Be Radical

Every month, Kansas City Public Theatre presents new and experimental work in development by area artists, as well as work which reflects the unique history and culture of Kansas City. Experience the creation of new work and support area artists as they put new ideas to the stage!

All events are FREE and open to the public.

Interested in submitting a play for our upcoming Theatre Lab?

Interested in directing? We’re looking for directors to direct our upcoming Theatre Lab productions!

for…girls
by Darren Canady

Saturday, October 14
PH Coffee

Fresh off his controversial production of Dreamgirls (with puppets!), enfant terrible director Ty Derricks is offering the leadership of New Stages Repertory Company a bold new opportunity: the chance to premiere his risky, iconoclastic take on a production of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf. Reducing the cast size and employing only white women as actors, Ty creates a secretive, explosive production experience that drags the actors, the artistic leadership, and the local theatrical community towards a collision while his former confidante, Sheryl, fights to save not only the brilliance of the original play, but also what its landmark representations have meant to generations of Black women. for…girls is an acidic comedy that exposes the misogynoir, power struggles, and exploitation that make contemporary artmaking so fraught.

Gulag Girls
by Shea Ketchum

Saturday, December 2
PH Coffee

7 women survive the harsh imprisonment in Russian Gulag.

Deep Dark Nothingness
by Sarah Apilton

Saturday, February 3
PH Coffee

Despite everyone’s best intentions, a family vacation at the lake doesn’t go as planned, and the familiar dynamics of resentment soon spin out of control.

Novel
by Ryan Bernsten

Saturday, April 6
PH Coffee

When does ambition become psychopathy? Novel explores institutional abuse and madness as two writers mine their trauma to create a masterpiece in a writing program helmed by a horror novelist, only to find themselves trapped in a twisted experiment.

Tamale Season
by Gary Enrique Bradley-Lopez

Theatre Lab FEST, May 2024

Angel comes back from college and nonchalantly surprises his mom and Abuelita with news that he has a girlfriend, from college, who just happens to be black. Linda has tensions with her son dating a black person because of the death of her father. Abuelita prepares dinner for them to meet Natasha, but surprises tear the evening apart and potentially relationships. Tamales, of course, are what helps the chaos.

Besties
by Emma Carter

Theatre Lab FEST, May 2024

Five besties reunite, after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fall of Roe vs Wade. Despite the different paths they’ve taken, and the underlying resentments harbored for one another, they return to their home state of Missouri for a weekend, to support the one friend who still ties them all together. Each character struggles with their own insecurities in the face of unavoidable interpersonal conflict. This play explores the tricky dance that is navigating close relationships, even when love is present, as people grow and change.