Differ We Must
Now that a new presidential term begins, we might wonder how our divided nation will cope.
To help us chart a new path during contentious times, maybe we need the advice of a past president who also governed a divided country—Abraham Lincoln.
In his new book, NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep illuminates our iconic president through 16 different encounters he reconstructs in Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America. Inskeep will be in Kansas City to give a talk and answer those questions on February 11 at 7 p.m. at Unity on the Plaza.
Here’s an example. In 1855, with the United States at odds over slavery, Abraham Lincoln wrote to rebuke his best friend for failing to oppose slavery. But Lincoln added: “If for this you and I must differ, differ we must,” and said they would be friends forever. Throughout his life and political career, Lincoln often agreed to disagree. Democracy demanded it, since even an adversary had a vote. The man who went on to become America’s 16th president has assumed many roles in our historical consciousness, but most notable is that he was, unapologetically, a politician. And as Inskeep argues, it was because he was willing to engage in politics—meeting with critics, sometimes working with them and other times outwitting them—that he was able to lead a social revolution.
Click here for more information.
Broke-ology at KCRep
When Nathan Louis Jackson, Kansas City’s homegrown playwright, passed away suddenly in 2023 at the age of 44, the world lost an amazing talent. He had grown up in Kansas City, Kansas, and knew well the blend of class, culture, and ethnicity. After getting an associate’s degree at Kansas City Kansas Community College, he went on to study theater at Kansas State, which presented few opportunities for Black actors. “I’m there in the Midwest, and there ain’t no other Black folks doing this, so I’d just end up doing August Wilson every time,” Jackson told The New York Times. “I wanted to do a piece that speaks for me, so I said, ‘I’ll just write my own stuff.”
Jackson was still a student at Juilliard when his play Broke-ology premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts in 2008. It told the story of two young Black men growing up in Kansas City, Kansas, who confront each other over the care of their father, who has multiple sclerosis. A year later, Broke-ology opened off-Broadway and then Lincoln Center. And Jackson’s star was officially on the rise.
Jackson was the playwright-in-residence at Kansas City Repertory Theatre from 2013 to 2019.
This month, from February 11 through March 2, KCRep honors the legacy of Jackson with a new staging of this smart, funny, and quietly powerful play.
Click here for more information and tickets.
Momix: Alice
Who better to take us down the rabbit hole than Momix, a company of dancer-illusionists under the direction of Moses Pendleton on February 15 at 7 p.m. at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
As the Harriman-Jewell Series continues another successful season, the contemporary dance group conjures a new Alice.
In her topsy-turvy world, Alice grows and shrinks and grows again. She meets a surrealistic group of inhabitants, from the Red Queen to the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat.
“You can see why I think Alice is a natural fit for Momix and an opportunity for us to extend our reach,” says Pendleton. “I want to take this show into places we haven’t been before in terms of the fusion of dancing, lighting, music, costumes, and projected imagery.”
As with every Momix production, you never quite know what you are going to get. Audiences will be taken on a journey that is both magical, mysterious, fun, eccentric, and much more. As Alice falls down the rabbit hole and experiences every kind of transformation, so will you.
Click here for more information and tickets.
A Trio of Exhibits at Leedy-Voulkos Gallery
You can see not one or two but three exhibits of artists’ work at the Leedy-Voulkos Gallery in the Crossroads from now through March 28.
In A Perspective, Kansas City Art Institute graduate Kate Hunt explores the power of landscape expressed with the material and symbolic nature of newspaper. She first worked with newspaper as a material during her studies at KCAI. In works like Calcium Flag Here in Mexico, which combines newspaper, calcium, and steel, “I create sculpture using newspaper as my primary material. They are constructed through processes of stacking, cutting, gluing, wrapping, coating, and burning,” says Hunt, who now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
In Two Cracked Pots by Don Joyner, the ceramic artist remembers and celebrates his friendship with the late founder of the gallery, Jim Leedy, as a creative dialogue and collaboration between friends.
In Still on Track, you’ll see the tiny sculptures made by Charlie Poynter, who retired after 55 years in the mailroom at the Kansas City Star. Poynter uses found and recycled objects such as bottle openers to create small character sculptures that remind us that it’s never too late to get creative.
Click here for more information.