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The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

Francis X. Connor and Darren DeFrain’s ‘No Choice But Action’ is a love letter to an almost lost Midwestern scene.

shoutwichita.com

Before the records fall apart: New book and album preserve a chaotic but brilliant Kansas music era

Charlie Maxton might have chosen another song to include in a new compilation dedicated to the post-punk scene in Kansas. But the music from that time is literally fragile. Maxton has the masters to several recordings by The Blivets, the band of his youth. They were captured on a specific kind of reel-to-reel tape that’s so notorious for falling apart that there’s a name for the condition: sticky shed syndrome. But he had a cassette recording of another track, “Willie Wheelchair,” which takes its title from the self-applied on-air nickname of William Heatwole, a KFDI-AM radio disc jockey whom Maxton worked with briefly. The song was originally released on The Blivets’ 1989 cassette “Margaret.” KFDI-AM radio disc jockey William Heatwole, aka Willie Wheelchair, inspired a Blivets song selected for the "No Choice But Action" compilation album. (Charlie Maxton/Courtesy) Maxton unearthed "Willie Wheelchair” for the project “No Choice but Action: The Kansas Postpunk Revolution,” a book by Wichita State University English professors Francis X. Connor and Darren DeFrain. The book, published by the University Press of Kansas, was released September 29 alongside a companion compilation album released by the Kansas City-based record collective Black Site. Two reunion concerts celebrating the release are scheduled for later this month, The Embarrassed Men, Freedy Johnson, and The Blivets perform October 16 at Barleycorn’s in Wichita. The following night, The Embarrassed Men, Get Smart!, Truck Stop Love and Other Geese perform at The Bottleneck in Lawrence. The Embarrassed Men are the remnants of the seminal Kansas post-punk group The Embarrassment, the exact kind of you-should-know-more-about-them band that DeFrain and Connor sought to capture in their book. The Embarrassment were perhaps the closest to “making it,” but hardly the only Kansas band from that era to gain notoriety and capture regional and national attention. Many scenes emerged in the immediate aftermath of the punk revolution, often around college towns like Lawrence. Another nearly famous act, Get Smart!, called Lawrence home, and Wichita-based The Embarrassment played many of their shows there. The momentum bubbled over into Wichita and Kansas City, Mo., too. DeFrain, originally from Utah, was familiar with the punk scene around his hometown college. After his academic career brought him to Wichita State, he fell into an eight-year-long research project with Connor that culminated in the book. As the book neared completion, he and Connor realized they were also the de facto caretakers of a treasure trove of unreleased or rarely heard songs, given that they had direct access to musicians in possession of the original recordings. They started collecting tracks and helped assemble what would become the soundtrack to their work. There was a bit of a race-against-time element involved: Not only are physical copies of these recordings falling apart, but an 18-year-old who started his first band in 1978 is now 66 years old. The front and back of the companion album feature images of the bands during their post-punk heyday. (Courtesy) “No Choice but Action: Kansas Postpunk 1978-1994" contains 24 songs from 24 different Kansas bands of the era. It’s mostly punk-oriented, but not even the musicians agree about how to categorize their sounds. The bands provided the songs to Connor and DeFrain in whatever format they had, and from whatever moment in their career spoke to them. The Embarrassment’s contribution, “Wellsville,” was captured on a Panasonic tape recorder. By contrast, the Moving Van Gogh’s song “Machines in the Garden” was professionally recorded for an EP the band never released. Wichita State graduate Lucas Gill remastered the hodgepodge into a cohesive document that DeFrain said is surprisingly strong considering the physical condition of the source material. Combined with the book, it’s a testament and love letter to a scene otherwise largely undocumented except through word-of-mouth. And some of those stranger-than-fiction stories are true. If there’s a singular moment of legend from the