The Barn Players Plan Move to Downtown Kansas City in 2018

The Barn Players have announced the finalization of their plans to become a flagship tenant at the Arts Asylum.

This will involve moving from their Mission, KS location to downtown Kansas City, MO in January, 2018. The Barn Players new address at the Arts Asylum will be: 1000 East 9th Street, Kansas City, MO 64106. This move will give their audiences easy highway access and puts the organization in a better position to service the entire metropolitan area.

Potential future redevelopment of their current location necessitated the move and some creative foresight was needed to look beyond the state line for potential locations.

"Thanks to the generosity of the Main Street Credit Union we've enjoyed a tremendous 14-year run in Mission, KS," says Vida Bikales, the Barn Players Board of Directors President. "We will still have a significant presence in Johnson County, KS with our youth programs. Barn Jr. will continue to rehearse at St. Pius in Mission and will perform at the Bishop Miege High School North Campus (aka Horizon Academy) in Roeland Park, KS. The Barn Kids program will be condensed to one three-week summer session and will be housed in the larger and newly renovated Bishop Miege theater on their main campus. The Barn's 2018 Main Stage season will now be in a Kansas City neighborhood which has become a premiere destination for both visual and performing arts."

Of their new partnership Korey Childs, chief operations officer of the Arts Asylum says, "We are excited to welcome The Barn Players to the downtown Kansas City core as a flagship partner. We are committed to providing safe spaces for Kansas City artists to create and we believe the addition of The Barn Players and their patrons will continue to elevate the thriving downtown Kansas City art scene."

What will you be able to enjoy at the Barn's new locations starting next year? The Barn Players Artistic Director Eric Magnus says, "In choosing our 2018 season, we wanted to continue to bring to the stage that great mix of shows that The Barn is known for, while embracing the exciting challenge of our new venue. We are featuring two Kansas City musical premieres: "The Bridges of Madison County" and "Rock of Ages", plus a Barn favorite from our past "Urinetown", a timeless Tony Award-winning musical "Chicago" and a ground-breaking play that hasn't been staged in Kansas City in over 25 years, "Torch Song Trilogy." We also have to offer the Barn Jr. production of "Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and the Barn Kids will take on "Seussical, Kids" next summer. Those 2-shows are being staged on the Bishop Miege campuses. We close our 2018 season with the 11th Annual "Six by Ten Minute Play Festival." As you can see, we are going to be keeping busy."

Vida Bikales concludes, "We are thrilled to be moving to a location where we will surrounded by other theater companies, visual artists, musicians and students involved in the arts. This collaboration in a newly renovated theater, will bring a new energy and more creative opportunities to The Barn Players."

Photo courtesy The Arts Asylum