Previous Special Events

In the third season of the Script-in-Hand series of stage performances, the Kansas City Public Library and Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre present the John Kander and Fred Ebb classic, Chicago.

The fourth play in the Law & Literature series is scheduled for Sunday, May 3, at 2 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

On Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m. at the L.H. Bluford Branch, 3050 Prospect Ave., the Library and the Black Health Care Coalition screen two parts of the documentary series, Unnatural Causes. Boxed lunches will be provided between screenings of In Sickness and in Wealth and Place Matters.

On Friday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St., local author Andrea Warren presents her recently released nonfiction book for young adults Under Siege! Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg.

A National Endowment for the Arts initiative, The Big Read returns to Kansas City in April 2009 to bring readers the Tobias Wolff novel Old School.

On Wednesday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Gene Healy presents his book The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power.

Kansas City Public Library Director Crosby Kemper III interviews President Harry S. Truman, portrayed by Ray Starzmann, as part of the Library’s Meet the Past series on Tuesday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Author and historian Lynne Olson discusses her new book Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England on Monday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

On Sunday, April 26, at 2 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St., Monique Laney, the 2008 recipient of the Richard and Jeannette Sias Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities, presents a talk titled How German Rocket Engineers Became Americans in Huntsville, Alabama.

Neil Fleming, the Fulbright-Robertson visiting professor of British history at Westminster College, presents a talk titled Churchill and Ireland on Saturday, April 25, at 2 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

On Friday, April 24, at 10 a.m., the Walt Bodine Show, featuring the Kansas City radio icon, will broadcast live from the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St. 

Bodine and special guest host and noted local radio personality, Chuck Haddix, will discuss recently re-discovered interviews conducted by Bodine with notable figures such as Robert F. Kennedy, Werner von Braun, Kansas City Mayor Ilus Davis, and many more.