KC Rep Launches Our Town Heroes to Celebrate 50th Anniversary

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Executive Director Angela Gieras today announced the launch of the Our Town Heroes campaign in honor of the KC Rep's 50th Anniversary to identify and celebrate local heroes from the community. Our Town heroes can be from the greater Kansas City metropolitan area whose actions impact, inspire and influence our community. Nominations can be submitted online here and winners will be announced throughout the 2014-2015 season opening production, Our Town, running September 5 through the 28th. The deadline for submission is August 15, 2014.

"Our 50th anniversary has only been possible because of the dedication and commitment of countless 'heroes' from our community," said Gieras. "We wanted to find a way to highlight and thank so many Kansas Citians who make this community so great. What better way to honor the heroes in our town than with the season opening production of Our Town?"

Our Town Heroes will receive two tickets to an Our Town performance in the VIP Our Town Heroes seats, a special pre-show announcement and photograph on-stage, free concessions at the show, 50th Anniversary lapel pin and other benefits. The Kansas City Star and KSHB- TV 41 are proud media partners. KC Live Host Joel Nichols will be joining the selection committee as well.

The 2014-15 season of Kansas City Repertory Theatre opens September 5th with one of the greatest American plays ever written, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, the three-time Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and novelist and directed by David Cromer, MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant recipient and director of KC Rep's 2009 production of The Glass Menagerie which received national and local critical acclaim. This enduring American story Our Town examines the everyday lives of an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century. Cromer's 2009 Off-Broadway revival of Our Town ran for more than 600 performances, making it the longest-running production of the play in its history. You'll never see a better Our Town, or anything else. In his glowing review of KC Rep's production of The Glass Menagerie, The Wall Street Journal's theatre critic Terry Teachout wrote: "Mr. Cromer has the uncanny ability to take a too-familiar script and make it seem entirely new ... Such is the essence of re-creative genius." A co-production with UMKC Theatre, Our Town runs September 5 through 28th at Spencer Theatre in the James C. Olson performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus.