The University Playhouse
- Title
- The Tempest at the University Playhouse
- Creator
- (unknown)
- Date
- 1956
- Subject
- Kansas City, Missouri
- University of Missouri- Kansas City
- University Playhouse
- The Tempest (William Shakespeare)
- Description
- Thirteen people are spread out across a stage, wearing ornate costumes. All are men except for one woman wearing a long dress. Two men, one wearing a crown and one wearing a shiny costume, stand on steps slightly above the others. Three men lay or sit on the floor while the others stand around them.
- Publisher
- n/a
- Type
- Photograph
- Coverage
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Source
- n/a
- Rights
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Item sets
- Patricia McIlrath
- Media
SKM_360i25031815500.jpg
- Title
- Phaedra at the University Playhouse
- Creator
- (unknown)
- Date
- 1956
- Subject
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Phaedra (Seneca)
- University of Missouri- Kansas City
- Description
- Two actors perform a scene from the play Phaedra. A woman wearing a long red dress and holding a sword kneels in front of a man wearing a white and orange tunic and holding a staff. The set around them has columns and a painted image of a man wrestling a bull.
- Publisher
- n/a
- Type
- Photograph
- Coverage
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Source
- n/a
- Rights
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Item sets
- Patricia McIlrath
- Media
SKM_360i25031815511.jpg
- Title
- The Hazelton Family on the University Playhouse Patio
- Creator
- (unknown)
- Date
- August 17, 1985
- Subject
- Kansas City, Missouri
- University Playhouse
- University of Missouri- Kansas City
- Hazelton, Maureen
- Hazelton, Janie
- Hazelton, Kevin
- Description
- A woman, Maureen Hazelton, sits on a short brick wall with two children, ten-year-old Janie and eight-year-old Kevin Hazelton. Behind them is a large outdoor fireplace with a carving reading "University Playhouse." A large carved face is visible on one side of the fireplace.
- Publisher
- n/a
- Type
- Photograph
- Coverage
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Source
- n/a
- Rights
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Item sets
- Patricia McIlrath
- Media
SKM_360i25031815490.jpg
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Throughout the early years of the revitalized UMKC theater and the Missouri Repertory Theater, productions took place in the KCU Playhouse.
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Being a theater was the second life for the building, which was initially built in 1943 in Camp Crowder, a military base, in Neosho, Missouri. The university purchased the building, along with others, for use on campus.
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The Playhouse cost $300,000 and opened as a theater in December of 1948 with a production of Elizabeth the Queen.
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The building, which was initially built to last only around 10 years, was ultimately in use for around 34 years! However, by the 1960s it was showing its age.
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A letter from 1964 mentioned infestations of “black spiders in the basement and on stage areas” and “cockroaches in the kitchenette of the green room as well as throughout all the storage areas”!
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In addition, until the late 1960s, the Playhouse’s lack of air conditioning caused serious issues. According to the rules of the Actors Equity Association, the Missouri Repertory theater could not become an Equity affiliated theater until they had an air-conditioned theater. In 1967, the University Associates paid for the Playhouse to be air-conditioned, allowing the Rep to be an Equity theater, and providing more comfort to actors and audience members.
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The KCU Playhouse was inspected for safety every year, and in 1976 the inspectors discovered that there were severe structural issues with the building. After UMKC hired consulting engineers, it was revealed that the Playhouse had “cracks in the trusses over the main auditorium.”
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The building was unsafe to enter and the Missouri Repertory Theatre and the UMKC theater department were both displaced with little notice.
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Dr. McIlrath said “I’ll do everything in my power to see the (Missouri Repertory Theatre) season open.”
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Luckily, the James C. Olsen Performing Arts Center was under construction when the Playhouse was condemned, so the performers only needed a new space for around a year.
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The J.C. Nicholas School, now Academie Lafayette, was eighteen blocks away from the UMKC campus and recently vacated in the spring of 1978. UMKC arranged to lease the building until the summer of 1979. The theater department and MRT occupied the classrooms and auditorium for around a year, with the academic productions taking place in the school auditorium with a renovated stage and the MRT productions taking place at Danciger Auditorium at the Jewish Community Center.
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The new performing arts center, however, would be a permanent home for both UMKC academic theater and MRT.