Theatre Season 21-22

MC Theatre Season Poster 21-22

Brown Auditorium & Mingenback Theatre, 7:30pm
Box Office: (620) 242-0444 [email protected]

Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic

By Matt Cox
October 1-2, 2021 Brown Auditorium

You may have heard of a certain orphan boy wizard and his seven-year battle with an evil wizard without a nose. But this story is not about either of them. This is a story about everyone else and what those other people did during that seven years when the world hung in a balance between good and evil. Come celebrate what it means to be #ThirdPlaceOrNothing in this hilarious comedy for everyone not living as a hero of the story.

*A Kansas Premiere

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

By Barbara Robinson
November 11-13, 2021 Mingenback Theater and Brown Auditorium

When it’s time for the school nativity play, the messiest kids decide to participate in what becomes the most memorable school play ever. For over 50 years, the Herdmans have been teaching us that perfectionism was not part of the Nativity. The unique retelling of the classic tale hopes to remind our audiences that we are all equal parts Herdman and we are all invited to tell the story.

*Part of our Children’s Theater initiative with the Elementary Schools of USD418.

The Last Five Years

Music, Book & Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
January 6-8, 2022 Mingenback Theater

Jamie tells us the story of his budding new relationship and how it grows over the next five years. Cathy reflects on what happened in her five-year relationship that has just ended. The audience see the same story from two different perspectives in a collection of one of the most cherished small, modern musicals. This two-character musical celebrates the joys and the grief that come with all experiences and reminds us that lives are most fully lived when looking in both directions.

*A McPherson Premiere

White Rabbit/Red Rabbit

By Nassim Soleimanpour
January 28 – One night only! Mingenback Theater

Experience theatre that the New York Times described as “playful, enigmatic and haunting.” Unable to leave Iran, Soleimanpour ‘tours’ the world through the text of his unique theatrical experience that requires no director and no rehearsal. An actor receives a script in a sealed envelope for the first time on stage on opening night. What follows is a unique journey for the actor and the audience that is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Alum and Department Chair, Jd Bowman will be performing the script he receives that evening.

*A Kansas Premiere

Gaslight (on Angel Street)

By Patrick Hamilton
March 4-5, 2022 Brown Auditorium

Welcome to the Manningham home on Angel Street in 19^th century London. Jack, a young charismatic man helps to care for his wife, Bella, but a visitor from Scotland Yard arrives with questions about a case from 15 years prior. As the questions become more intense, a shadow of doubt grows between Bella and her husband. Eighty-five years ago, this classic made an impact on London theatregoers, and it still haunts today. Although the play is not still widely known, it is still famous for coining the term “gaslighting” that is still used today.

*Last presented at McPherson College in the 1988-1989 Theatre Season

The Laramie Project(s)

By Moises Kauffman and the Tectonic Theater Project
April 28-30, 2022 Mingenback Theater

On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead outside Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard’s killers said they did it because he was gay and he hit on them. The case kicked off a national conversation, which resulted in the creation of hate crime legislation in America. Within weeks of Shepard’s attack, a group of actors from New York City flew to Laramie and set out to interview many members of the town to understand how this could happen. They returned 10 years later to continue their interviews. The resulting play is a documentary of those interviews.

*McPherson College was home to a joint world premiere of the Laramie Project Epilogue with the Tectonic Theater Company during the 2009-2010 Theatre Season.