timeline in question, it may be when The Embarrassment were kicked out of their previous practice space because the home — where bassist Ron Klaus was living — was going to be demolished. They decided to play one more show there, and the concertgoers caused such destruction that it became a front-page story in The Wichita Eagle. Guitarist Bill Goffrier later memorialized the incident in a song for his post-Embarrassment band, Big Dipper. It was called, simply enough, “Ron Klaus Wrecked His House.” A recording from that night exists, but it was too degraded to be featured on the “No Choice But Action” album. On the recording, you can hear someone come on the PA system and ask people to stop lighting fires in the basement. Goffrier was a local hero to Maxton and his band, although The Embarrassment were through by the time The Blivets played their first show. The scene was still small then and mostly underground. Maxton and company played a lot of house shows, and at a list of small venues that no longer exist: The Spot on Douglas Avenue, Woody’s Backdoor near Central and Oliver, and the Coyote Club on North Broadway Street. They also played a lot at Kirby’s Beer Store, which still hosts live music. ## Our free email newsletter is like having a friend who __always__ knows what's happening Get the scoop on the Kansas arts & culture scene: events, news, artist opportunities, and more. Free, weekly & worth your while. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. The Blivets last played 13 years ago for a one-off reunion show at Kirby’s. Before that, Maxton estimated that it had been 20 years since they’d all been on stage together. There weren’t any hard feelings that prevented them from playing, or reuniting, Maxton said. Like a lot of bands from Kansas mentioned in the new book, they gained traction but never really broke through. “Touring out of Wichita, Kansas, was really hard, and we sort of realized that,” he said. He moved to San Francisco, then Portland, Oregon, where he’s been for more than two decades. DeFrain said the first draft of the book was 900 pages, and it’s been edited down to a more manageable size. That means it’s not a true compendium of the scene — there are more stories and more bands with stories worth telling. “We hope that someone has eight years (of research) in them for volume two,” he said. "No Choice But Action," published by the University Press of Kansas, hit shelves September 29 alongside a companion compilation album released by the Kansas City-based record collective Black Site. (Francis X. Connor and Darren DeFrain/Courtesy) For Maxton, who said he is thrilled to share the stage with The Embarrassed Men and Freedy Johnson, playing in a band was just something he and his friends did. They didn’t realize how important it all would feel 30 plus years later, and how reductive the national feelings towards music from “flyover country” would be. As “No Choice But Action” argues, Kansas had a thriving, influential scene that should have been bigger. “We didn’t realize that then, but we know that now,” Maxton said. ## The Details **“No Choice but Action: The Kansas Postpunk Revolution” by Francis X. Conner and Darren Defrain** 298 pages, $29.99 The book is available from University Press of Kansas and anywhere books are sold. You can find it in stock at many independent bookstores in Kansas. **“No Choice but Action: Kansas Postpunk 1978-1994"** Vinyl album ($40) and digital download (name your price) Purchase the album online, or find it at Wichita’s Spektrum Muzik, 811 W. Douglas Ave. In celebration of the release of the book and companion LP collection “No Choice But Action” about the Kansas post-punk scene, several bands featured in the new releases will reunite for special gigs — some performing for the first time in more than a decade. The gigs take place on back-to-back nights in Wichita and Lawrence: **The Embarrassed Men, The Blivets and Freedy Johnston** 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Barleycorn’s, 608 E. Douglas Ave. in Wichita **The Embarrassed Men, Truck Stop Love, Get Smart! and Other Geese** 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at The Bottleneck, 727 New Hampshire St. in Lawrence * * * _**Kevin Kinder** never learned to play an instrument but has written about music for more than two decades just the same. He’s a freelance writer and journalism educator._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

