with the
Free State Liberation Orchestra
featuring members of the Uptown Mandolin Quartet
artistic direction and choreography by Deb Bettinger
script and stage direction by Ric Averill
orchestration and conducting by Jeff Dearinger
The Arts Center has re-cast the beloved Christmas ballet and set it in 1861, Kansas’ first year of statehood. More than 130 dancers and actors, from students to professionals, and a 13-piece orchestra featuring a mandolin quartet weave together Kansas’ abolition, suffrage and temperance politics with oversized personalities, unpredictable weather, plains landscape and the Civil War into Clara’s surreal ballet dreams. The intensity of the politics of the time paved the way for Quantrill’s Raid just two years later. Click the Quantrill’s Raid: A Kansas Nutcracker book cover (right) to download the history behind our production.
Pick up the Quantrill’s Raid Historic Sites Scavenger Hunt at the Lawrence Arts Center, Watkin’s Community Museum of History, Freedom’s Frontier community building or Lawrence Public Library, or click to download (left). Tour the places where these dramatic events took place, and imagine what Lawrence was like on that fateful day.
Actors and dancers in the show, click here for rehearsal schedules and other participant information.
►lower lobby exhibit
Exploring History Through A Kansas Nutcracker
Historic photos from the Watkins Community Museum of History
November 29 thru January 31, 2013
THE HOLIDAY PRODUCTION A Kansas Nutcracker kicks off a series of commemorative events in collaboration with the Watkins Community Museum of History, Freedom’s Frontier, and the Lawrence Public Library to recognize the sesquicentennial anniversary of Quantrill’s Raid. See photos of Lawrence and imagine what it was really like for the characters in our play.
EXPLORING HISTORY
Join us at the Arts Center for a series of discussions and presentations to kick off a year of commemorative events honoring those who were lost as a result of Quantrill’s Raid. Community members and cast are encouraged to attend, as the historic background of the setting for our Kansas Nutcracker brings a richer experience to this holiday classic.
SOUNDS OF THE TIMES with members of the Free State Liberation Orchestra
Tuesday, November 13 | 6 p.m.
Learn about the role music played on the battlefields and at home during the American Civil War. We’ll screen The Making of A Kansas Nutcracker, and Jeff Dearinger will talk about the mandolin, mandolin orchestras, and discuss and demonstrate how he orchestrated the music for our production. John Childers’ group, Saxophonia, will perform music of the times including a Stephen Foster Medley and A Suite of Old American Spirituals. Ric Averill will serve as moderator and will help to infuse the music into the history as presented in A Kansas Nutcracker.
HOW THE WOUNDS FROM “BLEEDING KANSAS”LED TO QUANTRILL’S RAID
Tuesday, November 27 | 6 p.m.
Gain perspective on the politics of 19th century Kansas with expert panelists on American Civil War history who make the connections between the setting of A Kansas Nutcracker and Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, while contemporary political scientists identify elements of Kansas character that came to identify our state. Panelists: Steve Nowak (Watkins Community Museum of History), Fred Conboy (Freedom’s Frontier), and Jeremy Neely (Missouri State University)