KC Rep to Stage World Premiere of STICKY TRAPS, 4/24-5/24

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 50th anniversary season with Sticky Traps, a powerful new play by KC Rep's Playwright in Residence, Nathan Louis Jackson, Directed by Resident Director, Kyle Hatley. Sticky Traps focuses on a small town not far from Kansas City, where a mother protects her gay son's honor when his funeral is protested by a local church. Her actions have unintended consequences that will test her whole family - and the power of their love -- in the face of hate. The production begins Friday, April 24th and runs through Sunday, May 24th at Copaken Stage in downtown Kansas City.

This is Jackson's first world premiere as KC Rep's Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence. His previous plays at KC Rep include the critically acclaimed When I Come to Die and Broke-ology, both directed by Hatley. Jackson has been hailed by American Theatre magazine as "one of the important new voices of American theatre." US Bank is the exclusive Production Sponsor.

The ensemble cast, drawn from across the country, includes: Joshua Boone, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Mark Robbins and Blair Sams.

Performances begin Friday, April 24 and run through Sunday, May 24 at the Copaken Stage, downtown Kansas City. Press night is scheduled for Opening Night Friday, May 1. High res rehearsal photos can be found here .Appropriate for ages 13 +.

Kyle Hatley (Director) KC Rep directing credits: When I Come to Die, Carousel, Little Shop of Horrors, Broke-ology, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Borderland, A Christmas Carol (2010-2013). Also at KC Rep, Mr. Hatley was the Associate Director on August: Osage County (Eric Rosen, Director). KC Rep acting credits: An Iliad (The Poet); The Foreigner (Ellard Simms); Death of a Salesman (Happy); The Whipping Man (Caleb); The Glass Menagerie (The Gentleman Caller). Local acting: Hurlyburly (The Living Room); Jerry Genochio's Tack Driver (Kansas City Fringe Festival). Local writing & directing: Master of the Universe and The Death of Cupid (The Living Room); Head and Watering the Grave (Kansas City Fringe Festival). Local directing: Carousel and Titus Andronicus (The Living Room); The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Kansas City Actors Theatre at The Living Room); Ben Franklin's Apprentice and the world premiere of Red Badge Variations (Coterie Theatre); Hamlet (Two Third's Theatre); The Darwin Project (Friends of Chamber Music at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center). Chicago Acting Credits: Danny Casolaro Died For You (TimeLine Theatre Company) and Take Me Out (About Face Theatre/Steppenwolf Theatre). Film & TV: "Chicago Fire," "Prison Break," and "As the World Turns." Kyle is a 2011 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Artist Fellow and the Resident Director of KC Rep, where he was Associate Artistic Director from 2008 to 2014. He is a proud board member of The Living Room Theatre and a Rhodes College graduate.

Nathan Louis Jackson (Playwright) KC Rep: Broke-ology, When I Come to Die. Regional: Broke-ology (Williamstown Theatre Festival); When I Come to Die (Lincoln Center); The Mancerhios, and The Last Black Play. Television: Southland (NBC); Lights Out (FX); and Shameless (Showtime); currently writes on Resurrection (ABC). Awards: Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award (twice), the Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award, and the Kennedy Center's Gold Medallion. Commissions: Lincoln Center, The Roundabout Theater Company, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Education: BS, Kansas State University. At K-State, Jackson was actively involved with the Ebony Theatre (as a director and as president) and participated in The Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive. Mr. Jackson did graduate work at The Juilliard School, and he is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at the KC Repertory Theatre .

Joshua Boone (Montrell) Joshua Boone (Maxwell) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: Holler if Ya Hear Me. New York: Felony Friday (NY Fringe, Players Theater); Central Avenue Breakdown (New York Musical Theatre Festival/ Daegu International Musical Festival). Regional: Brownsville Song (b-side for Tray) (Humana Festival/Actors Theatre of Louisville); Choir Boy (Alliance Theatre); In the Heights (Pioneer Theatre Company); Cutman: A Boxing Musical (Goodspeed Musicals). Film/TV: Fan Girl, "Law and Order: SVU". Education: BFA in Theatre Performance, Virginia Commonwealth University. AEA Member.

