The Living Room

The Death of Cupid

THE DEATH OF CUPID: A WHISKEY MUSICAL by KYLE HATLEY
JUNE 26 - JULY 14

Directed by Kyle Hatley

Premiered in 2009 at The Kansas City Fringe Festival, The Death of Cupid: A Whiskey Musical is a blues/folk retelling of Aristophanes' Lysistrata about the death of Fate and the birth of human divinity.

A bawdy, profane and athletic comedy that pays homage to the wit and wackiness of Aristophanes while laughing—and screaming—at the times in which we live. The Death of Cupid follows Lysistrata's collaboration with the women of the world to end the threat of war forever by means of a global sex strike. However, in this retelling, her actions not only upset their men, but also the gods, ultimately calling into question the relevance of their reign.

What's a Whiskey Musical? It's an event; a happening, soaked in good company, good music, good times and—if you're old enough—good whiskey.

The music was adapted from traditional songs in the public domain born out of oppression, protest, praise and celebration rearranged and rewritten to fuse the musical history of America with the theatrical legacy of the Greek classics, in order to inspire a sensual and shared ownership in all who hear it.

This production features quite a bit of adult content, language, violence and sexual behavior that is not suitable for persons under sixteen.

So pour your whiskey and tap your feet, 'cause Cupid's comin' back, y'all.

• Door/Will Call will open 30 minutes prior to performance. Tickets can also be purchased at the door but is not a guarantee as there is limited seating.
• Street parking as well as a lot on the north side of the building.

All performances are at: The Living Room Theatre 1818 McGee Kansas City, MO 64108

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Hurlyburly/Burn This

Two shows in rotating rep

BURN THIS by LANFORD WILSON
APRIL 24-MAY 26

Directed by Scott Cordes Starring Vanessa Severo, Rusty Sneary, Alex Espy, and Bruce Michael Hall

Burn This begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident with his lover Dom. In attendance were Robbie's roommates: his sensitive dance partner and choreographer, Anna, and confident gay ad man Larry. Soon joining them in Robbie's lower-Manhattan loft are screenwriter Burton (Anna's longtime lover), and Pale (Robbie's coke-snorting, hyper active restaurant manager brother). In the face of their shared tragedy, the quartet attempts to make sense of their lives and reconsider their own identities and relationships.

Tickets available now

HURLYBURLY by DAVID RABE
MAY 8-MAY 26

Directed by Bryan Moses Starring Kyle Hatley, Rusty Sneary, Forrest Attaway, Natalie Liccardello, Tim Ahlenius, Alice Pollack, and Katie Gilchrist

Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated, empty lives by engaging in endless discussions laced with misogyny.

Tickets available now

• Door/Will Call will open 30 minutes prior to performance. Tickets can also be purchased at the door but is not a guarantee as there is limited seating.
• There is NO LATE SEATING
• Street parking as well as a lot on the north side of the building.

All performances are at: The Living Room Theatre 1818 McGee Kansas City, MO 64108

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Carousel

March 8 - March 31
Spencer Theatre

Music by Richard Rodgers, Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Kansas City Repertory Theater presents The Living Room's production of Carousel

Directed by Kyle Hatley

This is the musical theatre event that last year sparked delight in hearts of audience members and critics alike. And now, The Living Room the Rep�s Associate Artistic Director Kyle Hatley and , one of Kansas City�s most imaginative small theater companies, are bringing their beautifully re-envisioned production of Carousel to Spencer Theatre for a second production, complete with �in-the round� seating. Carousel tells a universal story of love, longing, and doing our utmost for the people we care about, even if it leads to difficult choices with tragic outcomes. Join us to experience this touching and inspiring musical theatre classic in a new and deeply moving way. You won�t want to miss it this second time around.

Tickets and show times

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Fool for Love by Sam Shepard

March 1 - March 17
8pm
The Living Room Theatre
1818 McGee, Kansas City, MO 64108

Fool For Love at The Living Room Theatre from Jetpack Pictures.

This is the story of Eddie and May. A love story, if you will. It's a story of love not often told.

Forrest Attaway, no stranger to The Living Room Theatre stage, makes his directing debut with the great Sam Shepard's play "Fool For Love".

Starring Jason Miller, Amy Kelly, Bob Elliot, and Curtis Smith.

Featuring an original score from the combined talents of Kansas City's own Mark Lowrey and Jeff Freling, this is truly what The Living Room is all about.

