Bell Road Barn Players

Join us for the third installment of our Awkward Christmas tradition.
This year you’ll get all your weird, awkward holiday antics online FOR FREE!
We are excited to present to you seven original sketches directed and performed by local KC talent.
So gather your quarantined loved ones for a watch party, and log on to our Facebook or YouTube for a grand ol’ awkward time.

MORE INFO

Hosted by Carol Varner, interludes by Dean Kinsey

Plays and Cast
Joyeux Noel by James McLindon
directed by Emerson Rapp
featuring Stephen Howard, Briana Marxen-McCollom, Emily O’Dell, Emerson Rapp

A Christmas Bedtime Story by Peter Dakutis
directed by Alan T. Hainkel
featuring Katelyn Tomena, Joe Coronia

Beth Goes Caroling by Scott Mullen
directed by Kimi Worstell-Laabs
featuring Jan Fent Johnston, Jill Camper

Meta-Morphosis by Ken Preuss
directed by Davida Terrell
featuring Mary Wilkens, Matt Sameck, Teagan Fitzpatrick, Dalton Pittenger

The End is Just the Beginning by John Mabey
directed by Shari Wassergord
featuring Davis DeRock, Shawna Peña-Downing, Stephen Howard, Briana Marxen-McCollom

Xtreme Xmas Online Boot Camp by Peter Dakutis
Directed by Katia Milazzo
featuring Jeremy Walter, Katie Rezabek-Laird, Philip Bachus, Chelsea Pyle

Grandma’s Special Cookies by Mark Naggi
directed by Kimi Worstell-Laabs
featuring Andrea Bosewell-Carder, Vicki Kerns, Josh Keen, Laura LaCour

The Bell Road Barn Players are looking for writing submissions for our new production of An Awkwardly Distanced Christmas.

We are looking for short (4-8 minute) comedic sketches that feature winter or the holiday season and utilize at least one aspect of social distancing such as – all characters wear masks, stand 6 feet apart, are on a Zoom call, or monologue. Use no more than 4 characters, and keep the settings simple. The production will be pre-recorded and aired for one week online as a free gift to our community. Send sketches or questions to mmm@bellroadbarn.org with the subject line AWKWARD. The Deadline is midnight October 4.

During this unprecedented time of uncertainty, we are thankful, more than ever, to those who have shown and continue to show their support financially. Please take a minute to check out these wonderful people whose ongoing support is so very important to our organization.

DONORS

THANK YOU!

For the past two years we have thoroughly enjoyed kicking off our season with our Halloween-themed Fundraiser, Boos & Booze! Due to the continued public health crisis we have decided to cancel this year’s event. We hope that we will be able to entertain you in person just as soon as it is safe to do so. Please stay tuned to this page as well as our Facebook and Instagram for updates on our upcoming projects.

Actors! Writers! Lend us your ears!

. . . or, your eyeballs . . .

. . . and read this announcement!

Bell Road Barn Players would like to invite you all to be a part of our new series:

Monday Minute Monologues

Starting Mondays in June, at noon, and every Monday after, we will post original monologues with a common theme on our website and Facebook page. Here are our guidelines:

Writers—We will provide a theme each week so the monologues posted have a unifying arc. Please let us know if it is okay for the actor to contact you if they have questions. To keep this creativity train running smoothly, we ask that you specify the gender and age range of the character you’ve written, keep the words they say family friendly, and keep your monologue to right around a minute. Submit your monologue to mmm@bellroadbarn.org by midnight on the Monday before so we have time for the actor to prepare, which brings us to . . .

Actors—If you are interested in being a part of this series, please submit your contact information, resume, and a picture to mmm@bellroadbarn.org. You must have the ability to video call and record yourself. Whether you record yourself showing full body or head and shoulders, all we ask is you remember, Family Friendly. You will have several days to work on it. A director may video call with you for one session to ensure your performance is at your best. Please submit your videos to mmm@bellroadbarn.org by Fridays at midnight, so that we have time to review, assemble, and upload.

