Video: MCC-Blue River Theatre Troupe presents "Cinema on Stage"

Favorite movie moments will be acted out for one matinee performance by the MCC-Blue River Theatre Troupe. The show will include classics like the Abbott and Costello comedy bit "Who's on First" and the frightening cinematic Sweeney Todd as well as newer film moments, like a scene from Mean Girls.

List of Scenes:

Shakespearian delirium for MCC-Blue River Theatre Troupe

An incredible feat of theatrical prowess will be presented by MCC-Blue River’s thespians as they perform all 37 of The Bard’s plays in just 97 minutes! What’s more, the performance is open to the public and proceeds benefit Harvesters. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is a magnificent and comical paring-down of all of Shakespeare’s theatrical works into a hilarious and manageable high speed histori-dromedy.

To quote Shakespeare’s Polonius from Hamlet, our MCC-Blue River actors must prove themselves to be "The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,/comedy, history, pastoral,/pastoral-comical,/historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-/comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or/poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor/Plautus too light." 

The group will touch on all of those styles, though with a particular flair for comedy, considering the thumb-in-the-eye and tongue-in-cheek that such a hilarious undertaking

MCC-Blue River Theatre Troupe Updates and Upcoming

Believe it or not, spring is just around the corner and the MCC-Blue River Theatre Troup, under the leadership of Anne Mahoney, is shaping up for a busy season!

If you have a copy of the red Theatre poster, please note the following changes and adaptations:

April 12 and 14
Day and Evening: “Shakespeare Unabridged”
Are you ready for a little Shakespeare? MCC-Blue River's student artists will perform several riveting and captivating works of this historical dramatist. Come support students in the Black Box area in AS 124 at 12:30 p.m. or wait to bring your family for the evening performance at 7:00 p.m.

May 5 Performance
Students are preparing to kick-off spring with “Cinema Onstage”. They'll perform scenes and monologues from play musicals made from film or into film. Come to AS 124 at 12:30 p.m. for the daytime production.

BR Students Around the Community
Student artists will also perform at Barnes and Noble on the Country Club Plaza, the Independence Cultural Heritage Festival and for various elementary schools as part of the service learning component of class.

Irene Ryan nominees, Lee Roberts and Mike Brown, will represent Blue River at the KCACTF festival February 21 through February 26. Once they return, the two will give presentations to the class about what they learned during the experience.

Special Guest on Campus

Melinda McCray



Blue River hosted two professional equity actors this month. Their expertise brought a heightened level of professionalism to the college's acting one and two courses. Melinda McCrary, education & community programs director from the KC Reparatory, taught on February 8 and 10.



Harold Hynick

The second class will be taught by Harold Hynick in April. Hynick, assistant professor of Theatre at Missouri Valley College, will explain the skills and knowledge for winning auditions and improvisation.

2011 is looking good for MCC-Blue River's theatre troupe

MCC-Blue River theater instructor and program director, Anne Mahoney, is excited about the upcoming spring semester and some wonderful possibilities for her theatre students in 2011.

Fresh off their fall production of “The Brave Little Tailor,” an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, written by Brian Guehring, Mahoney is thrilled to announce that their adaptation has been entered into the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) scheduled later this spring. The KCACTF is a national theatre program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide.

MCC-Blue River’s production was entered as an associate production. As part of the troupe’s participation in festival activities, the performers and crew received

Update: Blue River's "The Brave Little Tailor"

Remember that feeling you'd get in elementary school when local actors would perform at your school? Well, you'll get that same feeling when you sit in on a performance by MCC-Blue River's Black Box Theatre Troupe!

Lighthearted fun in the middle of the day is what you may expect from the students' version of "The Brave Little Tailor".

For more information about MCC's Black Box Theatre, click here.

Next performance November 18 at 2:00 p.m. inside the Arts and Sciences building.

MCC-Blue River is bringing you drama

Today, Nov. 16, MCC-Blue River's own student artists are offering a way to reduce your workday stress!

Join them at 12:45 (or 12:35 to grab your seat) in room 124 in the Arts and Sciences building, as they open the fall show "The Brave Little Tailor" with a dress rehearsal. The show runs one hour.

You can also bring children to see the production on Thursday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. Also, on Nov. 23, the student artists will perform for over 400 children at Franklin Smith Elementary.

For more information and schedules, visit The Blue River theater website here.

Arts in the Afternoon

The MCC-Blue River Theatre Troup launched their 2010-2011 season yesterday (October 12) in room 124 inside the Arts and Sciences building on the Blue River campus!

Students skillfully performed several scenes and monologues from plays penned by American playwrights. Among them were colorful scenes from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” as well as a hilarious portrayal of Neil Simon’s the “Odd Couple”.

If you missed Tuesday’s performance, you're not out of luck! The Troupe will do another performance on Wednesday, October 14 inside the Arts and Sciences building. Join them from 12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. You won’t be disappointed!

For more information, contact theatre director, Anne Mahoney by phone at 816.604.6676 or email Anne Mahoney. You may also visit the MCC-Blue River Theatre Troup website at: http://mcckc.edu/blueriver/culturalarts/performances.html