"On Account of Sex" Reading at KC Fringe Festival July 18-August 1

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.

Abridged "A Christmas Story" Reading on December 10

I'm directing an abridged reading of A Christmas Story to be screened online for the Kansas City FilmFest International's fundraiser at 6:30pm, Thursday, December 10. 

The reading stars Chad Crenshaw, Walter Coppage, Patrick McGonigle, and Angel Yvonne.

Inspired by all of you, we are planning for the April 2021 festival as a hybrid event of screenings, panels, Q&A’s online and limited in-theater screenings following capacity rules and safety protocols. KCFFI is also hosting its first ever online fundraising event, Thursday, December 10 at 6:30PM. It’s free to attend and we would greatly appreciate any donations. Please join us for a speedy read of the holiday classic A CHRISTMAS STORY. Leave 2020 at the door and revel in the magic of movies and the shared memories they allow us to create together!

Watch it on Facebook Live

"A Hundred Years Hence"

 

Here's a music video I made for our reading of "On Account of Sex" that celebrates 100 years since women won the vote to the tune of "A Hundred Years Hence."

Online Play Reading to Celebrate the 19th Amendment

August 18, 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, in which women won the right to vote. To commemorate this historic event, Bryan Colley and Tara Varney will be presenting an online reading of their new musical, On Account of Sex, that details the history of the women’s suffrage movement.

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.

Join us at jupiterkansas.com for this special one-night-only presentation of the play at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 18, 2020. Featuring Shelley Clark Wyche, Amy Hurrelbrink, Marcie Ramirez, and Stefanie Stevens, this centennial celebration is filled with humor, inspiration, and songs of the era.

"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

Typhanee and Dysmenorrhea are childhood pals who once shared secrets, dreams, and McNuggets, before their lives took decidedly different paths. Now they share the stage seeking common ground between bubblegum and black metal. Can their friendship survive adulthood? Find out in the new comedy Enlarged to Show Texture by Bryan Colley and Tara Varney at the Kansas City Fringe Festival. Starring Megan Steadman and Tara Varney.

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

Produced by Plan B Productions. More details to come!

"Hexing Hitler" Reading May 20

The Midwest Dramatists Center will present a reading of Bryan Colley and Tara Varney's new full-length version of "Hexing Hitler" at 7pm, May 20 at the Second Presbyterian Church at 55th and Brookside (318 E 55th St). The reading is directed by Tara Varney and the cast includes Gary Wesche, Shelley Wyche, J. Will Fritz, Emma Carter, and Michael Golliher.

An hour-long version of "Hexing Hitler" was produced at the 2011 Kansas City Fringe Festival, and it has now been expanded into a full-length 90 minute play. It is a true story as told in a 1941 photo essay from "Life Magazine" about a party that gathered in a remote Maryland cabin to put a curse on Adolf Hitler and end World War II using witchcraft.

Leading the hexing was the successful writer William Seabrook, who popularized the word "zombie" in 1927, when he published a book, "Magic Island," about his adventures in Haiti, which served as the basis for the film "White Zombie" in 1932. Throughout the 1930s he was a best-selling author, world traveler, and journalist. He was also fascinated with witchcraft, black magic, and the occult. Along with writing about voodoo rituals on the island of Haiti, he wrote about eating human flesh in the jungles of Africa, battling alcoholism in an asylum, and joining a Bedouin tribe, much like T.E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia."

A companion work play by Colley and Varney, "Sexing Hitler," was also expanded to full-length and presented in a staged reading at the Unicorn Theatre in 2016. It details the true story a Nazi program led by Heinrich Himmler to create inflatable pleasure dolls, intended for standard issue to Nazi soldiers. Along with connecting thematic threads, both plays are designed to use the same cast.

New 10-minute Play Reading at the MDC Winter Shorts

I have a new 10 minute play for the Midwest Dramatists Center's Winter Shorts readings at the Uptown Arts Bar. It's a comedy called There Are No Small Parts.  Come check out the new venue, give feedback on the MDC residents' short plays, and enjoy a night of local theatre!