This is why The Living Room exists. We bring you Sam Shepard. We feature some of the best artists Kansas City has to offer. This is raw theatre. And we have comfy chairs.

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Blackbird by David Harrower

January 9 - February 3
8pm
The Living Room Theatre
1818 McGee, Kansas City, MO 64108

Performing in the Green Room. Seating is Limited.

Sometimes, the second time really is better than the first.

The Living Room revives its critically acclaimed production of David Harrower’s Blackbird, a psychological look into the relationship between Una and Ray and its fallout. Una and Ray haven’t seen each other in a while, and Una has arrived to confront Ray about their past. The intense, two-person drama provides the audience with a voyeur’s perspective made even more cinematic as the show will be performed in the black box space of the theatre.

Described as “Shocking, funny, tragic, sad, thrilling, bleak...” by Robert Trussell of the Kansas City Star, Bryan Moses takes upon the task of recreating his original vision of Blackbird with two of Kansas City’s finest actors, Vanessa Severo and Scott Cordes.

A sneak peek of the opening scene is available online at KCUR.org.

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Some Girls

Your career as a writer is blossoming, your beautiful young fiancee is waiting to get married and rush off to Cancun by your side... so what is your natural reaction? Well if you're a man, it's probably to get nervous and start calling up old girlfriends.

And so begins a single man's odyssey through five hotel rooms as he flies across the country in search of the perfect woman (whom he's already broken up with.) Some Girl(s) is written by American Theater's great agent provocateur; Neil LaBute. In grand LaBute fashion, this by turns an outrageously funny and deadly serious portrait of the artist as a young seducer, and casts a truthful, hilarious light on a typical young American male as he wanders through the heart of darkness that is himself.

Halloween first preview at 7:30 followed by a costume party!
Thursday preview 11/1 also at 7:30

Tickets Available Now

Remainder of run is:
Thursday through Sundays 11/2-11/18 at 8:00
With one Monday performance 11/12

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Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

EXTENDED

Three extension performances have been added for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 12, 13 and 14. Purchase tickets now for these final performances.

Starring Forrest Attaway. One actor, twelve characters, twelve directors. Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll uses a brilliantly conceived cast of characters to comment hilariously yet subtly on the larger issues that define our time: the relations between men and women; man's vision of the world and future; and the self-delusion, anxiety, and hatred endemic to modernity. It provides a case study of masculinities as they were performed in society in the 1980s and performative directions for masculinities in the future.

Runs 9/19-10/7 Thursdays through Mondays except The 19th is a wednesday and is first preview.

Purchase Tickets

See You in September

September marks the kickoff for The Living Room's 2012-13 season. Please join our mailing list for updates and information.

Previous Productions

Titus Andronicus

Directed by Kyle Hatley

The Living Room's production of Titus Andronicus re-examines these monsters by holding an unforgiving mirror up to nature in order to understand our ugliness and our beauty simultaneously. The same impulse that wills us to love is the same impulse that wills us tohate. We are born. We die. And in between we either make magic, or we make a mess.

What happens to a child after it is born?
What happens after it dies?
What happens to a country when it falls?
What happens to a country when it conquers?
What happens to a mother when her son's life is ruthlessly, unforgivably taken away right in front of her? What happens to a father when acts of unthinkable, unimaginable atrocities befall his daughter?
How do you live when you've been struck so by these acts of cruelty, rage and revenge?
How do you survive? Or do you? Or do you even care?

Titus Adronicus tells a very human story. It is a story riddled with violence, but tempered by wit and sex. A story of immeasurable loss and unfathomable sadness. A story of human error full of heartbreaking or hilarious near misses, total misses and direct hits. A story of politics, power, greed and desire. A story about a nation uncertain of itself, troubled by itself and even confused by itself, which, perhaps in turn, makes it a story about a country confronted by a kind of national anxiety. Which feels awfully familiar.

There is heart in this rarely produced Shakespeare play. And it is this theatre and this ensemble's mission to discover it, understand it and share it.

Oh, and there's a band.

Dog Sees God

An "unauthorized parody," the play imagines characters from the popular comic strip Peanuts as teenagers. Drug use, suicide, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion, sexual relations and identity are among the issues covered in this dark comedy.

Directed by TLR Assoc. Artistic Director, Bryan Moses (This is How it Goes, Blackbird, Betrayal)

Starring Bob Linebarger, Sean Hogge, Amanda Burkhart, Megan Turek, Phil Newman, Regina Weller, Kyle Dyck, and Jessica Franz