annually. Intertwining a story from the past with one in the present, Only One Day a Year shows a young girl today using her talent and grandmother's spirit to shine a light on an injustice at her school.

In March 2022, The Coterie will bring the highly-anticipated musical adaptation of Pete the Cat to its mainstage, after postponing the production in 2019. With its Beach Boys musical vibe and '60s feel, Pete the Cat will have everyone in the family strumming and strutting when the grooviest, guitar-slinging cat in town meets the Biddles family and rocks their world.

For an extra special Summer 2022, The Coterie will produce the world premiere of the new musical, Alice's Wonderland, adapted from Lewis Carroll's classic story and featuring an original score inspired by hip-hop, pop, gospel, and contemporary musical theater. In Alice's Wonderland, brilliant teen-coder Alice dreams of changing the world with her new video game, Wonderland, but when a rabbit suddenly emerges from the screen and offers her an escape from reality, Alice takes the leap - and lands in her own virtual world.

In addition to the season's stage productions, The Coterie will also continue the many educational and community outreach programs it undertakes each year: year-round acting classes for ages Pre-K through 12 grades at multiple locations around the K.C. metro; teen playwriting programs; a free acting troupe for LGBTQ teens and their allies; the award-winning Dramatic HIV/STD Project, which tours free to high schools all over the region teaching teens about STD prevention; and Project Daylight, a new free presentation that offers 6th-8th Grade students tactics for improving mental health.

Tickets for The Coterie's special engagement of Electric Poe 2021 in Union Cemetery are on sale now. Tickets and group reservations for all shows in The Coterie's 2021/2022 mainstage season go on sale Friday, September 17. Call The Coterie's box office at 816.474.6552 or visit www.thecoterie.org.

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