First Look at "The 39 Steps"

Starring Emily Peterson, Jerry Jay Cranford, Doogin Brown and John Wilson
Rated PG

This is not your typical Hitchcock of Psycho or The Birds (although you may find homages to his classics), rather a zany ride of pure theatrics. Four versatile actors take on the classic spy-thriller by Alfred Hitchcock - The 39 Steps - the challenge: they need to bring 150 characters to life - with only the 4 of them and the props on hand.

3 men and 1 woman tell the entire story of The 39 Steps at a break-neck speed, with minimal sets or costumes. But don't let that fool you; this is a complex and thrilling story with just the right amount of romance! Achieved through fearless engagement with the audience, and a full embracing of theatricality, The 39 Steps is a delightful production that never takes itself too seriously. This is an approach to theatre that says "look, we know we're in a theatre, and we know you're there, so let's just have a good time shall we?" And that is exactly what audiences should expect - a good time!

The New York Times calls The 39 Steps "Absurdly Enjoyable."

First Peek at Maybe Baby, It's You!

Young Couples


Older Couples


And everything in between!

Finding your soul-mate has never been more fun and more complicated!

The Love List - Advanced Photo

Sean Grennan, Scott Cordes and Shanara Gabrielle star in The Love List at AHT.

News Release: Only Two Weeks Left To See The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Only Two Weeks Left To See
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
at American Heartland Theatre
Closes August 22nd, 2010

By William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin and Rebecca Feldman

Kansas City, MO: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at American Heartland Theatre opened on July 9th, 2010 to rave reviews. The Kansas City Star calls this adorable tale of six young people in the throes of puberty, "a very funny show but it contains just enough reality to become a poignant depiction of adolescence." The show's Tony Award-winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes for whom a spelling bee is the one place they can stand out and fit in at the same time. The Pitch Weekly agrees, proclaiming, "Spelling Bee attests to the power of the musical". Rated PG-13, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a light-hearted, feel-good show that prompts such easy-to-spell adjectives as charming, sweet, endearing and quirky, but may be best for mature audiences.

Four guest spellers, pre-selected from the audience, make every performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee an exciting one. Each speller competes along side the cast to win the coveted spelling bee trophy. Audience members can sign up to be spellers online at www.ahtkc.com or in person by signing up at the "Spelling Booth" in the theatre lobby 30 minutes prior to each production. American Heartland Theatre has already welcomed guest spellers from several local news stations, including Fox 4, KCTV5 and KMBC 9, and hopes to have more local celebrities compete in the Bee in the final weeks.

American Heartland Theatre brings this hilarious and touching musical comedy about trials of adolescence, competition, and trying to find your place in the world, with cast of talented actors under direction from Steven Eubank and Musical Direction from Anthony Edwards. Making their AHT debuts are Jermaine Blackwell (Mitch Mahoney), Jamie Lin (Marcy Park), Olivia Marsh (Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre), and Price Messick (Chip Tolentino). Adam Branson (Leaf Coneybear), Lauren Braton (Olive Ostrovsky), Michael Dragen (William Barfée), Colleen Grate (Rona Lisa Peretti) and Ken Remmert (Douglas Panch) are all returning to AHT for the second time in the 2009/2010 season.

Tickets can be ordered online at www.ahtkc.com or through the AHT Box Office at 816-842-9999. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs through August 22nd, 2010. Handicapped entry and seating, as well as assistive listening devices, are available at all performances. An ASL-interpreted performance is scheduled for Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 7:30PM.

The cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Photo by Shane Rowse.

Rehearsal Photos

Thanks to our Tech Director, Shane, we got some great photos of rehearsal for I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Swing on over to the AHT facebook page to check them out - and become a Fan of AHT while you're there to get special offers on tickets!

Changeover Time Lapse Video

I'm a little biased, but this is one of the coolest things we've done in a while.

It started as an idea that our Tech Director, Shane, and I were throwing around. "What's the possibility of taking photos during changeover and making them into a little movie?" We started a few shows back just by taking photos with our camera phones of various times during the changeover process that showed the set being torn down and rebuilt for the next show, but what we wanted was for the photos to be able to tell a story.

So, after the purchase of a special cord that allows Shane to plug our digital camera into the wall, he set the camera on day one of changeover from I'll Be Back Before Midnight into It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play and allowed it to take one photo every 2 minutes throughout the week. After a few hours of editing, here's the finished product. Be sure to watch closely at the end, where you can see our Shop Foreman, Alex, and one of the carpenters, Dan, in the shots. Alex moves back and forth in the front row of seats and Dan spins around on his back on the stage.

Remembering a Friend

On Tuesday more than 100 members of the AHT family, including staff and theatre patrons, gathered in our lobby to share memories of Steve Davis. Steve passed away this summer after a long illness. He was a long-time member of the AHT family, who brighten the lives of all who knew him.

We'll miss you Steve.

I'll Be Back Before Midnight opened Friday!

I'll Be Back Before Midnight began on Friday and had audiences laughing out loud then gasping in horror! One audience member stated after the show, "I kept thinking I had it figured out, then I didn't!" Come and see if you can figure it out before the house lights come up!

Darren Kennedy, Vanessa Severo and James Wright fight for their lives in I'll Be Back Before Midnight.

Vanessa Severo, Jan Chapman and Darren Kennedy star in I'll Be Back Before Midnight.

Photos by Shane Rowse.

Getting Set for Farce

All of the banging and clattering coming from the theatre must mean that the crew is building the new stage for Unnecessary Farce, which opens May 8. The setting is two adjoining hotel rooms, and designer Alex Perry is creating a pretty unique take on that idea. I snuck in and took a couple of photos - one on Wednesday and one just now so you can see how it's developing.