All questions can be emailed to mmm@bellroadbarn.org. Bell Road Barn Players reserves the right to ask for revisions or not post videos.

For our Premiere Posting of Monday Minute Monologues, the theme is . . .

Letting Go
Your due date is June 15 to submit your monologues.

We’ve been in constant communication with our good friends at Park University as we navigate through these unprecedented times. Park University’s campus remains closed over the summer for the health and safety of those in our community, and in conjunction, Bell Road Barn Players has cancelled the remainder of our season.

Good News: Bell Road Barn Players is proud to announce the line up for our 2020-2021 season!!

Awkward X-mas part III: X-Treme! Awkwardness!

Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus

The Foreigner by Larry Shue

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

For those of you experiencing deja vu, yes, this is what we had planned for our current season. Surprise!! Now, you won’t have to miss a single minute of our productions of Men on Boats, The Foreigner, or The Comedy of Errors.

We will keep a close eye on what our local guidelines, government and health officials, and Park University’s policy allow us to produce and schedule our 2020-2021 season accordingly.

Keep watch for further announcements of our “safe for the summer” theatre activities. Thanks again to Park Univesity for being great partners with us and promoting the arts in our community.

By now, we are all aware of how difficult it is to make plans under the current concerns for everyone’s health due to the COVID-19 virus. With that in mind (and adhering to the shelter at home orders we all need to follow to help ensure the health of our communities), Bell Road Barn Players are officially canceling the auditions for our upcoming summer shows, The Comedy of Errors and The Foreigner. We are sad to make this announcement, but know that it is the right thing to do. Depending on when we are given the all-clear from our government officials, we may be able to hold auditions for The Comedy of Errors in May. So, for our actors out there, we hope to offer you more roles in the summer than the rolls you can currently find at the grocery store. We will keep you posted.

As you may know, we had to put our recent, truly wonderful, production of Men on Boats ashore due to COVID-19. In fact, we were in the . . . same boat . . . as all the other theatres across the country. In hopes to get the production of Men On Boats afloat again, we have decided to cancel our summer production of The Foreigner. This way, if things are swimming along, Men on Boats can drop anchor on stage early this summer. The cast and crew really put something special together with Men on Boats and we don’t want you to miss it!

Season ticket holders should expect to be contacted by a board member within the next week regarding their season passes and options we have for them.  

As always if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to us on Facebook, our website or email us at info@bellroadbarn.org.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you at the theatre soon.

Due to increased public health concerns and after careful consideration, we have decided to postpone our performances of Men On Boats, for the next two weekends. After consulting with our valued partner, Park University, we feel that this is the best decision for the safety of our patrons, cast and crew members. A college campus involves a lot of people in close quarters, and with current health concerns, public safety is everyone’s first priority. We hope that we will be able to reschedule soon. If you have already purchased tickets to Men On Boats, a Bell Road board member will be in contact with you to discuss if you would like a refund or exchange for a future production. We are heartbroken for our hard-working cast and crew, but we are optimistic that performances will be able to happen at a later date. 

We are so very excited to bring to you this fun and truly creative piece of theatre! Led by an ALL-FEMALE CAST, this is the perfect way to celebrate Women’s History Month! Get your tickets now – click here. And be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to get a behind the scene’s look at the show.

Powell – Lauren Pope
Dunn – Heather Ives
Sumner – Nadine Civitello
Old Shady – Glendora Davis
Bradley – Karen Eckman
O.G. – Alma Fusco
Seneca – Brandis Outlaw
Goodman – Denise Shelley
Hall – Rebecca Dempsey
Hawkins – Kristi Hibschman

director – Diane Bulan
rehearsal SM – Sarah Owen
set and projections design – Jenifer Cooper
light design – Josh Austin
costume design – Darcy Russel
props design – Jenifer Cooper and Diane Bulan