Monday, Jan 21, 2019
6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:00)
Uptown Arts Bar
3611 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64111

Click here for the Facebook event

"The Man in My Beard" at the 2018 Kansas City Fringe Festival

When janitor Frank Allen gets hit by a ray of experimental science, he finds himself living in the beard of Al Lafrance. There, among the whiskers and crumbs of food, he makes a life for himself, and secretly steers Al - oblivious to the tiny man living in his beard - into making better life decisions. However, when a mad scientist discovers the location of the lab's missing janitor, everything - even love ballads - are in mortal danger!

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

Performances are at the Arts Asylum, 1000 E 9th Street. Tickets are $10 with a $5 Fringe button (one-time purchase at box office, reusable for all Fringe shows). Advance tickets are available at: https://kc-fringe.ticketleap.com/the-man-in-my-beard/dates

"The Feast" reading May 14 at Midwest Dramatists Center

Deep in the middle ages, two warring factions gather at a royal feast, but assassination plots and comic philandering unravel their plans for peace. "The Feast" was the first play ever written by Bryan Colley, and it was produced by Gorilla Theatre Productions in 1998.

Enjoy a reading of "The Feast" at 7:00pm Monday, May 14, at the Midwest Dramatists Center, 3607 Pennsylvania. This event is free. Donations are encouraged.

The cast includes Bob Allen, Petra Allen, Erika Baker, Coleman Crenshaw, Michael Golliher, Joseph De Maria, Kelli Hahn Morford, Mike Ott, Jeff Smith, and Gary Wesche.

"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.

Midwest Dramatists Conference

I'm very excited to help present the Midwest Dramatists Center's very first and apparently highly successful playwriting conference next weekend. Check it out!

The Midwest Dramatists Center is hosting its first playwriting conference September 28-30, 2017, where more than 40 visiting playwrights and theater professionals from around the country will be in attendance. Conference events are open to the public.

All events will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn at I-35 and 119th St in Olathe, Kansas, 12080 S. Strang Line Road.

Conference Schedule

Reception - $20
7:00pm Thursday, September 28
You receive a drink ticket for a domestic beer or house wine, munchies of chips, dips, hummus, etc, and meet and listen to our panelists and invited special guests.

Play Readings - $5 per session
Session 1: 9:00am - 12:30pm Friday, September 29
Session 2: 1:30pm - 5:30pm Friday, September 29
Session 3: 1:30pm - 5:30pm Saturday, September 30

Midwest Comedy Scene Off - Free
7:30pm Friday, September 29
Our writers and guests from the audience will write a quick, one minute scene based on what they draw from the bowl, and have them performed immediately by local actors.

Breakout Sessions - Presenting Playwrights Only
9:00am Saturday, September 30

Dinner Gala - $40 ($75 for two)
6:30pm Saturday, September 30
The dinner menu is Johnny's Signature Chicken De Burgo, Focaccia Bread, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, House Salad, Iced Tea and Cheesecake. There will be a cash bar.

FULL CONFERENCE PACKAGE - $65

For complete conference details, click here!

"Variations on a Theme by Tara Varney" coming to Fringe 2017

Variations on a Theme by Tara Varney is a new play comprised of nine scenes, some humorous and some touching, which all have a common thematic thread. The play will be performed at the MTH Theater in Crown Center as part of the Kansas City Fringe Festival, July 20-30, 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:

• 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

Tickets are $10 with a $5 Fringe Button (available at the box office). For more information visit www.billyblob.com or for tickets go to www.kcfringe.org

"Sexing Hitler" reading at the Unicorn May 15

I'm happy to announce that the Unicorn Theatre will be doing a reading of Sexing Hitler as part of their In-Progress New Play Reading Series in partnership with the Midwest Dramatists Center. This KC Fringe Festival hit from 2012 has been expanded with about 30 minutes of new material.

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.

"Hexing Hitler/Sexing Hitler" preview at Johnson County Library

The Unicorn Theatre will present a selection of diverse scenes from local playwrights participating in the In-Progress New Play Reading Series. Hexing Hitler and Sexing Hitler will be getting a short preview in anticipation of a full reading at the Unicorn Theatre on May 15. The other local playwrights include Bryan Moses, Ron Simonian, Vicki Vodrey, David Wayne Reed, and Cynthia Hardeman.

2pm, Saturday, February 13 at the Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 W 87th Street. Free.

more info