"2012 Best of Offstage" by Bryan Colley

Here are some of the most noteworthy blog postings from 2012. 

Note that in some instances, links to KC Star articles may be dead thanks their policy of sending news into the archives. KC Star archives are accessible for free through your public library website.

FROM COW TOWN TO ARTS TOWN

• Mayor Sly James did a good job positioning Kansas City as an arts town at the City Age Conference, thoroughly recapped by Steve Paul and The Local Show.  Expect more this coming year with Sly James' upcoming task force on the arts public meeting.
• Jabulani Leffall looked at how Artists Inc. helps local artists on KCUR's Central Standard.
• Robert Trussell looked at a study that compares the arts in St. Louis with Kansas City. (KC Star link is dead)
• The Kauffman Center won the "Development of Distinction" award for its architecture, with an excellent video about what makes the Kauffman great.
• In the aftermath of the Kansas City Fringe Festival, we were treated to hundreds of photos from the many events, daily from July 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.
• Eric Bowers never tires of photographing the Kauffman Center, and this year he took to the air to get some new angles on our new icon.
• Dugan Arnett at Ink toured the new Arts Asylum and interviewed it's owners Alex and Courtney Perry. The Arts Asylum also produced this great video about the value of arts in KC.

THEATRE

• Robert Trussell took a look at our local celebrities and the growing popularity of alternative theatre.
• The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle took an extensive look at playwrights and directors in the Barn Players 6x10 Play Festival.
• Robert Trussell looked back at the 40th anniversary of the New Theatre Restaurant and the 25th anniversary of the American Heartland Theatre.
• Several theatres produce cast and crew interviews for their shows, but the one for UMKC's Lady by the Sea is particularly well-done and informative.
• Lonita Cook interviewed actor Nancy Marcy on The Artist Tree.
• Kyle Hatley was interviewed by Robert Trussell for Little Shop of Horrors at the KC Repertory.
• The Local Show took us inside the KC Actors Theatre. 
• Marion Ross gave a delightful interview with Michael Mackie on KC Live when she was appearing at the New Theatre Restaurant.
• Robert Trussell reported on a new play about congresswoman Barbara Jordan at the Gem Theatre.
• KC Stage's Angie Fielder interviewed actor and acting coach Andy Garrison for Stage Savvy.
• I enjoyed Robert Trussell's entertaining celebrity interview with George Hamilton, who was appearing in La Cage Aux Folles at Starlight.
• The Living Room produced a slick video for its second anniversary. 
• Million Dollar Quartet creator Chuck Mead was interviewed by Robert Trussell.
• Burlesque entertainers Annie Cherry and Damian Blake were interviewed by Dugan Arnett at Ink.
• Robert Trussell did a great interview with Marilyn Lynch when she appeared in Three Tall Women at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre. (KC Star link is dead)
• Finally, this fun Thank You video from the Kansas City Repertory's Christmas Carol cast and crew was a great way to end the year. The play was also fondly remembered by audience members.

MUSIC

• Everything came together this year for one of the highest profile events in the city's history. The Kansas City Symphony, Joyce DiDonato, the Kauffman Center, and KCPT joined forces to produce Homecoming. The event was reviewed by Steve Paul. (KC Star link is dead)
• KCPT also gave us great seats for Celebration at the Station with the KC Symphony.
• The American Jazz Museum gave us "PEER Into the Future".
• KU Professor Steven Spooner released a five disc Listz collection.
• NBC Action News put the Mutual Musicians Foundation in the spotlight when the Jazz District became the focus for a federally funded international travel campaign.
• The Kansas City Area Development Council gave us this nice portrait of Jeff Harshbarger.
• The Local Show looked at the KC Symphony and the KC Fringe Festival, as well as Starlight and the Charlotte Street Foundation.
• Community of Christ organist Jan Kraybill was interviewed by Adrianne DeWeese at The Examiner about her new job at the Kauffman Center, and her Super Bowl Sunday Recital.
• Timothy Finn explored the long history of BCR in the KC Star.
• The future of jazz was discussed by local musicians on KCUR.
• Lindsay Adams with the University News interviewed composer Kerwin Young.
• A nice article in the KC Star about instrument builders in Lee's Summit. (KC Star link is dead)
• NBC Action News interviewed at a cancer survivor providing music therapy.
• Chevy dealers partnered with local musicians to produce commercials.

