ANNA JENNINGS www.kcstage.com MARCH 2010 1 Showbiz Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall istration includes AKT dues for 2010 The University of Central Missouri membership and includes a dinner Wind Ensemble, under the direction Saturday night. Registration is $35 of Scott Lubaroff, director of bands per person. All performers and in the UCM Department of Music, workshops participants must pay will travel to New York City this the full-day registration price of month to perform in Carnegie Hall $35. To register contact TCTA CEO as part of the Carnegie Hall Concert Carole Ries at 3028 SW 8 Avenue, Top Billing Series. A total of 54 students will Topeka KS 66606, carole@topekac Spotlight on Natalie Weaver ....................2 make the trip, and the cost for trans- ivictheatre.com, or 785-357-5213. Starring portation, housing and meals comes The registration form for AKT Preserving the Enchanted Years of the Stage.......................................3 to $1,600 per person. Students and March Theatre Madness is online their families are doing what they at topekacivictheatre.com/promo/ Notes can to cover the expenses, but the marchmadness.php. The registra- Carol Ries Retiring ...................................4 group also is seeking financial assis- tion deadline is Friday, March 5. Stand-Ins tance. For more information on the Auditions.............................................. 16 Calendar ................................................8 Wind Ensemble performance at Inge House Residents Named Film Clips.............................................. 16 Carnegie Hall, including ticket infor- The Inge Center welcomes Spring Performances ..........................................6 Showbiz .................................................1 mation for the performance, contact 2010 Inge House Playwrights-in- Lubaroff at [email protected] or Residence David Rush and Chisa Cast of Characters Scott Bowling ........................... Webmaster 660-543-4680. Hutchinson, who will draw inspira- Richard Buswell ................ Managing Editor tion for new scripts by living in the Bryan Colley ................... Graphic Designer Angie Fiedler Sutton ...........Associate Editor March Theatre Madness William Inge Historic Family Home Anna Jennings ......................Special Events The Association of Kansas Theatre in Independence. During their two- Tricia Kyler Bowling.............. Subscriber Rep (AKT) invites you to attend their month residency, the writers enjoy Letters to the Editor ....... [email protected] annual gathering, March Theatre time to write and will receive a devel- Madness at the Topeka Civic The- opmental reading of one of their atre & Academy, 3028 SW 8 Avenue works, with the aid of numerous on Saturday, March 20 from 8 am guest artists. They will also instruct to 8 pm. The day will include work- for the Inge Center's Professional shops, networking and idea sharing, Playwriting Certificate program an afternoon of 10 minute theatre at Independence Community Col- pieces and volunteer hosted dinner. lege. The Inge Center is best known The morning will include two work- for its annual William Inge Theatre shops of your choice in the areas Festival. The 29th festival takes place of acting, dance, improv comedy, April 21-24 and honors Paula Vogel. or music theatre. The afternoon of For more information on Inge Center 10 Minute Theatre Madness will activities, visit www.ingecenter.org include 10 minute plays, directing or call (620) 332-5492 or (800) 842- KCVol. 12 • No.STAGE 5 • Issue 127 • March 2010 scenes or staged readings from a 6063 ext. 5835. [email protected] • 816-361-2325 script. Entries are not required to PO Box 410492 • Kansas City, Missouri 64141-0492 April Submission Deadline: March 10 have a theatre organization sponsor- MAC promotes Michael Donovan www.kcstage.com ing their group, but all performers The Missouri Arts Council (MAC) © Copyright 2010 by KC Stage. All material contained in this pub- lication is the property of or licensed for use by KC Stage. Any use, must be registered for the March has selected Michael Donovan to be duplication, or reproduction of any or all content of this publication is prohibited except with the express written permission of KC Stage or Theatre Madness conference. Reg- Continued on page 4 the original copyright holders. Printing by First Choice. R www.kcstage.com MARCH 2010 1 Spotlight on Natalie Weaver by Anna Jennings Natalie Weaver is an Equity actor, with a music theater of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play where she played degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Lana Sherwood. Later this season (March 12-April 25), a “very long name for a very tiny school” as she says. you can see her in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change Since getting her degree in 2003 she has worked on the again on the AHT stage. “I am Woman 2, which is the education side of theater, as well as serving as the edu- lower voice, and it’s hilarious! It starts with a single 30- cational director for the Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival something and the first song is ‘Single Men Drought.’ for several years, as well as directing their children’s Immediately, you know where we’re headed, ‘I can’t theater. “This past summer I had 80 kids, ages 5-13, put believe I’m on this date right now with the man who on a full production of Beauty and the Beast. It was not won’t shut up!’ It starts with 4 single people in the show an easy task, but it was very enjoyable.” and one of the couples ends up getting married, then Before moving to Kansas City in August, Weaver there are kids, and by the end it’s this little old couple. lived in New York where she did some Off-Broadway, You see the progression of relationships and how good workshops, and was in and out of the studio record- or horrible they can be. I’m really excited about it.” ing for composers, new musicals, and herself. She was Besides the theaters, Weaver is an avid fan of both also in Texas where she worked as a resident actor the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Nelson- and taught an Intro to Musical Theater Class. “I enjoy Atkins Museum. “The pride that this community takes doing both, but I’m delighted I’ve stayed so busy as in their arts is quite incredible. The Kemper Museum’s an actor. I became an actor because I wanted to be an my favorite to go to on a Sunday morning for brunch educator. I refuse to be a teacher who’s never done it. before a matinee. It’s such a small museum; you can I won’t teach strictly textbook material, I want to talk have brunch and see everything in an hour. They cur- to them about the experiences and what it’s like to be rently have an instillation of Dale Chihuly, who is my an actor.” Weaver is planning on teaching a couple favorite artist.” of theater camps for Blue Valley Rec this summer, but When asked about favorite roles, Weaver admits, “I in her off time, she enjoys playing Scrabble with her don’t really know why, I’m constantly cast as the bitch, boyfriend. the slut, or the slutty bitch. I’ve always wanted to play Weaver never intended to be an actor and didn’t Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but I’m tall, and no one start acting until she was a junior in college. “I was a would ever consider me because they always want these music major and I was dead-set that I was going to go little 5’4” princesses.” Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival’s into music. I was going to sing and be a music educa- artistic director told Weaver that they were consider- tor. My daddy’s a band director and I thought that I ing doing Beauty and the Beast. Weaver replied, “Great! would do something in his field. My sophomore year I want to play Belle.” When told she was awfully tall, of college some of the music students were pulled to Weaver quipped, “So you’ll hire a Beast who’s taller.” do a theater production of Grease in my little junior And they did! “I finally got to play the sweet princess. college. I caught the bug, and my junior year I flipped That was wonderful. I loved it because it was so different universities and went to Southeastern Oklahoma State than when I’m usually cast. I love the roles that I play, University, became a music theater major and never I love that I’m a character actor. I love that I get to be looked back.” Now she’s part of the Blue Star Awards sassy and spunky onstage, but it’s nice to be looked at here in Kansas City. “I go to these high school produc- for something different.” tions and think ‘I never did anything like this in high Now that she’s crossed Belle off her list of dream school.’ It wasn’t until college that I said ‘Oh, what’s rolls, her next target is, “Sally Bowles in Cabaret. I haven’t that? What are they doing? I want to do it!’ And that’s done it yet and the clock’s ticking. I like the vulnerability how it evolved.” with strength that she has. She’s this complex character She came to Kansas City with the attitude, “Ok, KC, that possesses so many emotions, soft but hard, jaded let’s go. I’m ready to work!” Her first gig in Kansas City yet incredibly vulnerable. I think that would be a chal- was in American Heartland Theater’s (AHT) production Continued on page 15 2 KCSTAGE “There is nothing duller on the screen than being accurate but not dramatic.” ~ Darryl F. Zanuck www.kcstage.com MARCH 2010 3 Preserving the Enchanted Years of the Stage by Christina Andrade The Grand Opera House in Kansas City, Missouri, UMRB escaped demolition in 1926, but faced the dilemma again in 2007.