The 29th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival, the Official Theatre Festival of the State of Kansas, celebrates comedy, drama and music in four whirlwind days. Tickets go on sale online and in-person March 1st.
Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist and Yale School of Drama professor, Paula Vogel is the Honoree Playwright of the Inge Festival, April 21-24, produced by the William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College, in Independence, KS.
Vogel will be present all four days of the Inge Festival. During a star-studded multi-media Tribute production on Saturday April 24, Vogel will accept the Inge Festival's annual Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award. Vogel will join the elite list of previously honored playwrights who have traveled to Independence to accept this honor, including Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, and Edward Albee.
Vogel earned the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play "How I Learned to Drive." She is also the current Eugene O'Neill Chair of the Playwriting Department at Yale School of Drama, as well as the Playwright-in-Residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
"We are thrilled to host Paula Vogel, a person of extraordinary talent who is not only a renowned dramatist, but a gifted and generous instructor of young aspiring playwrights," said Peter Ellenstein, Inge Center Artistic Director.
Her additional acclaimed plays include "The Long Christmas Ride Home," "The Mineola Twins," "The Baltimore Waltz," (nomination for Pulitzer Prize in Drama), "Hot N Throbbing," "Desdemona," "And Baby Makes Seven," and "The Oldest Profession."
The Tribute show, titled "A Hot Waltz with Paula," will be April 24 at 7:30 p.m. It is directed by founder of the Boston Repertory Theatre, Esquire Jauchem.
The Inge Festival opening performance is Wednesday, April 21, featuring one of Vogel's newest creations, the musical, "A Civil War Christmas." This performance is at 7:30 p.m.
Inspired by actual events of Christmas Eve, 1864, "A Civil War Christmas" is an elegant and poignant story that intermingles the lives of ordinary civilians and soldiers with President and Mrs. Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Clara Barton, and other historical figures. The music is entirely from Christmas tunes, spirituals, and patriotic songs of the era. It is directed by Drama Desk Award winner and Broadway veteran, Mark Brokaw.
The next evening event occurs Thursday, April 22. Audience members in Independence, Kansas, will have the exclusive opportunity to see the acclaimed play that has come straight from London and is headed for Broadway, "The Mountaintop."
Katori Hall is the celebrated playwright of "The Mountaintop" and she will be at the Inge Festival to accept the Inge Festival's Otis Guernsey New Voices in the American Theatre Award. This award recognizes outstanding emerging playwrights, of whom Hall certainly qualifies. The award is named for the heralded theater writer and scholar, the late Otis L. Guernsey Jr., a frequent visitor to the Inge Festival and an advocate of quality new plays.
Hall's plays earned numerous awards and productions prior to the London world premiere of "The Mountaintop" June 2009, which subsequently transferred to the West End.
The play was a sensation and earned a nomination as best new play in the 2010 Olivier Awards (the English version of the Tony Awards.) The Olivier Award winners will be announced March 21. "The Mountaintop" is slated for its Broadway premiere this Fall.
The setting for "The Mountaintop" is April 3, 1968, at Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. retires to his room after giving a speech to a Memphis church congregation during the sanitation workers' strike. When a mysterious young hotel maid comes to visit him during the night, King is forced to confront his mortality and the future of his people.
Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. on April 22. The director is Chay Yew.
Hall, also an actress, grew up in Memphis as a child of the post-civil rights era. She is a recent graduate from the Juilliard School playwriting program. She is an alumnus of both Harvard and Columbia Universities.
The 2010 Inge Festival experience transforms into the world of musical theater at the Glorious Musical Gala Dinner, on Friday April 23. Our 2009 Inge Festival Honoree, the brilliant and hilarious, Tom Jones, creator of "The Fantasticks" and "110 in the Shade" will be back. He directs and stars in a revue of his own songs, "Time Goes By: A Few Amusing Songs about Aging and Death," featuring several Inge Festival guest artists. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails. Admission includes a gourmet dinner.
On Saturday, patrons join special guests during the Picinic lunch at Riverside Park, with the Honorees and accompaniment of live music.
The final Festival evening performance concludes with the "A Hot Waltz with Paula" – a documentary tribute to the life and work of Paula Vogel, on Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
There will be plenty going on during the Festival days as well. From Thursday-Saturday, April 22-24, Festival patrons have the rare opportunity to learn from working professionals during public workshops and panels. The guest artists address the full range of performing arts, including, production, performances, and current trends.
Also during the daytime hours are "Scenes at the Inge House." Excerpts of scenes from plays by William Inge and Paula Vogel take place in the living room of the William Inge boyhood home in Independence. The historic home, restored with period furnishings, is now used by professional guest artists and playwrights-in-residence.
Patrons may also ride on a "Tour of Inge's Independence," viewing the sites of William Inge's boyhood—still intact in historic Independence.
An all-festival pass of $195 includes all three evening performances, daytime panels, and two meals, including the Gala Dinner and revue, and Picnic on Saturday at Riverside Park. Individual tickets to "A Civil War Christmas" and "The Mountaintop" are $20, the Gala dinner is $45 and the Picnic at Riverside Park is $12. Admission to the "A Hot Waltz with Paula" Tribute performance is $30. The Tour of Inge's Independence and Scenes at the Inge House are $5 admission.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ingecenter.org, or by phone at (800) 842-6063 ext. 5491 weekdays 1-5 p.m. In person, tickets are available at the Inge Center office at the Fine Arts Building, Room 123, at Independence Community College, 1057 W. College Ave., 1-5 p.m. weekdays. The box office mailing address is The William Inge Center for the Arts, PO Box 708, Independence, Kansas, 67301.
Major supporters of the William Inge Theatre Festival include the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Hallmark Corporation, the William T. Kemper Foundation/Commerce Bancshares, the Dramatists Guild, Independence Community College, and many corporate and private foundations as well as hundreds of individuals across the country.
Independence, Kansas, is located 90 miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and 140 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.
