By Paul Horsley

[NOTE: For a full transcript of our interview with Cynthia, check back here next week at kcindependent.com.]

When Cynthia Levin took the reins of the Unicorn Theatre in 1979, she had a specific vision: To produce plays that no one else was doing at the time, and to cultivate local talent to present them. Thirty-five years later the company’s producing artistic director remains as committed to those goals as ever, and through sheer tenacity she has built the Unicorn, now nationally known, into one of the most recognizable features of Kansas City’s cultural landscape.

This past season, the company’s 40th, represented simply some of the best theater I’ve seen anywhere, plus it saw the completion of a project many years in the making: the purchase of the theater’s property at 3828 Main Street. “Once I slowed down and looked at it, I couldn’t believe it,” Cynthia says of the season. “And also the idea that, in the 40th season, we were able to raise the money and buy that building. That was huge.”

But the 41st season of the Unicorn, which opens September 3rd with the Tony-nominated Hands on a Hardbody, suggests the company has no intention of letting up. “I barely stop for a ‘milestone,’ ” Cynthia says with a laugh. “People ask me, How have you been able to do this for 35 years, and keep doing what you’re doing? And my answer is always endurance. I’m a long-distance runner!” The mission of the Unicorn (founded in 1974 as Theatre Workshop) centers on content: It fosters plays by and about women, African-Americans, gays and other minority groups.

“Because nobody else in this town was doing that,” Cynthia says. “I looked around, when I made the commitment to do African-American plays 25 years ago, and the only plays being produced at that time were by August Wilson. He’s a great playwright but he is not the only voice. I was determined to find plays by African-American females, because nobody else was doing it. I thought, there’s an important voice to be heard. Or by gay writers, about gay characters that weren’t comedic stereotypes. Plays that addressed injustices being committed. That’s my vision.”

Among the Unicorn’s milestones have been countless award-winning plays (Art, The Laramie Project, Take Me Out), the first local production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America in 1996, and founding membership in the prestigious National New Play Network in 1998.

And all of this is being done, miraculously, with artists living right here in our midst. “We have, from the beginning, made a commitment to local artists,” Cynthia says. “I want people to stay here and live here.” Hers is one of several companies in town that produce work of such quality that highly gifted artists choose to live here. “Because here they can actually do the work,” Cynthia says. “There’s so much opportunity now.” Artists often wander off to New York or Chicago and wait tables before coming back to KC because of the work. “It’s not about fame or stardom,” she says. “It’s about, How can I live in a community and be able to act, or direct, or design … to do what I want to do?

“There’s nothing like the responsibility that we have as artists when we live in a community. My next-door neighbor is a subscriber. When I go to the grocery store I see half-dozen season ticket-holders. … People come up and say, You know I really loved that last show or, Could you add a little more leg room…? So there’s a responsibility to your community that you do your best work every time, because you’re going to meet up with them in line at the gas station or the grocery store. You can’t slack off.”

UNICORN THEATRE 2014-2015 SEASON

September 3rd through the 28th: Hands on a Hardbody, book by Doug Wright, lyrics by Amanda Green, music by Trey Anastasio & Amanda Green (directed by Missy Koonce, musical direction by Angie Benson, featuring Marc Liby, Sara Kennedy, Tim Scott, Daniel Beeman, Shea Coffman, Sam Salary, Jessalyn Kincaid, Julie Shaw, Matthew McAndrews, Trista Smith, Francisco Javier Villegas, Victoria Barbee, Cathy Barnett, Vincent Onofrio Monachino and Martin Buchanan)

October 22nd through November 16th: Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon (directed by Cynthia Levin, featuring Dina Thomas, Mark Thomas, Doogin Brown and Erika Baker)

December 3rd through the 28th: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph (directed by Ian R. Crawford, co-produced with UMKC Theatre, featuring Theodore Swetz, Danny Fleming, Damron Armstrong, Michael Thayer and Mariem Diaz)

December 11th through the 28th (season extra): I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers, by John Logan (directed by Sidonie Garrett, featuring Donna Thomason)

January 28th through February 15th: Lasso of Truth, a National New Play Network “rolling premiere” by Carson Kreitzer (directed by Johnny Wolfe, co-produced with UMKC Theatre, featuring Martin Buchanan, Carla Noack, Vanessa Severo, Jamie Dufault and Laura Jacobs)

March 4th through the 29th: Women Playing Hamlet: A Comedy about Tragedy, a world premiere by William Missouri Downs (directed by Cynthia Levin, featuring Katie Karel, Kathleen Warfel, Cathy Barnett and Meredith Wolfe )

April 22nd through May 17th: Cock by Mike Bartlett (directed by Jeff Church, featuring Jacob Aaron Cullum, Molly Denninghoff and Shea Coffman)

June 3rd through the 28th: Tribes by Nina Raine (directed by Theodore Swetz)

For more information about the Unicorn’s 41st season see unicorntheatre.org. See a transcript of our conversation with Cynthia, including comments on each show, at kcindependent.com/arts-corner. 

To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, email phorsley@sbcglobal.net or find him on Facebook (paul.horsley.501).

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