KC Rep Begins Performances of The Living Room's Re-Imagined CAROUSEL Tonight

Excitement is building for Kansas City Rep's presentation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, directed by Kyle Hatley, the theatre's associate artistic director. This is the musical theatre event that sparked delight in hearts of audience members and critics alike when it was first presented in 2011 by The Living Room (TLR), one of Kansas City's most imaginative small theatre companies. The Rep is now bringing TLR's beautifully re-envisioned Carouselto Spencer Theatre for a second production.

The Rep's well-known theatrical craftsmanship, under the creative guidance of Hatley and TLR artistic director Rusty Sneary, has transformed the 650-seat Spencer Theatre into an intimate, 400-seat theatre-in-the-round to tell the universal story of love, longing and sacrifice.

Eric Rosen, artistic director of the Rep, has described TLR as, "Young, scrap­py, fiercely determined, collabora­tive, and endlessly inventive. The Living Room is more than just a theatre - it is a collection of young artists whose sense of ensemble and commitment has formed a home for dozens of emerging and established KC theatre artists. Kyle and his collaborators found a way to make this show ache with meaning, emo­tion, and intense musical power, thanks to a theatrical vocabulary that took the story down to its most elemental roots."

Hatley is a busy actor, director, playwright and producer. At the Rep, he has directed The Borderland, Broke-ology, A Christmas Carol 2010-12, Circle Mirror Transformation and Little Shop of Horrors. Hatley also acted in the Rep's productions of The Whipping Man and The Glass Menagerie.

The cast of Carousel includes:

Molly Denninghoff (Julie Jordan) KC Rep: A Christmas Carol, Saved. Local: James and the Giant Peach, Seussical, Frindle (Coterie Theatre); Carousel, This Is How It Goes (The Living Room); The Marvelous Wonderettes (American Heartland Theatre); Gypsy (Musical Theatre Heritage); In Trousers, Eating Raoul (Egads Theatre Company); Regional: The Buddy Holly Story, The Unexpected Guest, Boeing Boeing, Camelot (Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre); Quilters (Avalon Theatre Company); Okoboji Summer Theatre. Upcoming: The Buddy Holly Story (The New Theatre). Education: BFA Theatre Arts, Stephens College.

Georgia Dubois (Enoch Snow's Daughter) KC Rep: A Christmas Carol. Local: Coterie Theatre, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, The Living Room. Georgia is in the 2014 class of Shawnee Mission East. She loves acting, running and apparel design.

Charles Fugate (Bascombe) KC Rep: Cabaret, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, A Christmas Carol. Local: Shipwrecked! (Spinning Tree Theatre); Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre); Next Fall (Unicorn), The Mousetrap, The Real Inspector Hound (Kansas City Actors Theatre); The Music Man, (Starlight Theatre); Our Town, Geppetto and Son, Frankenstein (Coterie Theatre); multiple performances at Quality Hill Playhouse, American Heartland, New Theatre. Regional: Quixote in Man of La Mancha, de Becque in South Pacific (Great Plains Theatre). Next: Hello Again (Spinning Tree Theatre).

Katie Gilchrist (Nettie) KC Rep: Pippin, Guys and Dolls. Local credits: Everyday Rapture, Hungry, Distracted, Rabbit Hole (Unicorn Theatre); Translations (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Tommy, Enchanted April, Hedda Gabler (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre); Talk Radio, Carousel, Betrayal, Bucket of Blood (The Living Room); The Scarlet Pimpernel (New Theatre); The Little Princess, 101 Dalmatians (Coterie Theatre). Education: MFA in Acting and Directing, UMKC. Upcoming: The Death of Cupid (The Living Room). www.kategilchrist.com

Liz Clark Golson (Carrie) KC Rep: debut. Local: The Marvelous Wonderettes (American Heartland Theatre); A Funny Thing...Forum, Pride and Prejudice (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre); The Music Man (Musical Theatre Heritage). Regional: Cabaret, Singin' in the Rain, HAIR, A Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd, Barefoot in the Park (Mount Washington VAlley Theatre Company); The Producers (Ivoryton Playhouse); Footloose (Jersey Shore Entertainment); Oklahoma! (Thomaston Opera House); Boeing Boeing (Seven Angels Theatre). Education: BFA, The Hartt School, University of Hartford.

Gary Neal Johnson (Dr. Seldon) KC Rep: 95 productions including Death of a Salesman (Willy Loman), A Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Scrooge), Cabaret (Herr Schultz), Little Shop of Horrors (Mushnik), August: Osage County (Charlie), The Drawer Boy (Morgan). Local: Real Inspector Hound (Moon), Mousetrap (Metcalf) - Kansas City Actors Theatre; King Lear (Lear), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon) - Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Regional Theatres: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre (Chicago), A.C.T. (San Francisco), The Shakespeare Company (Washington, D.C.).

Daria LeGrand (Louise) KC Rep: A Christmas Carol, To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout, co-production with Arizona Theatre Company), KC Rep Sings!. Local: Spring Awakening, world premieres of The Happy Elf, Geppetto and Son (Coterie Theatre); Titus Andronicus, Carousel (The Living Room). Regional: The Miracle Worker (Helen Keller, Denver Center Theatre Company). Awards: Denver Post Ovation Award (Best Younger Actor, The Miracle Worker). Daria is a senior at The Barstow School.