At age 94, the pioneering Black architect still hasn’t given up on Wichita.

shoutwichita.com

‘A Continuous Joy’: Charles McAfee's lifetime of architecture and activism in Kansas

In the summer of 1958, a young Black man from Wichita, Kansas, named Charles McAfee walked into the Los Angeles office of celebrated African American architect Paul Revere Williams. Williams, who was the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects, had become the go-to architect for Hollywood’s elite while also designing public housing projects for the city. In many ways, he represented what a young McAfee aspired to be. But when Williams offered McAfee a job, the young architect turned it down. He wasn’t ready to trade Kansas for California, even if life in Los Angeles might be considerably easier than in Wichita, where attitudes toward people of color were still shaped by Jim Crow laws and the city’s proximity to the South. Partly, it was stubbornness; a family friend had told McAfee that no architecture firm in Wichita would hire a Black man. But it was also a keen sense of history. Four generations of McAfees had called Wichita home, and it was this lineage that persuaded the young architect that he shouldn’t abandon his hometown. He recalls thinking of his grandfather and great-grandfather, “When you think about what the hell they went through, I ain’t having no problem like they did.” Two of McAfee's Wichita projects: Bob Thurman Field and Calvary Baptist Church. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) McAfee also saw opportunity. He believed in architecture’s potential to shape not just physical space but social attitudes, and he recognized its ability to help uplift his community. “He saw where he could help,” says Charyl McAfee-Duncan, McAfee’s youngest daughter, who followed her father and her older sister, Cheryl, into architecture and, eventually, the family firm. Even after he began to land commissions across the country, McAfee-Duncan says her father always came back to the city, “to try to move Wichita forward.” Photos and memorabilia in Charles McAfee's Wichita office capture memories from his long career, including time spent with close friend and fellow Kansan Gordan Parks. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) Nearly 70 years later, McAfee still calls Wichita home. At 94 years old, he moves with the help of a walker, but his mind is sharp. He speaks animatedly about his friendship with the photographer Gordon Parks, about the European basketball and tennis tournaments he played in while in the Army, about the time when, at age 29, he met the renowned architect I.M. Pei. He maintains an office on East 21st Street and is at work on a book about his life and career. One gets the sense that he does not like to sit still. Renowned architect I. M. Pei and a young Charles McAfee. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Groundbreaking at the time but somewhat overlooked in recent history, McAfee’s work has received newfound appreciation over the past several years, both locally and nationally. The recognition has come in part from the threat of demolition — a pool house McAfee designed in 1969 was successfully saved — but also from efforts like the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Black Modernism initiative, a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which has put a spotlight on the work of Black architects across the country. The city of Wichita renamed McAdams Pool to honor its architect. During a celebration in June, Charles McAfee said it should also be named for his family, including his great-grandfather Jacob McAfee, who made a life in Kansas after he was wounded in the Civil War. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT)In June, the city of Wichita held an event in celebration of McAfee Pool's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Pictured from left: Wichita District 1 council member Joseph Shepard, physician Val Brown Jr., former District 1 council member Brandon Johnson, Charles McAfee, and Angela Buckner, recreation superintendent for the city of Wichita. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) At a time when the country is once again characterized by deep social and racial divisions, McAfee’s career is instructive. As an architect, he was deeply influenced by social movements and recognized the necessity of community organizing. He understood that political action was inseparable from the work of social progress. “(McAfee’s) work reflected the history, resilience, and aspirations of the people he served,” says Erica Smith Goetz, co-director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. “His legacy is not only measured by the structures he created, but by the opportunities he created with those spaces.” As McAfee puts it, “I wasn’t an architect. I was an activist.” ## Our free email newsletter is like having a friend who __always__ knows what's happening Get the scoop on the Kansas arts & culture scene: events, news, artist opportunities, and more. Free, weekly & worth your while. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Charles McAfee was born on Christmas Day in 1932 in Los Angeles. He spent his childhood in the McAdams neighborhood in northeast Wichita and attended the then-segregated L’Ouverture School, where in 7th grade he took his first drafting class. Val Brown, Jr., a Wichita physician and longtime friend of the McAfee family, says the young McAfee grew up drawing nonstop. “Charlie was designing homes in high school,” he says. “I don't think he got paid, but he was just drawing, designing homes.” After high school, McAfee attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During his third year, he was drafted into the Army, which sent him to Germany. “There were only two things good about that,” McAfee says. One, McAfee was able to see firsthand much of the European architecture he had studied in his first two years of school. Two, as a Black man, he could play sports that he was barred from in certain parts of the U.S. “I played basketball and tennis all over Rome, London, Paris, every place,” he says. “I made the European All-Star basketball team.” Upon returning to the States and graduating with a degree in architecture, McAfee turned down job offers on both coasts to begin his career in Wichita. He bounced between several local firms. At each one, he found he was prohibited from attending client meetings because of the color of his skin. He went to his father to tell him he was rethinking his decision, that he was considering leaving Kansas after all. Charles McAfee's architectural drawing for the Eubanks project. (McAfee3/Courtesy) “He looked at me straight in the face and says, ‘Why are you not happy?’” McAfee recalls. “I said, ‘Daddy, I want to put my name on the door.’ My father said, ‘Let’s do it.’” With his father’s help, McAfee rented the upper floor of a two-story building in downtown Wichita and opened the firm that would become McAfee Architects, Engineers, and Planners. He had just one client, a couple, Roscoe and Sara Eubanks, friends of the McAfee family, who commissioned McAfee to design their “contemporary dream home.” Sited on a small, urban lot, McAfee used a solid wall along the street to provide privacy and a series of glass sliding doors and outdoor patios on the other three sides to create a spacious, light-filled interior. Clad almost entirely in vertical cedar siding, the house and garage appear from the street as two simple brown boxes. The Eubanks home was Charles McAfee's first solo project, and it demonstrates the design approach that would characterize much of his later work. Working within space and budget constraints, he created a house capable of accommodating both formal and casual family life. (McAfee3/Courtesy)The Eubanks family was the first client of Charles McAfee's Wichita architecture firm. The home he designed still stands at 1426 N. Madison St., not far from McAdams Park. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) Archival and current views of the Eubanks Residence. (McAfee3/Courtesy and Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) The design was not only decidedly modern but innovative — at least, so thought a 19-member jury convened by the federal Housing and Home Finance Agency, which selected the Eubanks Residence, alongside works by the likes of I.M. Pei, as one of 86 winners in a national housing design competition. “In about three months, I had projects from Maine to Texas,” McAfee says. He was 29 years old. The Brown House was a McAfee project conceived around family, landscape, and the Kansas environment. The site contained six other family structures built over generations, so McAfee approached the house as a place where children, grandchildren, relatives, and friends could gather. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Materially, the Brown house combines warm-toned board-formed concrete, rough-sawn cedar siding and bronze glass. Shed forms and orientation control natural light, while cedar and fir columns, beams, and decking bring warmth to the interiors. (McAfee3/Courtesy) The Brown House takes advantage of views toward a lake, cottonwood and elm trees, wheat fields and the Kansas sky. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Even as McAfee’s individual star was rising, his community was struggling. Like other cities across the country, Wichita was experiencing the disastrous effects of white flight. As areas of the city suffered disinvestment, a policy of urban renewal became its answer. Huge sections of the city were razed to make way for civic projects and new highway infrastructure. In McAdams, dozens of homes were bulldozed to make way for Interstate 135, aka the Canal Route. “When they decided to build the highway, they ran it straight through the Black neighborhood,” McAfee-Duncan says. Among the Canal Route’s casualties was McKinley Park, historically one of the few public green spaces Black people were permitted to use. In addition to altering the size and layout of the park, the city planned to demolish the swimming pool. “The swimming pool was the only place that black kids could swim,” says Brown Jr., the physician. As construction of I-135 got underway, McAfee saw an opportunity to play an active role in the future of the park. From the beginning, McAfee balanced the demands of his practice with the kinds of organizing that he saw as critical to achieving lasting change. He ran political campaigns for people like A. Price Woodard, who would become Wichita’s first Black mayor, and he frequently spoke out on racial issues. In the mid-1960s, as the use of racial covenants in property deeds came under scrutiny, McAfee testified in front of the Wichita city commission that it was their duty to be the city’s “conscience” and pass a “just and moral” fair housing law. “You’ve got to have the guts to do it,” he said in 1966. “You have to tell the young people here that they will have an opportunity.” McAfee-Duncan says her father has always been “a fighter.” “He was rough, he was tough, and he could cuss,” she says. When public life followed him home, and his daughters caught him on the local news, they knew it meant, _Uh oh, Daddy’s mad_. McAfee-Duncan says. But there was another side to their father, too. The architecture firm was a family affair, as were its successes. His daughters knew when “Daddy” won an award; their mother, Gloria, would buy them dresses for the occasion. McAfee remembers the excitement surrounding those moments: “It was what the occasion created,” he says. As McAfee’s practice grew, he began to take on projects of greater scale and visibility. His clients included prominent Black businesses, such as Jackson Mortuary on East 13th Street, as well as major civic institutions. He designed the Wichita Eagle-Beacon building on Douglas Avenue downtown and McKnight Art Center on the Wichita State University campus, expanding a portfolio that was increasingly visible across the city. The Wichita Eagle-Beacon building was created in 1971. Because enormous rolls of newsprint had to be stacked inside, the first floor was designed for a live load of 500 pounds per square foot, making it the strongest building ever built in Wichita. Board-formed concrete created the distinctive vertical facade while addressing structural and fire-code requirements. The building was torn down in 2017. (McAfee3/Courtesy) An addition to The Wichita Eagle building provided newsprint storage and mailroom distribution facilities, with a basement and two floors initially constructed with provisions for expansion to five floors. Two active railroad lines complicated construction, requiring the columns to be positioned so they would not interfere with the tracks. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Like most of his contemporaries, McAfee was a modernist. Begun in Europe with schools like the Bauhaus, the modernist movement preached minimalism and prized functionality, foregoing other architectural styles’ desire for ornamentation as part of a belief in design’s ability to serve everyday people, rather than only the wealthy. McAfee’s embrace of modernism is visible in much of his work, from the sharp angles and exposed concrete of McKnight Art Center to the simple geometries of the Jackson Mortuary building, where the spacing of the roof’s thin metal columns echoes perfectly the placement of the windows and the joints in the walkway. The Jackson Mortuary on East 13th Street was one of Charles McAfee's first major projects. