The reading of Bryan Colley and Tara Varney's latest musical, "On Account of Sex," that they created for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment will be viewable online as part of the Kansas City Fringe Virtual Festival July 18-August 1.
Meet the women who persisted for over seventy years to add four words to the Constitution. Leaders of the women’s suffrage movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul relate their struggles and debate their cause, beginning with 1848’s Seneca Falls Convention and ending with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, winning women the right to vote.
The reading stars Amy Hurrelbrink, Marcie Ramirez, Stefanie Stevens, and Shelley Clark Wyche. It's directed by Tara Varney and edited by Bryan Colley.
Tickets will be available for $10.00 starting July 1 at kcfringe.org, but we encourage you to get a festival pass and check out the nearly 50 shows available at the Kansas City Fringe. Passes start at $25.00.
Showing posts with label Fringe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fringe. Show all posts
"On Account of Sex" Reading at KC Fringe Festival July 18-August 1
"Enlarged to Show Texture" Video
Here's a video of Enlarged to Show Texture at the Kansas City Fringe Festival on July 27, 2019. Written by Bryan Colley and Tara Varney. Starring Tara Varney as Dysmenorrhea.
And here's a video of all the audience volunteer "Battle of the Band" segments.
"Enlarged to Show Texture" Review by Kelly Luck
There is not much this reviewer can say about this play, as to go into even basic detail would be to spoil the thing. Suffice to say it is a meditation upon friendship, conflict of differences, the ways we cope with how the world messes with our minds, and the means by which we heal.
Fringe veterans will know that it’s always worth finding out what Tara Varney and Bryan Colley are up to. Over the years, it’s never been quite possible to guess what they would come up with next, but it is always something interesting. Once again we get the blend of humor and tragedy, the frivolous drilling down to the deeply personal. There’s even a little music history thrown in for good measure.
Sometimes things don’t always go to plan. Sometimes you have to get out there and wing it. And sometimes you need to stop and ask yourself what is really important. A most affecting show, and definitely worth the Fringer’s attention.
https://kcfringe.org/enlarged-to-show-texture-review-by-kelly-luck/
"Enlarged to Show Texture" at the 2019 Kansas City Fringe Festival
Performances are at the Loretto Auditorium, 1111 W 39th Street on the following dates:
- 9:00pm FRI JULY 19
- 4:30pm SAT JULY 20
- 7:30pm MON JULY 22
- 7:30pm THU JULY 25
- 6:00pm SAT JULY 27
Call for Photographers - Where the Streets Have New Names
Where the Streets Have New Names
What is it? This is a group art exhibit that offers a different kind of street photography. We will document at day in the life along the newly renamed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. (formerly The Paseo), one of Kansas City's most prominent historic boulevards. Photographers will explore the entire ten miles of the boulevard from Cliff Drive to 85th Street over a single day, collecting hundreds of images to create an online archive of a moment in time. Highlights of this archive will be exhibited as a collage at Union Station.
When? 10:00am Saturday, May 11 (in case of rain, we'll try again on May 18)
Who? Anyone with a camera is invited to make the five mile hike. Feel free to invite your friends or anyone that might be interested.
Where? We'll divide into two groups. One group will start from the north end where The Paseo turns into Cliff Drive. There's street parking on the Paseo. The second group will start from the south where The Paseo ends at 85th Street. There's parking at the Center Alternative School. Both groups will hike five miles and meet in the middle at Gate's Barbecue on Cleaver II Blvd for lunch.
According to Google, the walk only takes two hours, but I'm guessing it will take at least four hours as we stop for photos. After lunch, you can arrange to be picked up or you can ride the bus back to your car. The Paseo bus only takes 20 minutes from Gates to 85th Street. However, getting to Cliff Drive takes about an hour, and you have to take the Troost bus.
How do I sign up? Email me at jupiterkansas@gmail.com so I know how many people are going, and let me know if you want to do the south hike from 85th Street or the north hike from Cliff Drive. It would help to give me your text number too.
What to bring?
- Cameras with a charged battery and a big memory card so you can photograph your entire hike.
- Water & Snacks
- Sunscreen & Hat
- Good walking shoes
- Curiosity and a good eye
The Kansas City Fringe Festival exhibit will be in the Great Hall of Union Station July 14-28. It's free and open to the public. Every photographer that goes on the hike will get credited.
"The Man in My Beard" at the 2018 Kansas City Fringe Festival
Warnings: Adult language, ridiculous situations, guitar playing, shadow theatre, and Angry Birds reference. May be offensive to mad scientists.
