Desdemona, a play about a handkerchief
by Paula Vogel
Directed by John Rensenhouse

What if Shakespeare’s heroine Desdemona is not as innocent as she seems? By looking at her motives and desires from a distinctly modern perspective, Paula Vogel explores Desdemona’s sexuality, her marriage to a much older man and her friendships with her maid Emilia and the low-class tart, Bianca. This hilarious play is a perfect and lively complement to the production of Othello presented by the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival this summer.

By twisting the Othello story into such new and unexpected shapes, Vogel not only makes us reconsider all our assumptions about the men and women in the play but also generates a great deal of humor besides. -- Baltimore City Paper

Previews June 24-25, 2008
Opens June 26, 2008

Performing Arts Center at UMKC in a rehearsal hall atmosphere in Room 119

Translations
by Brian Friel
Directed by Mark Robbins

In a rural hedge school in early 19th century Ireland, against the backdrop of a particularly insidious chapter in Britain’s ongoing colonization of that beleaguered country, Brian Friel’s Translations tells a tender, sad and funny tale of the clash of cultures and the inevitable advent of change. As two languages, English and Gaelic, battle it out for dominance in the land, we see each of the play’s charming characters struggle with their life and times.

A basic fluency in the workings of the human heart is all that’s necessary to absorb the beauties of Mr. Friel’s tender, sad and funny play about the difficulty of finding a home in the world, a person to share it with, and a name to call it by. --The New York Times

Previews July 5-10, 2008
Opens July 11, 2008

City Stage at Union Station

Taking Sides
by Ronald Haywood
Directed by Tom Mardikes

In Taking Sides, we witness the interrogation of the renowned conductor , Wilhelm Furtwangler and an examination of his behavior during the Nazi era. Since he was allowed to remain as the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic throughout the war, he is under suspicion as a Nazi sympathizer. Furtwangler remains passionate in his defense that he survived as a protector and comforter of the German people and an artist on watch over the cultural life of his homeland.

The play …. offers a total experience that is satisfying because it fully engages its audience leaving them with food for thought and discussion that should extend well beyond the evening's proceedings. --Curtain Up

Previews August 8-14, 2008
Opens August 15, 2008

City Stage at Union Station

A Lesson From Aloes
by Athol Fugard
Directed by Bruce Roach

Set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1963, the play reunites Piet and Gladys, a white South African couple with their friend, Steve, a black man. The trio met years earlier as anti-apartheid activists and their reunion explores the tension, suspicion and fear of their time together and the havoc it wreaked on their relationships with each other and their country. The aloes plant symbolizes the ability of each of them to persevere through the drought of injustice and misunderstanding.

''A Lesson From Aloes'' is a valuable theatrical lesson in the human price behind the news items we read. --The New York Times

Previews September 5-11, 2008
Opens September 12, 2008

Off-Center Theatre at Crown Center Shops

Play TBD
Previews January 9-15, 2008
Opens January 16, 2008

Off-Center Theatre at Crown Center Shops