by Lisa Kron

 

Directed by Joseph Price

 

June 13- July 13, 2008
PREVIEWS June 11 & 12

Featuring Melinda McCrary, Joicie Appell, Rachel May Roberts, Dana Thompson, Walter Coppage and Kyle L. Mowry

Talk back performances June 17, 22 & 24

Meet someone before the show to talk with after

Singles Night June 26        LGBT Night June 19

6:30 Reception $5

7:30 Show Regular Priced Ticket

Call for reservations.

A deliriously infectious tale of how health lies in our ability to embrace the complexities and contradictions of life.  Lisa Kron writes herself as a character in this “one woman piece with other actors…and her mother." She attempts to act out her childhood in a racially integrated neighborhood, ‘healed’ from decline by her mother’s civil rights efforts. Lisa’s flashbacks conflict with her mother’s memories and she finds herself in the middle of a comedic coup d’etat.

Photos by Cynthia Levin

The Reviews are in...

Kansas City Star--Posted on Mon., June 16, 2008
Humor is what the doctor ordered for Unicorn’s ‘Well’

(May require registration)

By ROBERT TRUSSELL 

 

Pitch--Posted on Thurs., June 19, 2008
Joicie Appell keeps the Unicorn’s Well from getting too serious for its own health

By ALAN SCHERSTUHL

 

Sun Publications--Posted on Wed., June 25, 2008
Experimental play explores relationships

By Russ Simmons

 

Camp--Posted on Wed., June 25, 2008
As Family Memories and Society's Ills Are Dissected, Mom's There Onstage

By Paul Donovan

 

InfoZine--Posted on Thurs., June 19, 2008
Well at the Unicorn Theatre, Review

By FRANK SIRAGUSO

 

Other Press...

 

Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat., June 21, 20078
Theater community loses Joe Price, for now  (May require registration)

By Robert Trussell

 

Kansas City Star--Posted on Wed., June 11, 20078
‘Well’ and ‘Drowsy Chaperone’ open  (May require registration)

By Ward Triplett

 

InfoZine--Sunday, June 8, 2008 :: infoZine Staff
Well at the Unicorn Theatre

(click for complete story)
  

Lisa Kron’s Well opened to critical acclaim on Broadway at the Longacre Theater in March of 2006 and received two Tony nominations. It previously premiered at the Public Theater in Spring 2004 and was listed among the year's best plays by the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Newark Star Ledger, Backstage and the Advocate, followed by an acclaimed run at A.C.T. in San Francisco in 2005. It is included in the anthology, "Best Plays of 2004-2005." Her other plays include 2.5 Minute Ride, 101 Humiliating Stories, Charity and Montecore (two short plays included in the anthology "Neon Mirage”), 43/13, Martha, Oedipus at Palm Springs, Brave Smiles, Brides of the Moon and The Secretaries.  Lisa is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cal Arts/Alpert Award, an NEA/TCG playwriting fellowship and grants from the Creative Capital Foundation and New York Foundation for the Arts. She teaches playwriting at Yale Drama School.

 

 

JOSEPH PRICE taught acting and directing at UMKC for eleven years. He's always honored to work at the Unicorn where he directed The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman, Painted Alice, Bright Ideas, Blue/Orange , Fuddy Meers and The Shape of Things. At UMKC he has directed numerous productions including Present Laugher, Boesman and Lena, Tape, The Importance of Being Earnest, Polaroid Stories, Mad Forest and The Circus Show. Acting credits include Death of a Salesman (Riverside Theatre), Winter's Tale (KC Rep), Indian Ink (KC Rep) and the CBS series DANGEROUS CURVES. He will be joining the faculty of Buffalo State College in the Fall.  Thanks Kansas City!

 

 

 

Melinda McCrary (Lisa Kron) returns to the Unicorn stage where she has performed previously in Omnium Gatherum, Fuddy Meers, Unidentified Human Remains, The Real Thing and as Vivien Leigh in Orson’s Shadow.    Last summer she appeared in the Actors Theatre KC productions of Private Lives and Dinner With Friends. In their previous season, she appeared in the Talley Trilogy as Netta in Talley & Son and as June, Netta’s granddaughter, in Fifth of July.   Her numerous local roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing/ Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Mother in A Christmas Story/American Heartland and Alma Rose in Playing for Time/The Coterie. She’s also performed with Ground Zero Productions, The New Theatre, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Rep, Boston Shakespeare Company, Arizona Theatre Company and in over 30 productions at The Rep. Melinda is the Director of Education and Community Programs at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and teaches at UMKC. Her adaptation of Carving….s, a trio of short stories by Raymond Carver, was produced by Princess Squid Productions and the Urban Culture Project.

 

Joicie Appell (Ann Kron) returns to the Unicorn after last appearing here in The Beauty Queen of Leenane, following earlier roles here in Keely and Du, Marvin’s Room and her award winning Grandma Rose role in Daytrips.  Joicie continues her 64^th year as a performer, having started in radio drama at Kansas City’s first FM station, KOZY, later embracing the stage in 90-plus Equity productions including two Off-Broadway NYC, notably starring in one as a bag lady-ex stripper.  Recent favorite stage roles include Betty Meeks in The Foreigner at The New Theater, Peggy in Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas at American Heartland Theater, and Fonsia Dorsey in The Gin Game at Okoboji Sumer Theatre, Iowa, where Joicie was Guest Artist for the 2007 50^th Anniversary Season.  Joicie has made numerous radio and television commercials and print ads, appeared on Guiding Light, and soon will be seen in feature films.

 

Rachel May Roberts (Actor A), from Cape Girardeau, MO, is a relatively recent import to the Kansas City area. She is honored to be returning to the Unicorn stage after being seen in The Little Dog Luaghed earlier this season. Since moving to Kansas City she has also appeared on the Coterie's stage in The Country of the Blind, and in the world premiere of Carvings. Other credits include a national tour of The Wizard of Oz, Michigan Shakespeare festival’s Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, and BoarsHead Theatre’s Canyon Suite. Some of her favorite credits include teaching for Michigan State University, Baker University, Coterie Theatre, and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.

 

 

Dana Thompson (Actor B) is a native of the Kansas City area.  She graduated from Grandview High School and earned her BFA in Theatre Performance from Missouri State University in Springfield, MO.  Since returning home from college she has been performing in several shows with Theatre for Young America, working with the Coterie Theatre, The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre.  When she is not thriving in the theater world Dana serves her community working as a substitute teacher.  She would like to credit much of her character development for this role to the Grandview CAIR Program.  Dana has been a long time admirer of Unicorn Theater and is humbled to be part of this production with a cast so talented and experienced.  Dana thanks her family and friends for always supporting her and being her source of strength to follow her dreams.

 

WALTER COPPAGE (ACTOR C) was last seen here as Sterling North in Permanent Collection. Since then, he’s appeared at the KC Rep in To Kill A Mockingbird and at the Coterie in The Giver. Some of his favorite past roles include Eugene in Yellowman; Othello; Uncle Peck in How I Learned To Drive; Testifier Polyneices in The Gospel at Colonus; Touchstone in As You Like It; Jekyll in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Prof. Walden in Frankenstein; Mr. M in My Children! My Africa!; Frank in Flyin’ West; Buks in Valley Song; and Pee Wee in Carter’s Way. Walter has also won principal roles in film and television, including James Ellroy’s STAY CLEAN (Indie), GONE IN THE NIGHT (CBS), THE ONLY WITNESS (Lifetime), SUSPENSION (Indie), PUPPYLOVE (Showtime), A DEADLY VISION (ABC), TRUMAN(HBO), RAISING JEFFREY DAHMER (Indie), ALL ROADS LEAD HOME (Indie) and has recently completed work on the feature films THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN and THE LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE. This fall he will appear in A Lesson From Aloes at the Off-Center Theatre at Crown Center for the Actors Theatre of KC, of which he is a founding member.

 

Kyle L. Mowry (Actor D) is very excited to be performing here again after such a long absence. You may, hopefully, remember him as the chatty, sometimes nervous husband Richard in Fuddy Meers or the heroine addicted trombone player, Jonesy, in Side Man or the drug dealing misfit Sweets in Mojo or as many exuberantly funny characters in All in the Timing. All of which where performed in this wonderful Unicorn space. He has also been in A Christmas Carol at the KC Rep for the past 9 years. A few months ago he was performing at the KC Rep in To Kill a Mockingbird where he played a proud misguided farmer named Walter Cunningham as well as the endearing, sensitive and most beloved character, Boo Radley. Kyle has also been seen performing at The Coterie Theatre, The American Heartland Theatre and The Heart of American Shakespeare Festival. You can, on most days, see Kyle and his dog Mia, not performing but just chilling, in Brookside. Come by, say Hi and have some of the yummiest Italian food with them!

Buy Well tickets online NOW!

Call 816-531-PLAY x 10

Box Office Hours:

Monday-Friday 10-5pm

Saturday 12-4pm (During the run of the show)

 

 Unicorn Theatre offers $5.00 off for senior citizens and full-time students (with valid I.D.). Group rates are available, and students with valid I.D. can purchase Rush Tickets for $7.00 five minutes before curtain (based on availability)

SPECIAL THANKS
to those who generously donated their time, talents and services to this production:

Financial assistance has been provided by Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.