This international hit by Australian playwright Shane Adamczak was discovered at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 2017 and is being restaged at the Kansas City Fringe Festival with local funnymen Bob Linebarger and J. Will Fritz. Directed by Tara MF Varney. Special effects by Jill Gillespie and Natalee Merola. Produced by Bryan Colley in association with Weeping Spoon Productions.
Show schedule:
- Sat, July 21 at 8pm
- Sun, July 22 at 5pm
- Mon, July 23 at 8pm
- Fri, July 27 at 8pm
- Sat, July 28 at 3:30pm
Mountain Scenery by the Colley Family
The artwork will be on display July 15-28, 2018, in the Grand Hall of Union Station.
"King Pest" Opera Auditions - Soprano and Tenor Needed
Soprano and tenor needed
Mummer Opera Company will be holding auditions for King Pest, a new opera based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, to be performed at the Kansas City Fringe Festival, July 19-29, 2018
King Pest is from the team that created Red Death, the best attended show of the 2014 Kansas City Fringe Festival.
Auditions will be held the evening of Sunday, April 1 by Appointment Only
Email Bryan Colley or call 816-217-6547 for an appointment
Auditioners will be provided with a sample recording and score.
Rehearsals will take place in June and July. Performance fees negotiable.
Mummer Opera Company will be holding auditions for King Pest, a new opera based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, to be performed at the Kansas City Fringe Festival, July 19-29, 2018
King Pest is from the team that created Red Death, the best attended show of the 2014 Kansas City Fringe Festival.
Auditions will be held the evening of Sunday, April 1 by Appointment Only
Email Bryan Colley or call 816-217-6547 for an appointment
Auditioners will be provided with a sample recording and score.
Rehearsals will take place in June and July. Performance fees negotiable.
"You Art What You Eat" at the KC Fringe Festival
The art will be on exhibit in the Grand Hall of Union Station July 16-30. There's an artist reception on Sunday, July 16 at 2:00pm. If you're going to Fringe or just in the Crown Center area, be sure to check out the KC Fringe Visual Art show.
Audrey and I might be doing some other Fringe visual art events like Iron Artist or Kick Comedy Theatre's Bemused, so check back here for announcements and details.
Find out more a kcfringe.org
"Variations on a Theme by Tara Varney" coming to Fringe 2017
It was when Tara Varney was preparing the rehearsal space for a play she was directing in 2009 that she realized the assumptions that people make, based on their own life experiences, concerning others' world view. That thought stayed in the forefront of her mind as she taught acting to young people. It was the seed of Variations on a Theme.
"We all have things we want to say, but can't, for whatever reason, or things we assume the other person already knows, but doesn't," Varney says. "It's the kernel of what makes relationships difficult. When we really, deeply realize that the other person is not coming from the same place we are, then maybe we can make some kind of headway in actually connecting."
Variations on a Theme by Tara Varney features Amy Hurrelbrink, Parry Luellen, Mike Ott, and Marcie Ramirez. The assistant director is Michael Golliher.
Performances of Variations on a Theme by Tara Varney will be as follows:
8:00pm Friday, July 21
5:00pm Sunday, July 23
6:30pm Monday, July 24
9:30pm Tuesday, July 25
8:00pm Thursday, July 27
6:30pm Saturday, July 29
But wait... there's more!
Next door, in the MTH Theatre's Stage 2, Varney will be presenting the companion piece Variations on a Scene by Tara Varney, produced by Bryan Colley. In this show veteran actors Jay Coombes and Caroline Dawson will be taking scenes from Variations on a Theme and using them for actor-driven improv, giving audiences a chance to step inside the actor's head and see how character exploration develops during rehearsal, ultimately creating three-dimensional characters out of words on a page.
Performances of Variations on a Scene by Tara Varney will be as follows:
6:00pm Monday, July 24
7:30pm Tuesday, July 25
9:00pm Wednesday, July 26
9:00pm Friday, July 28
4:30pm Saturday, July 29
Tickets to either show are $10 with a Fringe Button (available for $5 at the box office).
Daniel Doss Performing Pieces from "Red Death"
Here's a video of the awesome Daniel Doss performing some of the music he wrote for Red Death along with some other tunes.
"Khaaaaan! the Musical" Video
Here's the full video of Khaaaaaan! the Musical from the Kansas City Fringe Festival on July 29, 2010. Sorry about the over-exposed image.