FILM

• Filmmaker Sharon Wright created the very personal and disturbing short film Tell Me You Love Me.
• Adrianne DeWeese at The Examiner gave an extensive interview with Leedy: The Documentary director Matt Hawley. Alice Thorson also gave a great preview of the film.
• Kevin McKinney and Jill McKeever gave an interview about their new documentary Corporate FM.
• KCUR produced a nostalgic history of the station.
• Matt Connolly and Vicki Rocco from the Independent Filmmakers Coalition were interviewed by Lonita Cook on The Artist Tree.
• The Local Show covered Gordon Parks Elementary celebration of photographer Gordon Parks at the Gem Theatre.
• I was impressed by this collection of nature films by storm chaser Stephen Locke. 
• Emiel Cleaver made a documentary about Freedom, Inc., and was interviewed on KCUR and by Cindy Hoedel at the KC Star. (KC Star link is dead)
• Here's a quick look at the filmmakers that showed at Kansas City FilmFest.
• KCTV reported on the extensive collection of jazz films being restored by the American Jazz Museum.
• Tim Engle at the KC Star took a look at our many local television shows.
• Hermon Mehari gave Microsoft a tour of Kansas City.
• Some young farmers in rural Kansas created the great parody music video I'm Farming and Grow It.
• KC Women in Film and Television hooked up with Google.
• I wish I could have video wallpaper on my computer and just loop this aerial footage of Kansas City in the background. It makes the city look shiny and well lit. I would also include these time lapse videos by Wesley Richardson.
• UMKC's University News delved extensively into professor Stephen Pruitt's Work in Progress film. 
• KCUR looked at ongoing plans for the Disney Studio.
• Justin Kendall at the Pitch interviewed Gary Huggins about Kick Me.  Huggins also happened to find a lost Robert Altman film at a flea market, garnering some national attention.
• Chris Williamson directed the feature length hip-hop documentary Mics on Fire.
• If you're stuck in traffic you might want to watch Jason Hunt's documentary about the KC Scout traffic management service, or maybe wait until you get home.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the charming Prize Winning Day music video produced by the games staff at Worlds of Fun.
• Two local filmmakers created a musical collage called Troost: A Street Musical.
• The Bruce Watkins Center had an exhibit about film actress Hattie McDaniel. (KC Star link is dead)

DANCE

• The Kansas City Star took us inside the Kansas City Ballet School. (KC Star link is dead)
• Dugan Arnett at Ink looked at the growing fame of Quixotic Fusion.

REGION

• Remembering 1983's nuclear annihilation of Kansas City, The Day After Museum opened in Lawrence.
• It was interesting reading about Sara Shepherd's Lawrence Journal World article about the East Hill Singers prison chorus at the Lansing Correctional Facility, which gave a performance in Lawrence.
• Amy Wilder's Columbia Daily Tribune interview with scene designer Ryan Zirngibl is a rare peek behind the scenes.
• Actor Paul Giamatti was touched after visiting Joplin following the tornado.
• The News-Press Now in St. Joseph interviewed a couple that had performed Messiah for 50 years.
• The Missourian looked at Missouri University's Troubling Violence Performance Project and the Prison Performing Arts program.
• Higginsville, Missouri struggled to save its movie house from digitization.

EDUCATION

• The Examiner told us about this great high school "Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat" program run by theatre students.
• Lisa Gutierrez at the KC Star gave a nice preview of Rockhurst High School's Fighter. (KC Star link is dead)
• NBC Action News interviewed an eager teen director that was self-producing Rent.

HISTORY

• The Charlotte Street Foundation looked back at KC's underground art and theatre movement with a Living Archive, including interviews with Lisa Cordes, Stephen Collins, Leo Wetherill, Mark Manning, and David Luby.
• The history of the Jewish Community Center's Resident Theatre was chronicled in a new book.
• The Local Show provided a nice history of the Folly Theatre.
• kcjazzlark dug up some old video of Jay McShann performing at the 1986 Kansas City Jazz Festival, and explored Kansas City in the 1930s.
• Tim Engle at the KC Star looks back at Phyllis Diller's visit to KC.
• Justin Gardner discovered local film pioneer George Hale.
• The Atlantic gave us the history of the Jazz District.