A Shakespeare comedy and a superheroes and sports art exhibit are planned for Saturday at the Alcott Arts Center, 180 S. 18th, Kansas City, Kansas,
The 11th year of the Alcott Shakespeare performances will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Alcott, said Chris Green, Alcott executive director. The play also will be performed next weekend.
The director of “Two People from Verona” will be Susan Proctor, who has directed two Shakespeare plays previous at Alcott, Green said. The title of the play has been changed from “Two Gentlemen from Verona” in order to be more inclusive, she added.
Formerly performed outdoors in the parking lot, the Shakespeare play this year will be performed inside the Alcott, with air conditioning. The play will be performed using three rooms, two galleries and the main foyer as the theater, with the audience moving from room to room with the actors, she said.
Admission to the play is a $5 suggested donation.
Green said the audience will enjoy the play. There have been lots of laughs from the rehearsals, and the play will include singing, music, musicians walking through, along with the usual mistaken identity theme.
“We’re very excited and we can’t wait to see the show,” Green said.
There is a flight of stairs to the area where the play will be held, and Alcott Arts Center is not ADA-accessible at this time.
Later Saturday, at 6 p.m., an art show featuring superheroes and sports figures is featured at the Alcott.
Artists Darryl Wood, who draws all sorts of superheroes, along with pictures of Kansas City Chiefs players, will be featured with Anthony Oropeza, whose work is all sports, Green said. Woods has created some sports posters of Chiefs players that have schedules on them, she added.
Two young artists also will be featured Saturday, she said. They are Marquis Jamison, who has created a comic book and does cartoon-style art, and Simone Bealer, a freshman at Blue Valley Northwest, who does anime art and some superheroes, Green said.
The Alcott art galleries will open for viewing at 6 p.m., with a reception for artists at 6:30 p.m. The art show and reception are free and open to the public. Refreshments are planned.
Green also said a petition is being circulated to save the Alcott Arts Center from a development that has been proposed in the area. The Alcott is accepting signatures for the petition both in person at the center and also online at http://chng.it/QWMqDVyF.
Green said the Alcott has a lot of support from the community, which has helped save the former elementary school in order to have an arts center.
For more information, visit https://www.alcottartscenter.org/.