Unicorn Theatre Announces the 37th Season of BOLDNEWPLAYS, Opens 9/18

Unicorn Theatre, under the artistic leadership of Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin, announces the 37th season of bold new plays. The new season will open September 18, 2010 and include six regular season shows and one exciting season extra. Subscriptions for the new season go on sale May 3, 2010. In addition to a full line up of new productions to Kansas City, the Unicorn will also continue the In-Progress New Play Reading Series which brings six scripts in development to be read that are being considered for production in upcoming seasons. Also announced, the Unicorn's annual fall gala will take place October 3, 2010. More details on the season and the gala to follow this summer.

[title of show]
Book by Hunter Bell
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Bowen
Directed by Missy Koonce, Musical Direction by Anthony T. Edwards

September 18-October 10, 2010
Previews September 15, 16 & 17
On The Mainstage

Imagine two hyper-talented young songwriters in New York trying to write a new musical about two hyper-talented young songwriters in New York trying to write a new musical. That's [title of show], the deliciously smart and tuneful musical that wowed Broadway audiences and critics last fall. It's a dizzy, unpredictable, and uproarious tongue-in-cheek musical about show business and making one's dreams come true. Follow Jeff, Hunter, Heidi and Susan as they negotiate a musical theatre obstacle course of finding backers, casting singers and making it to Broadway. Fresh, funny and playful, [title of show] is a Cinderella tale set to music about the journey from the unemployment line to the Great White Way.

THE SEAFARER
By Conor McPherson
Co-Produced by Unicorn Theatre and Kansas City Actors Theatre
Directed by Mark Robbins

October 23-November 7, 2010
Previews Oct 20, 21 & 22
On The Jerome Stage

The Seafarer is a chilling new play about the sea, Ireland, and the power of myth. It's Christmas Eve, and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after his irascible, aging brother who's recently gone blind. Old drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky are holed up at the house too, hoping to play some cards. But with the arrival of a stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised even higher. Sharky may be playing for his very soul.

DISTRACTED
By Lisa Loomer
Co-Produced with UMKC Theatre
Directed by Cynthia Levin

November 27-December 12, 2010
Previews November 23, 24 & 26
On The Mainstage

Are we so tuned in to our info-rich, 24-7 world that we've tuned out the things that really matter? Jesse is eight and easily distracted, but so are his mother, father, neighbors and even the doctors. When Jesse is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, the question becomes what to do about it? Is it caused by over stimulation, bad parenting, too many chemicals in the food, or is he just a kid in an ADD world? In their fractured, fast paced, overly wired lives the consequence is almost inevitable. Distracted is a fast-paced and comic look at parenting in the age of the Internet and Ritalin.

IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Sidonie Garrett

January 29-February 13, 2011
Previews January 26, 27 & 28
On The Mainstage

Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat 'hysterical' women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household. In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating "hysteria" in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor's laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter-and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new "hysterical" patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor's home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.

TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR...
By Seth Rozin
Directed by Cynthia Levin

March 5-20, 2011
Previews March 2, 3 & 4
On The Jerome Stage

Wonderfully funny and amazingly poignant. In a dilapidated old synagogue in Kabul during the final days of the Taliban regime, the one thing that binds Ishaq and Zeblyan together - they hate each other's guts. Ishaq and Zeblyan are the last two surviving Jews in all of Afghanistan. Inspired by a true story, they are, in fact a real life middle-eastern odd couple. Could it be that the salvation of Afghanistan's Jewish community is left in the hands of these two mushuganas? This play was read in our In-Progress New Play Reading Series.

RUINED
By Lynn Nottage
Co-Produced with UMKC Theatre
Directed by Ricardo Khan

April 16-May 1, 2011
Previews April 13, 14 & 15
On The Mainstage

Entertainment and escape await guests at Mama Nadi's rain forest bar and brothel in civil-war-torn Congo. But is she protecting or profiting from the women she shelters, and how far will she go to survive? Inspired by interviews she conducted in Africa with Congo refugees, Nottage has crafted an engrossing and uncommonly human story with humor and song served alongside its postcolonial and feminist politics. Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

PLUS A Season Extra
A VERY Joan Crawford CHRISTMAS
Written by Jeff Church and Ron MeGee
Directed by Jeff Church
Starring Ron MeGee

December 11-26, 2010
Previews December 8, 9 & 10
On The Jerome Stage

Imagine a setting where you can settle in with Joan Crawford, along with her loyal housekeeper, Mamacita, and several Hollywood friends and enemies. Give Joan the respect she's entitled to! Pepsi and vodka: you'll learn to love it. Be sure to visit the craft room to decorate a wire hanger for the tree, and enter the contest. But clean up that mess! Created by Jeff Church and Ron MeGee especially for Unicorn Theatre.

About Unicorn Theatre
Founded in 1974, Unicorn Theatre exists to enhance the cultural life of Kansas City by producing professional contemporary, thought-provoking theater, which inspires emotional response and stimulates discussion. Unicorn Theatre is under the artistic and executive leadership of Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin, who joined the company in 1980. From a newly expanded home in the Midtown neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, the Unicorn houses two stages--The Mainstage and The Jerome Stage (added 2007). A fully professional not-for-profit theatre, the theatre operates under agreement with Actor's Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The Unicorn is a founding member of the National New Play Network, an alliance of not-for-profit professional theatres that champions the development, production and continued life of new plays for the American theatre; and is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., the national service organization for the not-for-profit professional theatre. Financial assistance for this theatre has been provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; corporate and foundation gifts; and the generous individuals throughout the community we serve.

About Kansas City Actors Theatre
Founded in 2004, KCAT operates under a paradigm radically different from other theatres in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area, having been founded and led by practicing theatre artists striving to perform plays in the classic "rotating repertory" format. KCAT's vital core company of artists--actors, stage managers, directors & designers from the greater Kansas City community, focus on the craft of the actor and the talents of the playwright; implementing exciting lighting, music and sound, and eschewing expensive, elaborate scenery and costumes. The Actors Theatre performs in locations throughout the city, whether in found spaces such as the recent production of David Mamet's Boston Marriage at The Webster House, or at its "unofficial home" on Union Station's H&R Block City Stage, or in collaboration with friends on the Unicorn Theatre's Jerome Stage.

About UMKC Theatre
UMKC Theatre has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top graduate theatre training programs in the country. The program trains a select group of highly talented actors, designers, stage managers and dramaturgs for careers in the performing arts. Graduates from the UMKC program are invited to the most prestigious New York competitions and auditions to exhibit their work and secure positions with national and international performing companies. The program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) and is a member of the University/Resident Theatre Association (U/RTA). Faculty and alumni of UMKC Theatre have founded the following theatres in Kansas City: New Theatre Restaurant, Coterie Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre KC, Gorilla Theatre, Martin City Melodrama, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and the wonderful Unicorn Theatre.