Archival

The American public is way more familiar with Tom Stoppard than it knows. OK, so if you walked down the street raving about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, you’d probably get more confused looks and gesundheits than appreciative nods, but if you did the same thing with Shakespeare in Love or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the latter of which Stoppard reportedly worked on uncredited), you’d be pulled into conversation after conversation about how gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow was or how Indiana was, in fact, the dog’s name. UMKC surely had all of this in mind when deciding to offer Stoppard’s Arcadia — a time-shifting play that explores concepts of math and science, order and chaos, and (of course) love and lust — as the second of its five graduate productions for the 2009-10 season. The play runs from through November 8 at UMKC’s Helen F. Spencer Theatre (4949 Cherry, 816-235-6222). Tickets cost $15 for adults.

Fri., Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m.; Tue., Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 8, 8 p.m., 2009