Coming up at Kechi Playhouse: Patsy Cline and big spiders

Pragmatism has always reigned high in Misty Maynard’s world, which is how she has kept her theater running for 44 years. It’s fueled by a budget smaller than that of some Kansan households and a wheelbarrow full of passion — hers and that of her (mostly) loyal audiences.

Granted, she lost a few of them following last summer’s construction season, which turned the neighborhood into a potential setting for a war movie and rendered her theater factually inaccessible: you had to park a block away and step over barriers to get to it.

And — as with theaters and all entities everywhere involving public interactions — the catastrophic aftermath of the COVID era continues.

But Maynard has the spine of an English woman in the London Blitz, and she persists. Along with her further shrunken budget, she’s adapting to a delayed start in preparations after directing Wichita Community Theatre’s extraordinary production of “Medea,” which opened in April.

The women of the Chorus appeal to the motherly instincts of Medea (Jami Thomas) in the Misty-Maynard-directed production. Courtesy photo by Grant Seymour for Wichita Community Theatre.

Her 44th season includes three royalty-free shows (free because she wrote them): “Noir Comedy” in July, “Office Party” in September, and the popular “IX’TICHA** Spider-God of the Amazon!!!” in October.

“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” based on Robert Fulghum’s best-selling book, opens the season in June.

“The cast can be adapted by size and gender and age” based on actor availability in Wichita’s busy spring and summer theater season, Maynard said.

Her featured centerpiece, in August, is “Always…Patsy Cline.”

The exterior shot of Kechi Playhouse during the pre-construction bliss of their summer 2024 season. Photo by Kendra Cremin for the SHOUT.

“I have wanted to do it for a long time, but I was sort of scared to try it; it is very expensive. But after COVID and the street construction, I wanted something that would bring more people back to the theater. Stephanie Hug is going to play Patsy Cline, and she is very excited about it.”

The Details

“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" will run from June 5-28 at Kechi Playhouse, 100 E. Kechi Road in Kechi, Kansas.

Find more information about the upcoming season on the Kechi Playhouse Facebook page.

_Anne Welsbacher writes plays, fiction and nonfiction, and book and theater reviews. She can be found on Substack and Bluesky. She is the Performing Arts Editor for this publication. _awelsbacher.com

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