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) An archival photo of McKnight Art Center on the Wichita State University campus. (McAfee3/Courtesy) McKnight Art Center, summer 2026. The Joan Miró mosaic "Personnages Oiseaux" and an ADA-accessible entrance were later modifications to the building. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) Views of McKnight Art Center's west building, which features an atrium partially lit by a massive skylight. Though McKnight's exterior is clad in red brick, the interior is all about the exposed concrete. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) But McAfee was concerned with more than style. At McKinley Park — now McAdams Park — the community pushed the city to replace the park amenities that were being demolished, and McAfee was eventually awarded a contract to design a new pool. Charles McAfee's architectural drawing for the municipal swimming pool in what is now McAdams Park. (McAfee3/Courtesy) As a building type, public pools are usually utilitarian at best. But filtered through McAfee’s modernist lens, the McAdams Pool became a monument to Black joy. Soaring light posts gave it a presence within the larger park, and waffle-like concrete shade canopies provided comfortable places to lounge or spectate. The heavy use of concrete, while practical, also communicated a sense of permanence — a rejection of the harms of urban renewal. When in 2023 he was asked to reflect on the pool’s design, McAfee said, “I used materials that were going to last forever, mostly concrete columns and brick walls that I knew couldn’t easily be destroyed.” The McAdam Pool's minimalist and sharp-edged concrete structures are true to McAfee's modernist practice. (McAfee3/Courtesy) A concern for what will endure is a throughline in McAfee’s career. He was an early advocate for modular housing as a way to mass produce high-quality homes at a price point that people in his community could afford. At two different times in his career, McAfee invested in the idea, believing that, in employing low-skilled workers, housing could be both an end and a means to community empowerment. Both times, the ventures failed after just a few years, but a number of houses still stand throughout the city, testaments to an idea that was perhaps ahead of its time. Charles McAfee's sketch of the Volk homes. His designed standardized modular components rigid enough for mass repetition but flexible enough to accommodate different family types and household sizes. Bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms were highly efficient, while living and dining spaces could expand or contract relative to one another depending on a family's needs. McAfee received both an AIA Design Award and HUD Design Award for the design and subsequently established Volks Homes to manufacture the modular components. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Volks Homes anticipated today's container houses, tiny homes, and modular construction. McAfee's 1973 system preceded the widespread adoption of modular construction by roughly two decades. He still believes modular housing is the best way to build affordable homes — and the answer to the housing crisis. (McAfee3/Courtesy) A worker assembles the frame for one of the Volk homes. (McAfee3/Courtesy) Where McAfee has indisputably succeeded is in building a legacy that will outlive him. Two of McAfee’s three daughters eventually joined McAfee Architects, Engineers, and Planners, today known as McAfee3. McAfee-Duncan and her older sister, Cheryl McAfee, run the practice from Dallas and Atlanta, respectively, though they maintain strong ties to Wichita. Charyl, Charles, and Cheryl McAfee stand in front of a celebratory banner at the McAfee Pool celebration on June 6. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) When the city of Wichita announced it was considering closing McAdams Pool — which would have, for the second time, taken away a critical and beloved neighborhood resource — McAfee’s daughters were instrumental in helping preserve it. Working with community members and preservationists, they received a $150,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to rehabilitate the pool. In 2023, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and renamed McAfee Pool in the architect’s honor. In 2017, Charles McAfee joined neighborhood children and community activists to protest the closure of McAdams Pool, which he designed. (McAfee3/Courtesy)Val Brown Jr. and Charles McAfee sit side-by-side during a program at McAfee Pool on June 6. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) It is fitting that, of all the buildings that bear McAfee’s imprint, it is a public pool in the Wichita neighborhood where McAfee grew up that carries his name. The pool became a symbol of McAfee’s belief in civic infrastructure that is inclusive and built to last, its concrete and brick protecting a place to gather and celebrate the joys of everyday life. A desire to advocate for his community and create lasting change has fueled Charles McAfee's long career. (Kendra Cremin/The SHOUT) “What makes Charles McAfee significant in the lineage of Black American architects is that he used architecture as a means of strengthening communities,” says Goetz, of the Action Fund. “His work demonstrates how architecture can be a tool for civic leadership and social change.” When asked when he felt the most satisfaction in his decades-long career, McAfee does not point to a particular project or moment, though honors such as the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award from the American Institute of Architects, which he was awarded in 1999, mean a great deal to him. “It was a continuous joy,” he says. “It was a joy that I can now spread.” * * * _**Timothy A. Schuler** is an award-winning writer and design critic whose work focuses on the intersection of the built and natural environments. He is a contributing writer at Places Journal and an editor at Landscape Architecture Magazine. His writing also regularly appears in Metropolis, Bloomberg CityLab, The Architect’s Newspaper, and FLUX Hawaiʻi, among other outlets. His essay, _“The Middle of Everywhere,”_about the largest remaining expanse of tallgrass prairie in North America, was included on a list of the most notable science and nature writing in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020. He lives in Manhattan, Kansas._ _**Blandine Siffray** is currently a third-year landscape architecture student at Kansas State University who is interested in how stories and narratives shape the world we design around us._ _**Editor's Note** : Thanks to McAfee3 for sharing archival images and detailed notes about Charles McAfee's Wichita projects, which informed many of the captions for the historic photos in this story._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

