How about that snow?
Jamie Ulmer • January 6, 2025
How about that snow? As we dig out from this mega-dose of winter, let’s shift our focus to the joys of spring and summer. Think about working your snow-free garden, tending to beautiful plants and flowers, while keeping an eye on what’s happening in your neighbor’s backyard.
With those delightful warm thoughts in mind, our first regular season production of 2025, “Native Gardens” opening next week, will plant the seed of laughs, warmth, and sprout some thoughts too. This relatively new play is filled with fun and comedy as a misplaced fence line leads to an all-out feud between neighboring couples. This timely and topical comedy is a great way to dig out of the winter doldrums.
While it’s cold outside, it’s a hot time at TL. In addition to “Native Gardens” we have two other shows in rehearsal, youth productions and classes, and a new adult dance class every Saturday morning. TL is definitely defrosting your winter blues.
See you at the theatre
Jamie Ulmer
Executive Director
Theatre Lawrence News & Announcements
Theatre Lawrence is pleased to announce the first recipient of the Louise ImMasche Striving Artists Project is Anj Marie Riffel and her musical Chasing Nirvana . The show will receive a production at Theatre Lawrence Oct. 2 and 3, 2026. Information about auditions and participating in the first staging of this original musical will be available in the coming weeks. Anj Marie Riffel wears a stack of hats professionally and passionately — including writer, editor, designer, and songwriter — with an enduring love of artistic expression. Her short plays have been featured on stage at Theatre Lawrence for New Works Night. When she’s not searching for her missing iPhone or the meaning of life, Anj can be found wading heart-deep in creative pursuits and loving her people. The Striving Artists Project honors the legacy of Louise ImMasche and the art they created by fostering a space and providing resources to small artists with big shows. This project aims to provide an opportunity to kinder those like Louise – unyielding in their dreams, a need to tell their stories, and looking to go big with the chances they are provided. About the show: Travel back to the heyday of Gen X, when twentysomethings were trying to figure out who they were beyond the walls of Shermer High School—and discovering that reality does indeed bite. Presley Martin is an endearingly awkward, hot mess of a musician who’s hoping her band might be the next Nirvana. While reaching on tiptoe for the stars, she loses her balance and winds up flirting with rock bottom instead. With the resurgence of 1990s culture, CHASING NIRVANA feels simultaneously nostalgic and current. Driven by catchy 90’s alt-rock music, the story appeals to a multi-generational audience, as it examines life’s big questions: Who will love me? Why am I here? What really matters? Packed with heart, humor, and a healthy dose of pop-culture wisdom, we follow Presley’s journey as she navigates a Bermuda love triangle and risks losing herself in the void between two very different dreams. Will she find her own sense of nirvana?
Chris McCoy is an arts educator, theatre director, and nonprofit professional based in Kansas City and is excited to join Theatre Lawrence as Development Director.
Celebrate the Addams Family's legacy in our season finale. Join us for this beloved Broadway musical at Theatre Lawrence!