Taken April 22, 2009

Taken April 24, 2009

In the second photo, the person in the white shirt and dark pants just left of center is Alex Perry. Alex is the AHT Shop Foreman, which means he is responsible for taking the scenic designs given to him and turning them from 2-dimensional ideas on paper into 3-dimensional, life-size sets. For Farce, we are lucky enough to have him designing the set! Alex is currently in his 3rd year as a graduate student in the Lighting Design program at UMKC

I'll keep checking on how the set is progressing and post a new photo when it's closer to being finished!

Season Renewals

After 2 days of hard work stuffing envelopes, season renewals are ready to hit the mail. I meant to take a picture while we were working, but I completely forgot, so instead here's a picture of Garrett putting postage on them.

You can see all the trays of envelopes on the floor - that's not even all of them. Marketing Assistant Megan and I had already taken 5 full trays to the post office! That's over 2,800 envelopes that will be going in the mail today!

I certainly could not have done this job alone - I had some amazing helpers that put a lot of hard work into getting this project done quickly. Lots of thanks to Karla (Accounts Payable) for bringing her daughter, Jessicah, in to help. Also, Ellen's (Group Sales) children, Dominique and Jamaal joined us for a few hours. Our Executive Director, Lilli, even came in to help for a while (it didn't hurt that we had movies playing on a little tv set, and she was hoping to see Twilight!). Finally, my husband came and put in some time - he always gets roped into this sort of stuff for the theatre! :)

So, if you are a current season subscriber, check your mailbox this weekend for your renewal packet with all the info about the 09/10 season!

Opening Night!

Things have changed monumentally in the theatre since Morgan posted the photo of the stage under construction on Wednesday - Here's what the stage looks like as of last night:



On the right in the cherry-picker you can see Tech Director, Shane Rowse, checking the lightbulbs to make sure they are wired correctly. This set has quite a few pieces that move in and out in order to clearly change location during the show. It will be exciting to see it all in action. I'm sure the nerves are setting in for the actors, as tonight will be there first performance. Break a leg!

For a special discount, visit our facebook fans page (there's a link over there to the right) where you'll find a code for a buy one, get one half off promotion - book your seats now, as they are going fast!

Change-Over

The air smells like saw dust and the sounds of drills echo in the halls - it must be change-over week!

Change-over is one of my very favorite weeks in the theatre. It is very exciting - you never know what is going to happen next. The set from the last show is taken down and the new set is built. I really enjoy seeing the stage between sets - it reminds me how infinite the possibilities are. This stage has been a beauty parlor, an Iowa cornfield, and the entire city of Tuna, TX. It’s been home to Snoopy’s dog house, Buddy Holly’s recording studio and Marilyn Monroe’s Hollywood bungalow. Last week it was a living room where a murder takes place and next week it will be the setting for the life story of Ginger Rogers.

Since this is part of the theatre that the audience never gets to experience, I thought we’d give you a quick glimpse. The stage is being set for Backwards in High Heels, which opens March 6th. Be sure to come see how the stage is transformed this time!

Polishing Those Dancing Shoes

The cast of Backwards in High Heels is hard at work putting the final touches on their steps and songs to bring you the Ginger Rogers musical! With the show opening in just a few days everyone is in top form and ready to bring you a fantastic evening of song and dance.

Enjoy this sneak peek of rehearsal.

Vanessa Sonon, Erik Floor, Larissa Klinger and Chance Blakeley
learn their steps under the direction of Jeremy Benton.

The cast takes a moment to rest and study their scripts.

Sean Montgomery goes over a song with musician Daniel Doss.

The cast practices a tricky dance step.

A New, Old Face at AHT

Well, not too old, I hope!

Hi, I’m Morgan Perry the new Publicist at AHT. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to our blog readers.

I’ll be taking over for Susan Dustin who is leaving to spend more time with her fantastic son, Will. This isn’t my first position at AHT – it is actually my 4th! Originally, I interned with Bill Christie to be a Stage Manager - which was a fantastic experience, but taught me pretty quickly that I didn’t really want to be a stage manager after all! During my internship I also worked as the front desk receptionist and, a few months later, I took on the Marketing Assistant position. I then left the theatre to work for a non-profit foundation for a while. Now, a little over 5 years later, I’m back as Publicist and couldn’t be happier. AHT is a wonderful place to work, as well as a great place for an evening of entertainment.

On a personal note I have a 3 month old son, Greyson, who keeps me on my toes; a black Goldendoodle named Tallulah, who looks like a Muppet; and a fantastic husband, Michael, who also spent some time working for AHT. I’m a graduate of William Jewell College, where I got my B.A. in Theatre.

I’ll be posting on here quite often, so if there is anything about AHT that you want to know more about, just leave a comment or email me at mperry6@hallmark.com and I’ll do my best to post about it.

A Special Guest

Rehearsals started this week for Backwards in High Heels, which opens March 6. In the offices we can hear all sorts of crazy tapping coming from the rehearsal hall. These kids can dance!

One of the rituals of beginning a new show is having a Meet & Greet with the new cast. This gives the AHT staff who aren't directly involved in the show a chance to meet the actors, and allows the actors to know who's who in the offices - who does paychecks, whose computer they can borrow in a pinch, etc.

Last night we had a special guest at the Meet & Greet, whom the actors were excited to meet. Bruce Rogers, half brother of Ginger Rogers, was present with stories to tell and a special photo for the star of our show, Vanessa Sonon. Luckily, cast member Sean Montgomery had his camera on hand and allowed us to snap a great photo of the event.

Vanessa Sonon with Veda & Bruce Rogers