The art and history museum has been closed for more than five years while it undergoes a $140.9 million 'transformation.'

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Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum announces grand reopening in March 2027

_The following announcement is based on a press release from the Gilcrease Museum._ TULSA, Oklahoma — After more than five years of anticipation, the Gilcrease Museum has announced it will reopen to the public in March 2027, welcoming visitors into a reimagined museum experience. Closed since July 4, 2021, for the demolition of its original facility and construction of a new museum, Gilcrease is undergoing a $140.9 million transformation that represents a new chapter for a major Oklahoma cultural institutions. More than 75 years after Thomas Gilcrease, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, established a museum in Tulsa to tell the stories of the Americas, the reopening further integrates the museum, the Helmerich Center for American Research, the historic Thomas Gilcrease House, and its surrounding natural landscape as a single destination for research, learning and public engagement. The Gilcrease Museum, the Helmerich Center for American Research, and the historic Thomas Gilcrease House are all located in northwest Tulsa on 460 acres of natural landscape connected by 14 miles of trails for hiking and biking. (Gilcrease Museum/Courtesy) The new Gilcrease will invite visitors to discover one of the nation’s most interdisciplinary collections, with more than 300,000 items spanning 12,000 years of history across the Western Hemisphere. The Gilcrease collection encompasses Anglo-American art and history, including colonial portraiture and art of the American West; Indigenous art and history, from ancestral cultural materials to contemporary Native art; and colonial Latin American materials, represented across paintings and sculptures, prints and drawings, photographs, manuscripts and archives, rare books and material culture. “Gilcrease has long been a place where art, history and people come together to tell the many interconnected stories of the Americas," said Brian Lee Whisenhunt, executive director and CEO of Gilcrease. "The reopening of Gilcrease marks an extraordinary moment not only for Tulsa, but for the entire nation. It is a celebration of the rich, diverse and complex stories of the Americas and an invitation for people from across the country to experience, explore and connect with the history that has shaped us all." Digital renderings of the new Gilcrease Museum galleries. (Gilcrease Museum/Courtesy) Nestled within Tulsa’s scenic Osage Hills, the museum features 14 permanent collection galleries designed for self-guided exploration, presenting interconnected stories through multiple cultural lenses, including Indigenous nations, the American West, and Latin America. Beyond the galleries, visitors can explore 460 acres of natural landscape connected by 14 miles of trails for hiking and biking. “The opening of Gilcrease will soon be a reality because Tulsans believed in the future of this incredible asset and worked to make this transformation possible," said Monroe Nichols, the mayor of Tulsa. "The new Gilcrease will be a place where people from Tulsa, Oklahoma and around the world can come together to better understand our history and honor the sovereign land we stand on today." For nearly two decades, The University of Tulsa has stewarded Gilcrease. As a research university, faculty have made discoveries from within the archives and have partnered with scholars from around the globe by facilitating access to one-of-a-kind documents, objects, works of art and other items. Additional details about opening weekend festivities, exhibitions and visitor experiences will be announced in the coming months. For more information, to purchase a membership or to receive reopening updates, visit gilcrease.org. * * * _**Announcements** are submissions from arts and cultural organizations and community members. They are published at the discretion of SHOUT editors and may be lightly edited. Send press releases and other announcements to __emily@shoutwichita.com_ _._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

