Spinning Tree Theatre Company announces 2023-2024 season
Caleb Mitchell in RIDE THE CYCLONE // photo by Nicole McCroskey
Spinning Tree Theatre, which provides opportunities for youth with and without disabilities to participate in theatre professionally, has announced its 2023-2024 season. The lineup consists of a world premiere commission and a localized production of a Broadway musical.
All performances will take place at Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center, and season tickets can be purchased here.
The lineup for this year includes:
RIDE THE CYCLONE
Music, Lyrics & Book by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell
November 3 – 12, 2023
Kansas City return engagement!
Directed by Michael Grayman-Parkhurst | Music Direction by Ashley Jones Rivers
Spinning Tree presents a return engagement of the hit Off-Broadway musical. In this dark comedy, the Saint Cassian High School Chamber Choir boards the Cyclone roller coaster, dying minutes later when the front axle breaks, sending them to their tragic demise. When they awake in a strange purgatory, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell the story of a life interrupted with the promise of a prize like no other—a chance for one of them to return to life.
Aubrey May in RIDE THE CYCLONE // photo by Nicole McCroskey
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS LIVE!
By Emma Andrews, Alexandria Radford, and Billie Valdivia
February 9 – 11, 2024
3 world-premiere short plays written by Kansas City teens!
Playwright mentors: Sarah Aptilon, Vicki Vodrey, and Victor Wishna
Spinning Tree’s three artists from the August in-studio Young Playwrights Lab—Emma Andrews,
Alexandria Radford, and Billie Valdivia, return to see their original theatrical works get the full
production treatment. Professional direction and design – and playwright mentors Sarah Aptilon, Vicki Vodrey, and Victor Wishna – bring these authentic works-in-progress center stage. Get a glimpse of the future of playwriting by attending this evening of diverse, meaningful, and often funny short plays by the next generation of American playwrights.
“It’s a rare and special opportunity for young artists to get to work in a professional setting where the only focus is creating something – to have the chance to feel what that feels like.”n (2023 Playwright mentor Victor Wishna)
RUBIK
By Vanessa Severo
April 26 – May 5, 2024
World premiere play commissioned by Spinning Tree Theatre
Directed by Rusty Sneary
Spinning Tree has commissioned a new play by Vanessa Severo, the brilliant artist whose “Frida…A Self Portrait” is stunning theatregoers across the country. Rusty Sneary (The Living Room Theatre) directs this touching, funny, and completely original play about and starring teens on the autism spectrum. RUBIK is a collaboration with Camp Encourage, a Kansas City nonprofit providing meaningful experiences through camp for autistic youth.
WORKING
Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz adapted Studs Terkel’s book, with additional
contributions by Gordon Greenberg. Songs by Susan Birkenhead, Craig Carnelia, Micki
Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor.
June 21 – 23, 2024
Premiere of Kansas City localized production
Spinning Tree received a special license from Music Theatre International to produce a unique Kansas City localized production of the musical based on Studs Terkel’s book about American workers. Kansas City metro area workers are being interviewed; their stories will be featured in their own words.