"Voyage to Voyager" is Ready for Production
Are you interested in producing Voyage to Voyager? Here's all the details:
Synopsis: Using a team of local actors, astrophysicist Carl Sagan directs a play about creating the Golden Record that was on board the Voyager spacecrafts when they launched in 1977. The Golden Record was a message from earth to whatever intelligent life in the universe that might happen find it drifting through space, and included music, images, and greetings from earth in multiple languages.
Voyage to Voyager is a multimedia show that parallels the creation of the record with the creation of the play, and the actors play themselves as well as the Voyager team. The humor of Sagan learning to direct a play along with the bureaucracy he faced creating the record is balanced with an awe for the universe and the quest to define what it means to be human.
Production History: The 60 minute version of the play was first produced at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium in Union Station as part of the Kansas City Fringe Festival in 2015.
Reviews: "Comical, educational, and provocative, this production asks many questions as to what the human experience truly entails and how diverse we all are from one another.... Filled with laughs and scientific details, Voyage to Voyager gives a fresh perspective on the historic task set forth by Sagan and reminds us of the hope that fuels our individual dreams to take us where no one has gone before." - KC Metropolis
Requirements: The cast requires seven actors of any gender and includes a multi-media presentation of images, sounds, and video. This is a longer version of the play that includes additional material that wasn't part of the original Fringe production. The running time is approximately 80 minutes, but the shortened 60 minute version is available. Performance royalties are negotiable and dependent on the size of the performance venue and ticket prices.
Click here for more information and to download the script
"Freak Up the Street" at the KC Fringe Festival
I'm producing at play at the 2016 KC Fringe Festival.
Freak Up the Street is a new play written and directed by Billy Blob. Billy is the artist and filmmaker who created the animated sequences in last year's hit Fringe Festival play Voyage to Voyager at the planetarium in Union Station. He enjoyed his Fringe experience so much that he wrote his first play for this year's festival.
Andy Garrison stars as William, a middle aged man who finds it easier to play dead than face his past. With the help of his time machine, William soon comes face to face with an eccentric childhood neighbor who is William’s most painful memory and possibly his last hope. William Grey Warren, Davis Lee DeRock Jr and Sallie Downing also star in this nostalgic, humorous and mostly true story of childhood. Stage direction by Laura Burt.
Freak Up the Street will be at the Unicorn Theatre's Levin Stage, 3828 Main Street, on the following dates:
Freak Up the Street is a new play written and directed by Billy Blob. Billy is the artist and filmmaker who created the animated sequences in last year's hit Fringe Festival play Voyage to Voyager at the planetarium in Union Station. He enjoyed his Fringe experience so much that he wrote his first play for this year's festival.
Andy Garrison stars as William, a middle aged man who finds it easier to play dead than face his past. With the help of his time machine, William soon comes face to face with an eccentric childhood neighbor who is William’s most painful memory and possibly his last hope. William Grey Warren, Davis Lee DeRock Jr and Sallie Downing also star in this nostalgic, humorous and mostly true story of childhood. Stage direction by Laura Burt.
Freak Up the Street will be at the Unicorn Theatre's Levin Stage, 3828 Main Street, on the following dates:
- 11:00pm Friday, July 22
- 5:00pm Saturday, July 23
- 8:00pm Monday, July 25
- 6:30pm Wednesday, July 27
- 9:30pm Thursday, July 28
- 8:00pm Saturday, July 30
"Sexing Hitler" reading at the Unicorn May 15
Sexing Hitler tells the true story of how the Nazis invented inflatable pleasure dolls to protect troops from contracting syphilis in occupied countries. The play explores Heinrich Himmler's eugenics programs and the Third Reich's plans for global conquest.
The cast for the reading will be Brian Paulette, Amy Attaway, Logan Black, Laura Jacobs, and Andy Perkins. Ian R. Crawford is directing.
The reading is May 15 at 7:30pm at the Unicorn Theatre. Admission is free; donations accepted.
"Khaaaaan! the Musical" concert reading Feb. 8
The cast includes Jay Coombes and Amy Hurrelbrink reprising their roles, along with new faces Gary Wesche, Curtis Smith, and Pancho Villegas. The reading will be directed by Steven Eubank. Khaaaaan! the Musical was written by MDC playwright Bryan Colley and Tara Varney, with music by Tim Gillespie and Michelle Cotton.
Monday, February 8, at the Writer's Place, 3607 Pennsylvania. The reading begins at 7:00pm and will be followed by a talkback with playwright Bryan Colley and cast. As with all MDC readings, no reservations are required and it's free! Donations appreciated, and CD soundtracks will be available for purchase.