Dawn-Lyn Gardner (Charlotte) KC Rep: debut. New York: The Skin of Our Teeth (Chautauqua Theater Company); The School of Night and The Seagull (Juilliard). Ugly (NY International Fringe Festival). Regional: A Fable (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Cymbeline, Ruined, and The Merchant of Venice (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Center LA, Chautauqua Theater Company); Much Ado About Nothing (Kirk Douglas Theater); A Naked Girl On The Appian Way (World Premiere) and Imagine (South Coast Repertory); Farewell Miss Cotton (World Premiere, Black Dahlia Theater); Fairy Tale and In Darkness (Guthrie Experience); 2009 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. TV/Film: "Castle," "Heroes," "Crossing Jordan," "Cane," "Summerland," "Bones," "Art School Confidential," "ER," among others. Training: The Juilliard School. AEA Member. www.dawnlyengardner.com

Mark Robbins (Rev. Pratt) KC Rep: Angels in America (Parts I and II); Death of a Salesman, The Mystery of Irma Vep, A Christmas Car­ol (22 seasons); Circle Mirror Transformation, Bus Stop, A Flea in Her Ear, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure (title role); The Voysey Inheritance, Man and Superman, Liliom, The Front Page, Guys and Dolls, Saint Joan, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright, The Winter's Tale, Major Barbara, The Sea Gull, Inherit the Wind, Oedi­pus the King, The Deputy, Romeo and Juliet, Nicholas Nickleby. Local acting: Hamlet (Hamlet's Ghost, the Gravedigger, and the Player King for Kansas City Actors Theatre); title role in Titus Andronicus (The Living Room); The Sound of Music, Run for Your Wife (New Theatre); Camilo in A Winter's Tale, title roles in Macbeth and Richard III, Prospe­ro in The Tempest (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Time Stands Still, Next Fall, Closer, Speed-the-Plow, The Goat (Unicorn Theatre); American Heartland Theatre; The Coterie. Local directing credits: Water by the Spoonful (Unicorn Theatre); As You Like It (Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); Next of Kin, Orson's Shadow, Topdog/Un­derdog, Fully Committed, Lobby Hero, Bee- Luther Hatchee (Unicorn Theatre). Found­ing member of Kansas City Actors Theatre: directed Hamlet, Picnic, The Mousetrap, The Real Inspector Hound, God of Carnage (Unicorn coproduction); Translations, Private Lives, Fifth of July, Absurd Person Singular, The Seafarer. Performed in The Pinter Proj­ect, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Dinner with Friends, True West. Education: BA, Webster College Conservatory; MFA, Wayne State University. AEA Member.

Blair Sams (Linda) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: The Dinner Party (Music Box Theatre). Off-Broadway: Bill W and Dr. Bob (Soho Rep). New York: Leap (Abingdon Theatre); The Sleeper Awakens (HB Studios Beach Plays); The House of Seven (HERE); Demetrius Gant (Arclight Theatre). Regional: In the Book of (Alabama Shakespeare); Crimes of the Heart, The Last Night of Ballyhoo (South Coast Repertory); Mezzulah 1946, Hanging Fire, The Gulf of Westchester (Florida Stage); A Christmas Story (Maltz Jupiter Theatre); Baby With the Bathwater (Triad Stage); Blithe Spirit (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Noises Off (Papermill Playhouse); The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Intiman Playhouse); The Steward of Christendom (Huntington Playhouse); Candida, The Adventures of Amy Bock (Yale Repertory Theatre); Alice in Bed (American Repertory Theatre). Television: "Boardwalk Empire" (recurring), "The Following," "The Americans"; and "The Guardian," "Ed," "Law and Order SVU" and "Deadline" (Co-Star). Education: BFA (Acting), University of Texas at Austin; American Repertory Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. AEA Member.

The design and production team includes Meghan Raham (Set Design), Jeffrey Cady (Lighting Design), Lauren Gaston (Costume Design), Christopher Kriz (Sound Design) and Mary Honour (Production Stage Manager).

Subscriptions and Tickets

Tickets are $20 to $64 and can be purchased through the KC Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or online at www.KCRep.org. For group ticket sales, please call 816-235-6122.