Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theater Picks in Kansas City

With the summer months, just ahead most of the professional theater companies in Kansas City will be closing down their 2013-2014 season. Through the summer, local community theaters will be staging productions, but there is still time to see the end of this year's season.

Egads! Theatre Company, located at the Off Center Theatre, will be producing Lysistrata Jones from June 13 to July 13. Based on the classic Greek Comedy Aristophanes it is directed by Artistic Director Steven Eubank. Lysistrata Jones convinces her cheerleading squad to refuse sexual favors until the Athens University Spartan's Basketball team wins a game! For tickets call 816-545-6000 or go to the Egads! Theatre Company website.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, produced by the Unicorn Theatre, runs June 4 to June 29 at the Kansas City based theater. The show provides a look at racial stereotypes of the movie industry in 1930's Hollywood. This comedy looks at the life of Vera Stark, played by Dianne Yvette, an African-American maid and actor want-to-be who is cast in the same movie as her white boss, played by Katie Karel. For tickets call 816-531-7529 extension ten or go to the Unicorn Theatre website.

For three nights in June Kansas City audiences will be entertained by the Heartland Men's Chorus summer show, Vegas Baby. The lavish spectacle features a glitzy glamorous trip down the Vegas strip. The chorus are joined by the aerial acrobatics of Quixotic, Martin Preston in the role of Liberace, and the magic of David Sandy. The show runs June 13 through June 15 at the Folly Theatre in Kansas City. For tickets call 816-931-3338 or go to the Heartland Men's Chorus website.

The Coterie Theatre in Crown Center features a world premiere young audience's version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang directed by Jeff Church. This musical includes songs, "Truly Scrumptious," "Toot Sweets," Hushabye Mountain," and the Oscar-nominated title song, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." The production is an out-of-this-world trip in a flying car that sails the seas. The show opens on June 17 and closes on August 3. For tickets call 816-474-6552 or go to the Coterie Theatre website.

The King and I by Rodgers and Hammerstein comes to the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre in June. Based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon the musical is about a British schoolteacher hired to care for the King of Siam's children. The production features Mykel Hill and Karen Paisley. The show runs from June 5 to June 22 at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre in Kansas City. For tickets call 816-569-3226 or go online to the Met website.

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