Tickets now available for a staged reading of our new musical, Vilna: A Resistance Story. Vilna tells the remarkable true story of the Jewish resistance fighters in the Vilna Ghetto during WW2.
Aug 20 and 21 at the Culture House at Oak Park Mall. Link in bio.
CALL FOR ACTORS: Hello theater friends! Allison and I, and our new friend Andrea Fleck Clardy, are writing a new musical called Vilna that is being co-produced by the White Theater and the Culture House. It tells the story of the heroic resistance by the Jewish partisans in the Vilna ghetto during WW2.
We have our first table read on Thursday May 5th and are looking for actors. It will be a cold read, and Allison and I will play/sing all the music. Please let me know if you are interested in helping.
Here's a link with more information: /document/d/1ZZ9jgu5_ZjMnAm-ib-NEgGFmIx-r52DGa9BzUTYqOmM/edit?fbclid=IwAR3IaOsMORt_2PnmQYenYjIPd7yJhmG3FTIzNQDJt_ChLYMF4G5YxNw8_mI
No big deal…just our FIRST EVER FAN ART for Roar the Musical. This makes me so happy. Thanks Violet Hrabe for the amazing picture!!!
#fanart #roarthemusical #hearmeroar #newmusicals
So thankful for this amazing cast and team that pulled of Roar this weekend. Felt like the show took a big step forward. Onward and upward!!!
#roar #roarthemusical #newmusicals #hearmeroar
Allison and Kevin Cloud are a married writing team based in Kansas City. With music degrees from the University of Kansas, Kevin is a lifetime songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and Allison is a lifetime local performer. Kevin works at the Culture House, a non-profit arts conservatory as the Director of New Works. Allison works as a playwright, actor, poet and voiceover actor.
Kevin and Allison’s first musical, ROAR, was awarded the ArtsKC Inspiration Grant and the Kansas
Creative Arts Industries Commission Award. Additionally, ROAR won multiple Kansas City Fringe
Festival “Best of Fringe” awards. Their second musical, THE PARTISAN SONG (co-written with
Andrea Fleck Clardy), is being commissioned by the White Theatre with a workshop production in April 2023. They are premiering THE NASHVILLE CHRONICLES, a one woman show, at the 2022 Kansas City Fringe Festival. Kevin and Allison are proud members of the Dramatists’ Guild and BMI. @alcloud@kevincloudkc
Meet the creative team! Heather Tinker (Director) currently serves as the Adjunct Director of Theatre at MidAmerica Nazarene University. She has been teaching and directing at MNU since 2007. Heather has taught and directed at Benedictine College, Kansas City Young Audiences, Christian Youth Theatre, and The Culture House. Prior to teaching, Heather travelled and performed with the Lillenas Dramatic Company for ten years She has directed and performed in many Kansas City area community theatres and has also done voice work and short films. Heather completed her Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Public Relations at MidAmerica Nazarene University and a Master of Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Kansas where she received the Ambrose Saricks Family Scholarship for work in community or educational theatre. She has also received recognition for directing from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. She recently appeared as Nan in Rabbit Hole with Smet Theatrics and for her next project, she is directing Anne of Green Gables at MNU March 31-April 2. @heathertinker
Meet the creative team! Jeremy Watson (Music Director) is thrilled to be back music directing for Roar. Jeremy has his Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and for the past ten years, Jeremy has been performing and music directing for nearly every equity theatre in Kansas City. Jeremy had the privilege of performing-in and co directing the equity regional tour of Ms. Saigon before becoming the resident music director at Music Theatre Heritage. Jeremy recently worked as Assistant Music Director on Wizard of Oz at Starlight and Joseph at the New Theatre Restaurant before touring with Live On Stage with his good friend Ben Gulley. In addition to theatre, Jeremy is also an accompanist and choir director at Pembroke Hill school, and a contemporary worship leader for Aldersgate United Methodist church, where he is the bandleader for their praise band First Light. Jeremy is still very active in the Kansas City theatre scene but has shifted his focus to being a present father and husband for his beautiful family. He couldn’t be more excited to be working on this gorgeous music and with this great production team. @jwat1103
Meet the production team! Chelsea Smet is an alumni of Newman University and MidAmerica Nazarene University. She is a three-time KCACTF National Playwriting Award winner and her plays have been produced at colleges and community theatres throughout the Midwest. She is the owner and Co-Artistic Director of Smet Theatrics, where she directed all three shows in their 2021 inaugural season: All My Sons, Absalom, and Rabbit Hole. This April, Chelsea will step back on stage as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, directed by Heather Tinker. Upcoming directing projects for Smet Theatrics include Into the Woods in June, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal in July, and Hamlet in August, all performed right here at the Culture House Stage & Studio. Chelsea is thrilled to start off her busy 2022 theatre schedule stage managing this wonderful new work! Infinite gratitude to Heather, Kevin, and Allison for letting her be a part of this special production. John 16:33 @cielsmet
Meet the production team! Hunter Nelson (he/him) is a dramaturg/producer. He established ARC: New Werks Program at The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City. Credits: Theresa Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet*, Ming Peiffer’s Usual Girls*, Alexi Kaye Campbell’s Apologia (Roundabout); Ricardo Pérez González’s Don't Eat the Mangos* (Magic); Pamela Baskin-Watson, Nedra Dixon’s A GOD • SIB’S TALE (BRTKC); Four Children compiled by M. Edelman* (KCAT); Lisa Nelson's Lyda (Edinburgh Fringe); Ryan Bernsten's We Are Blood. Proud member of LMDA. hunternelson.org *World premiere @hunternelsonone
Meet the cast of ROAR! Natalee Merola (Sarah) has performed professionally in Kansas City since the age of 11. Last year, she was in Spongebob the Musical (Coterie Theatre), Company (The Barn Players), and Annie (The White Theatre). Natalee recently graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she studied musical theatre. She intends to continue pursuing her dreams and see where life takes her! Thanks to her mom, dad, and 4 cats for their love and support. @natalee_merola
Meet the cast of ROAR! Jack Kapple (Joey) is a Kansas City native and recent graduate from Texas Christian University with a B.F.A in Musical Theatre. He is thrilled to be back to KC and doing live theatre again! Jack’s favorite credits include Black Comedy (Harold Gorringe), Bare (Peter Simmons), and Big River (Huck Finn). Beyond performance, Jack is also involved in directing, photography, and theatre pedagogy. See more at: . @jackkapple
Meet the cast of ROAR! Spencer Thompson (Evil Clown Joe) is thrilled to be returning for another round of Roar. A graduate of Drury University, some of his Kansas City credits include Billy Elliot (George) at Spinning Tree, Sunday in the Park with George (Boatman) at OCTA, The Holy Trinity (Jonathan) at Kansas City Public Theatre, and The Family Continues (Steve) at KC Fringe. You can see him next in A New Brain at OCTA. Spencer would like to thank his parents and his wife, Sally Farrand, for their continued love and support. @spennytree
