"Sexing Hitler" coming to the Kansas City Fringe Festival

"Sexing Hitler," a new original play by Bryan Colley and Tara Varney, will be produced at the upcoming Kansas City Fringe Festival, July 20-28.

"Sexing Hitler" is the story of the Third Reich's invention of inflatable pleasure dolls to prevent the spread of venereal disease during World War II. The Borghild Project was overseen by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo and the elite S.S. army. He led a team of scientists in the development of plastic dolls called gynoids. This involved considerable research into suitable materials and construction, as well as much debate about the physical appearance of the doll. Prototypes were even tested with soldiers in the field on the Channel Islands. The details of this top secret project were only recently revealed by the last surviving member of the team, Arthur Rink. 

Although the primary purpose of the doll was to prevent venereal disease, Himmler also saw it as a way to instill the Aryan dream in German soldiers. Utilizing music, dance, and poetry to tell story of the Borghild Project, "Sexing Hitler" examines the power of fantasies to liberate and enslave.


The performances at the Off Center Theatre in Crown Center are at the following dates and times:

6:30pm Friday, July 20
8:00pm Saturday, July 21
7:30pm Monday, July 23
9:30pm Tuesday, July 24
8:00pm Thursday, July 26
10:00pm Saturday, July 28

"Sexing Hitler" is directed by Tara Varney. The cast includes Andy Garrison, Parry Luellen, Amy Hurrelbrink, Eric Tedder, and Marcie Ramirez, and features music by Christian Hankel and Kyle Dahlquist, and choreography by Amy Hurrelbrink.

Bryan Colley and Tara Varney's previous KC Fringe Festival productions include "Lingerie Shop," "Khaaaaan! the Musical," and "Hexing Hitler."

This play is made possible by an Inspiration Grant from the Metropolitan Arts Council of Kansas City ArtsKC Fund.

Tickets are $10 with a $5 Fringe button. To find out more visit www.jupiterkansas.com and www.kcfringe.org.

Project Playwright scripts

Here are scripts I wrote for Project Playwright, a playwriting competition I was in with fellow writers Pete Bakely, Vicky Vodrey, Alli Jordan, and Michael Ruth. The event was organized by David Hanson and Erich McGrew and everything was filmed for future release as an online reality series.

The participating playwrights were given specific criteria for a play at 8:00 pm and had twelve hours to turn in a finished 10-page script. Then at 8:00 am the next morning a director and three actors blocked and memorized the script for performance at 8:00 pm that night. There were four rounds with three playwrights competing in each round, with all the previous winners competing in the final round. The grand prize was $500.


Round 1 (pdf)
For the first round, we were given four airline seats and told to write a farce at 40,000 feet. Each actor had to change seats at least three times during the course of the play. My script turned out to be very Laverne and Shirley.

The actors were Michelle Cotton, Jordyn DeMarco, and Stratton Lamle, directed by Liz Nelson.

I was the winner of the first round so I went straight to the final round.

Round 4 (pdf)
For the final round, our only parameters were that we had to write about family. We were given a bare stage with just four folding chairs. My script was inspired by Black Books.

The actors were Michelle Cotton, Amy Hurrelbrink, and Curtis Smith, again directed by Liz Nelson.

This script was the grand prize winner of the Project Playwright.

KC Fringe Festival Poster

Drawing by Ryan Haralson.

"Sexing Hitler" receives ArtsKC Inspiration Grant

"The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Board of Directors has approved a $750 Inspiration grant to help playwright and director Tara Varney produce an original one-act play, “Sexing Hitler,” to create a companion piece to last year’s work by her and her partner, Bryan Colley, which was titled “Hexing Hitler.” Their annual offerings at the Kansas City Fringe Festival have been some of the best attended and well-reviewed shows there."

Read a pdf of the award recipients