"Fringe Plays" published featuring five Fringe scripts
Fringe Plays is now available in paperback at Lulu, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble for only $12. You can also download it for free as a pdf or as an epub.
The five one-act plays in this book all
premiered at the Kansas City Fringe Festival between 2008 and 2012, and
each was awarded “Best of Fringe” the year it premiered. They now seek
out new life at Fringe Festivals around the world.
Hexing Hitler
In 1941, five people, led by writer and adventurer William Seabrook, gathered in a remote Maryland cabin to put a curse on Adolf Hitler and end World War II using witchcraft. This is the true story of what happened that night.
In 1941, five people, led by writer and adventurer William Seabrook, gathered in a remote Maryland cabin to put a curse on Adolf Hitler and end World War II using witchcraft. This is the true story of what happened that night.
Sexing Hitler
German soldiers in occupied territories are contracting syphilis from prostitutes in astounding numbers. The disease threatens the stability of the Third Reich. To solve the problem, Adolf Hitler orders the creation of inflatable pleasure dolls that the soldiers can carry in their packs to satisfy their urges. Yes, this is also a true story.
German soldiers in occupied territories are contracting syphilis from prostitutes in astounding numbers. The disease threatens the stability of the Third Reich. To solve the problem, Adolf Hitler orders the creation of inflatable pleasure dolls that the soldiers can carry in their packs to satisfy their urges. Yes, this is also a true story.
Lingerie Shop
It begins as a steamy, sex-filled comedy, until one of the actresses curses the playwright and quits the play in the middle of a scene. What follows is a Pirandello-styled farce that deconstructs theatre and feminism.
It begins as a steamy, sex-filled comedy, until one of the actresses curses the playwright and quits the play in the middle of a scene. What follows is a Pirandello-styled farce that deconstructs theatre and feminism.
Khaaaaan! the Musical
After Khan attacks the Enterprise crew in the 23rd century, Kirk, Spock and Bones go back in time to find the world locked in a perpetual 1980s culture lorded over by the guitar god Khan. This rock-n-roll parody of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan explores our nostalgic fixation on the past.
After Khan attacks the Enterprise crew in the 23rd century, Kirk, Spock and Bones go back in time to find the world locked in a perpetual 1980s culture lorded over by the guitar god Khan. This rock-n-roll parody of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan explores our nostalgic fixation on the past.
Jesus goes into show business and becomes the biggest entertainer in the Middle East despite his rocky relationship with his non-biological father Joseph. The play uses the familiar tale of Christ to satirize our celebrity worshiping society.
"Voyage to Voyager" Video
Here's a video of our 2015 KC Fringe show "Voyage to Voyager" recorded and edited by Patrick Hess from the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station.
"Voyage to Voyager" KC Metropolis Review by Anthony Rodgers
In 1977, Carl Sagan led a project to summarize what it means to be human and to send that information into space for the potential discovery by intelligent extraterrestrial life—easier said than done! Voyage to Voyager is a play about a play—“playception”—about the real life struggles encountered by Sagan and colleagues in the development of the Voyager Golden Record, which can be seen this week in an unlikely theater near you: the Gottlieb Planetarium in Union Station.
The concept of this show is simple: to portray the process by which the famous Golden Record came to be; the said process, however, is more complicated than I ever imagined it to have been. Comical, educational, and provocative, this production asks many questions as to what the human experience truly entails and how diverse we all are from one another. The cast was lively and realistic while delivering the inflections and reactions of actors dealing with an energetic yet aloof on-stage director. Portraying Sagan, Coleman Crenshaw was the standout performer, phenomenal as the astronomical icon, and even slightly eerie in his spot-on resemblance.
Presenting a show in a planetarium comes with its own special set of opportunities and challenges, including the fact that the performers’ voices project differently depending on where they are while speaking and where the individual listener is seated. While it was fascinating to note this acoustic phenomenon, it never hindered the performers or flow but remains an interesting tidbit for anyone planning endeavors in a theater meant for a different type of star. The screen was used for projected images from the Golden Record as well as some original animation sequences by Billy Blob. These large cartoons depicted goofy situations in which hydrogen-based life-forms discover the Voyager spacecraft and attempt to decode the images and sounds on the record—silly but possibly realistic in the future, give or take a few billion years or so.
Filled with laughs and scientific details, Voyage to Voyager gives a fresh perspective on the historic task set forth by Sagan and reminds us of the hope that fuels our individual dreams to take us where no one has gone before.
more at KC Metropolis
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