Natalie Liccardello (Mrs. Mullin) KC Rep: A Christmas Carol. Selected Local: Master Class (Spinning Tree); The Real Inspector Hound, The Mousetrap (Kansas City Actors Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (American Heartland); All My Sons, Awake and Sing!, A Light in the Piazza, A View from the Bridge (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre); Carousel (The Living Room); Head, The Death of Cupid, Watering the Grave (KC Fringe Festival); Fiddler on the Roof (New Theatre). Education: BFA, Stephens College; MA, UMKC (2014).

Matthew McAndrews (Enoch Snow) KC Rep: A Christmas Carol, understudy in Pippin, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret. Local: Zombie Prom (Egads Theatre); The Salvation of Iggy Scrooge (Unicorn Theatre); Carousel (The Living Room); Plaid Tidings (American Heartland Theatre); Oh, What A Lovely War (Kansas City Actors Theatre); The Magic of Christmas (Kansas City Music Hall). Regional: Forever Plaid (Okoboji Summer Theatre). Education: BFA Stephens College, BA in theatre, UMKC. www.GreenScenesKC.com

Sean Moise (Enoch Snow, Jr.) KC Rep: debut. Local: Bridge to Terabithia (Coterie Theatre); The Farnsworth Invention (UMKC Theatre). Sean is a sophomore at Park Hill High School. In addition to theatre, he enjoys playing tennis and basketball.

Rusty Sneary (Billy Bigelow) KC Rep: Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County, A Christmas Carol, Liliom. Additional Local work includes: Carousel, Love Song, This Is How It Goes, On an Average Day (The Living Room); Sci-Fi Triple Feature-Flowers for Algernon (Coterie Theatre); The Pillowman, Frozen, Take Me Out, The Exonerated, Omnium Gatherum, Distracted, Next Fall (Unicorn Theatre). Mr. Sneary is also co-founder and serves as Artistic Director of The Living Room. www.thelivingroomkc.com

Nick Uthoff (Jigger) KC Rep: Technician and Production Assistant; Acting: Little Shop of Horrors (Puppeteer), A Christmas Carol. Local: Carousel (The Living Room); Head, directed by Kyle Hatley (KC Fringe Festival). Mr. Uthoff has also worked as a technician for American Heartland Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Egads! Theatre Company, Fire Designs Scenic Arts, The Living Room, and the KC Fringe Festival. Education: Theatre Performance degree, Kansas State University.

Female Ensemble: Mosha Clyma, Andrea Fantauzzi, Jessica Franz, Hannah Freeman, Katie Hall, Megan Herrera, Sicily Mathenia, Emmie McCabe, Cori Moffett, Emma Taylor. Male Ensemble: Timothy D. Ahlenius, Ben Byard, Kyle, Dyck, Tyler Eisenreich, Bob Linebarger, Sean Moise, Dana Joel Nicholson, Zachary Parker, Bradley J. Thomas, Samn Wright. Children's Ensemble: CameRon Burns, Marek Burns, Andrew Stout, Margaret Veglahn. Muscians: Eryn M. Bates (Piano) and Sam Hogge (Guitar).

Creative Team: Eryn M. Bates (Music Director); Steven Eubank (Choreographer);Gary Mosby (Space Designer); William R. Shinoski (Space Designer); Megan Turek (Costume Design); Victor En Yu Tan (Lighting Design); Joseph Concha (Sound Design). Michelle Gutierrez (Production Stage Manager).

Carousel Conversation Series at Spencer Theatre:

Meet the Creative Team: March 13, following the 7 p.m. performance

Scholars' Forum: March 23, following the 2 p.m. performance

Actors' Forums: March 24, following the 2 p.m. performance

March 27 following the 7 p.m. performance

Post-show Conversation Series events are free to the public, but a ticket is required to attend the performance.

Carousel runs March 8-31, 2013 at Spencer Theatre located at 4949 Cherry Street in Kansas City, MO. For ticket and performance information, call the Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or visit www.KCRep.org. For group ticket sales, call 816-235-6122.

The Living Room is an ensemble-based company of artists located in a non-traditional theatre space at 1818 McGee in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City, MO. It was conceived in 2009 by Rusty Sneary who is artistic director and co-owner, and Shawnna Journagan.

Now in its 48^th season, Kansas City Repertory Theatre is its region's only member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and serves as the professional theatre in residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Lauded by The Wall Street Journal, TIME magazine, Variety and the Toronto Sun, the Rep produces mainstage plays and special events at Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus and Copaken Stage located in downtown Kansas City. Kansas City Rep employs more than 250 professional artists, technicians and administrators, and serves more than 100,000 patrons and 10,000 school children annually. Kansas City Repertory Theatre is led by Artistic Director Eric Rosen, and Producing Director Jerry Genochio.

Pictured: Rusty Sneary and Molly Denninghoff in The Living Room's 2011 Carousel.