Premiere Date And Programming Announced For Kansas City Actors Radio Theatre

The core artistic company of Kansas City Actors Theatre has announced that Friday, September 25th at 12 pm (CT) as the premiere of their weekly radio theatre series, Kansas City Actors Radio Theatre, presented in partnership with radio station 90.1FM KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio.

This new venture in weekly audio programming will include "Kansas City: 1924," 10-part original historical drama written by local playwright, actor, and director Forrest Attaway, alongside classic radio plays including Agatha Christie's "The Case of the Careless Victim," "A Murderous Revision" from the "Suspense" series, and episodes of the comedy The Bickersons, by Philip Rapp.

The premiere episode on September 25th will be hosted by John Rensenhouse, Walter Coppage, and Cinnamon Schultz. The episode will be a preview of the series to come, including preview excerpts of future episodes, interviews with "Kansas City: 1924" playwright Forrest Attaway; and experienced stage, film, and radio actor Victor Raider-Wexler; and more.

"My intention in approaching this story is to bring to light the unique endeavors of Kansas City in the throes of prohibition," said Attaway, who is in the process of completing the scripts for Kansas City: 1924. "I want to encompass not only the political strife but also the day-in and day-out of a relatively young metropolitan area struggling with its own identity. Race, religion, social economics as well as corruption all played a vital role in the foundation of Kansas City. It's an exciting period, with Prohibition, politics, prostitution, baseball, the Mafia, cowboys, the police and all of their intertwined relationships, and although this is historical fiction, it's my hope that the historical elements ring true."

Each weekly episode of Kansas City Actors Radio Theatre will premiere on 90.1FM KKFI (also streamed online at KKFI.org/listen) on Fridays at 12 pm (CT), and will then be hosted on the "Kansas City: Actors, Theatre" podcast at anchor.fm/kcactorstheatre and most major podcast platforms. Future episodes of Kansas City Actors Radio Theatre will feature a range of top local theatre artists, including KCAT core artistic company members Hillary Clemens, Walter Coppage, Nedra Dixon, Brian Paulette, Shawna Peña-Downing, Victor Raider-Wexler, John Rensenhouse, Jan Rogge, Cinnamon Schultz, and Matt Schwader.

Kansas City Actors Theatre is grateful to its individual donors and the season sponsors whose support is assisting with this pivot to socially-distanced, safe theatre for this current season. Among those sponsors are American Theatre Wing, the Breidenthal-Snyder Foundation, the Sanford L. and Barbara L. Cohn Foundation, the Ellis Foundation, the Miller-Nichols Foundation, the Griswold Foundation, Missouri Arts Council, the Richard Stern Foundation, the Schubert Foundation, and Theater League.

For media contacts, interview requests, and general questions, contact Matt Sameck, Director of Marketing and Development at matt@kcactors.org or at (816) 361-5228.