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Event Archive

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Format: 2013-05-25
Format: 2013-05-25
  • In honor of Black History Month Tommy Terrific performs a magic show based on the life of African-American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver.
    Tommy Terrific Presents George Washington Carver
    Friday, February 22, 2013

    In honor of Black History Month Tommy Terrific will be performing a magic show about the African-American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver. The show will feature magic tricks related to Carver’s promotion of peanuts, sweet potatoes, and much more. Tommy will explore the products, inventions, and accomplishments of Carver, also known as the “Wizard of Tuskegee.” This show is appropriate for children of all ages.

    Other performances are scheduled during the month of February:

  • Topeka native Gary Jackson reads from and discusses his comic book-inspired Missing You, Metropolis, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the exceptional first book by an African American poet.
    Missing You, Metropolis
    Thursday, February 21, 2013
    Central Library

    Topeka native Gary Jackson reads from and discusses his Missing You, Metropolis, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the exceptional first book by an African-American poet.

    With humor and the delight of a serious comic book collector, Jackson – recently named one of “five young black writers you should be reading now” – imagines the comic-book world of Superman, Batman, and the X-Men co-existing with the real world of Kansas, racial isolation, and the gravesides of a sister and a friend.

    Co-sponsored by Park University and the University of Central Missouri.

  • Author Henry Wiencek examines our first president’s long struggle with the issue of slavery, an experience that moved him to free all his slaves upon his death.
    An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves and the Creation of America - Henry Wiencek
    Wednesday, February 20, 2013
    Plaza Branch

    George Washington was a slave owner, a fact which he described as his “only unavoidable subject of regret.” So much did he regret it that in his will Washington made the startling decision to free his slaves. Author Henry Wiencek, who in 2012 spoke at the Library about Thomas Jefferson’s attitudes toward slavery, now examines the relationship between the most iconic of our Founding Fathers and the “peculiar institution.”

  • Area high school students take part in the annual competition created by the English Speaking Union to bring Shakespeare's work to life through unique interpretation of his monologues and sonnets.
    Annual Shakespeare Competition
    Sunday, February 17, 2013
    Plaza Branch

    Area high school students bring Shakespeare’s work to life through their unique interpretation of his monologues and sonnets. The competition, created by the English Speaking Union, aims to develop students’ speaking and critical thinking skills as they explore Shakespeare.

    Previous winners have gone on to win the national competition in New York, where the winner is awarded a full tuition scholarship to the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer Conservatory Program.

  • The annual Searching the Psyche Through Cinema film screening and discussion series returns for an examination of Kansas City’s own home-grown cinema auteur, Robert Altman.
    McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
    Sunday, February 17, 2013
    Plaza Branch

    This annual film series returns for an examination of Kansas City’s own home-grown cinema auteur, Robert Altman.

    Often referred to as Altman’s “anti-Western,” this dreamlike story follows bumbling gambler McCabe (Warren Beatty) as he settles into a remote mining town and establishes a bordello with the help of the English madam Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie). His success attracts the attention of a predatory corporation that employs killers as members of its acquisition team.

    Rated R; 120 minutes.

  • Filmmaker Terence O’Malley explores the relationship between Harry Truman and “Boss” Tom Pendergast, whose corrupt machine helped propel Truman’s political career.
    Terence O’Malley: The President & “The Boss”
    Sunday, February 17, 2013
    Central Library

    Local filmmaker Terence O’Malley employs clips from his latest documentary, Harry & Tom, to show how Harry Truman rose through public service – from county official to president of the United States – with the help of Kansas City’s notorious Pendergast political machine.

    An insurance executive by day, O’Malley has produced, written, and directed two previous feature documentaries: Nelly Don: A Stitch in Time about local fashion icon Nell Donnelly, and Black Hand, Strawman, a history of organized crime in Kansas City.

  • Coterie Theatre artists read from their favorite children’s books while the audience enjoys an opportunity to “jump into the story” on stage. This program is appropriate for all ages.
    Coterie Theatre - Dramatic Story Time
    Sunday, February 17, 2013
    Plaza Branch

    Children and parents are invited to be part of monthly interactive story times presented by the Coterie Theatre. Coterie Theatre artists read from favorite children's books while audience members enjoy an opportunity to "jump into the story" and then participate in an improvised story of their own making.

  • Nine workshops will be held at North-East, Plaza, and Bluford branches between February 2013 and May 2013 for children ages 5 – 14 to create their own masterpieces.
    Westport Center for the Arts: Kids Team Up for Art!
    Saturday, February 16, 2013

    Children in kindergarten through eighth grade are encouraged to create their own masterpieces and have good, messy fun during the spring session of the Westport Center for the Arts' "Kids Team Up for Art" workshops.

    Local artists will lead participants to focus on both individual skill building and the completion of a group project by the end of the session.

  • This one-hour production features select Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems performed by actor and musician Hughston Walkinshaw. Walkinshaw portrays five different characters as composer Rex Hobart accompanies with music and retorts from a reactive electric guitar!
    Coterie Theatre Presents: Tell-Tale Electric Poe
    Friday, February 15, 2013
    Plaza Branch

    This one-hour production features select Edgar Allan Poe stories (The Pit and the Pendulum and The Tell-Tale Heart) and poems (Alone, The Bells, and The Raven) performed by classically trained actor Hughston Walkinshaw. Composer Rex Hobart accompanies with musical lines and retorts from a reactive electric guitar.

    This show contains mature themes and is recommended for ages 13 and above.

  • In a special Valentine’s Day program, scholar Marilyn Yalom employs the literature of Moliere, Racine, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, and Simone de Beauvoir to reveal the Gallic evolution of love over the centuries.
    How the French Invented Love: Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance
    Thursday, February 14, 2013
    Central Library

    Just in time for Valentine’s Day, scholar Marilyn Yalom employs the literature of Moliere, Racine, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, and Simone de Beauvoir to reveal the Gallic evolution of love over the centuries.
    She examines how the French invented love, how they have kept it vibrant for over nine centuries, and why the French love
    experience is unique.

    Yalom has been a professor of French and comparative literature and is senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University.