Today we reluctantly left our beautiful digs at the Eagle Ridge RV Park and bid farewell to our new friend Shelby. We got on the road to Kansas City to meet with Jeff Church, Artistic director of the Coterie Theatre. The Coterie has been recognized as "one of the five best theatres for young audiences in the U.S." by Time magazine. What we experienced was unlike anything we’ve seen before.
The Coterie is housed by Hallmark's Crown Center, a mall that has found a way to thrive as other malls in the area struggle because of it’s huge commitment to the arts. The center has 3 theatres: the Coterie, the American Heartland Theatre, which produces more mainstream entertainment, and the Off Center Theatre which is an edgier space to draw a crowd of twenty-somethings. It also has a movie theatre, restaurants, shops, and is attached to multiple hotels. It has become the main attraction in town, and seems to be the only mall of its kind in existence. Hallmark allows the Coterie to operate rent-free and without any overhead, and they are very hands-off when it comes to the work that is produced, which is a good thing! The center is a great example of a grouping of for-profit entities that feed the non-profits, a model that has been touched upon during many of our discussions.
After seeing the Coterie’s delightful production of Frindle, we had a great meeting with Jeff Church who shared with us his work at the Coterie as well as his playwright background and service with the NEA. We gained a lot of insight into how the NEA operates and how to go about applying for grants. We also learned about the operation of boards and the importance of specifying the roles of individual board members. Jeff also stressed the importance of having board retreats to keep up morale and keep everyone on the same page.
As if our meeting wasn’t wonderful enough as is, Jeff made a call to Kansas City Rep to get us comped on some standby tickets for the world-premiere production of Venice. We parted ways after a photo shoot on the top floor of the Westin Hotel where we got a superb view of the city. Many thanks to Jeff for the warm hospitality and for sharing your knowledge with us! Keep up the exceptional work!
Back at the RV park, we had a noisy dinner (the park is next to the World of Fun Amusement Park, which emits incessant screams from winding rollercoasters). We then drove downtown to catch the preview of Venice.
Created by Matt Sax and artistic director, Eric Rosen, Venice is an operatic story of war, love, treachery and the quest for peace. The musical was developed at KCREP over a two year span, and boasts an original score of hip hop music, R & B, art song and opera. It is definitely unlike any other musical theatre piece out there and is a co-production with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles so if you get a chance to see it, check it out! Tomorrow we have a meeting with the managing director of KCREP and then it's on to Manhattan, Kansas!
Jeff, thanks for an amazing conversation and here is the best blog photo ever! :)
You saw Venice! My pal Josh Horvath designed sound for that. Awesome.
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