Prairie Festival 2026 attendees get a firsthand look at the multiyear eco-art project September 25-27.

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Eco-artist Jenny Kendler and The Land Institute announce 'House of Water' art installation

_The following announcement is based on a press release from the Land Institute._ SALINA — Commissioned to mark the 50th Anniversary of The Land Institute, acclaimed environmental artist Jenny Kendler and a team of ecologists have embarked on the creation of "House of Water," a multi-year, living eco-art installation blending contemporary art, Great Plains history, and active ecological restoration. Located at the publicly accessible 200-acre Marty Bender Nature Area near The Land Institute’s headquarters in Salina, Kansas, "House of Water _"_ takes the ghost shape of an iconic settler sod house with a goal of radically inverting its purpose. Rather than a symbol of prairie destruction and colonial land control, the architectural footprint is being designed to welcome water, rather than human settlers, and to dissolve over time, transforming back into a functional, ephemeral wetland. Kansas' prairie wildlife is at the core of this eco-art installation. (Courtesy/The Land Institute) The installation invites both human and non-human visitors to linger, acting as a sanctuary for water and returning prairie plants and wildlife, which will hopefully include amphibian species and fairy shrimp. Beyond its physical site, the living artwork will also capture multimedia audio and visual recordings, bringing the sights and sounds of prairie restoration to museum exhibitions and remote audiences nationwide. "Through 'House of Water,' we are asking what it means to actively deconstruct the legacy of extraction," Kendler said. "By allowing the ghost-architecture of a settler dwelling to literally melt back into the earth as a healing gesture, we are shifting the narrative from one of human dominance to ecological repair. The project is both a sculptural work of land art and also a multi-year project for ecological restoration — an interdisciplinary collaboration that invites native biodiversity to return to formerly cultivated lands." The artwork works to challenge the boundaries between traditional arts administration, community engagement, and scientific research. Kendler is collaborating with The Land Institute’s staff, including land relations research manager Christopher Reimer, incoming senior land stewardship technician Cedar Van Tassel, independent plant ecologist Jennifer Moody, and Tallgrass Artist Residency founder Kelly Yarbrough, along with ongoing contributions from local community volunteers. Together, they will steward the site as "an embodied expression of perennial care." "For half a century, our work has focused on building new ways forward for agriculture and culture, grounded in scientific inquiry and the place-based arts and humanities," said Aubrey Streit Krug, director of the Perennial Cultures Lab at The Land Institute. "'House of Water' beautifully embodies our commitment to long-term learning. Human hands in community can practice creative repair, inviting us to rethink our relationship with the prairie." The project’s launch coincides with Prairie Festival 2026: 50 Years of Perennial Possibilities, The Land Institute's milestone 50th anniversary celebration. Long described as an "intellectual hootenanny" where art, music, food, and science collide, the festival will give attendees a firsthand look at this intersection of cultural heritage and environmental action. Members of the public, regional arts patrons, and the news media are invited to participate in creating and celebrating the physical artwork at Marty Bender Nature Area in a series of community days and events: * **September 25-27:** Prairie Festival 2026: 50 Years of Perennial Possibilities - Featuring artist installations, keynote talks, live music, perennial foods, and research field tours celebrating The Land Institute's 50th anniversary. * **Ongoing:** Community Days at The Land Institute with "House of Water" – Check the events calendar for the schedule. For the project description and Kendler’s artist’s statement, visit "House of Water" on The Land Institute’s website. Jenny Kendler (b. 1980, New York City) is an interdisciplinary artist, environmental activist, naturalist, and wild forager who lives in Chicago and various forests. Her work is informed by her experiences as a queer, Jewish ecofeminist and single parent. From 2014 to 2024, she was the first Artist-in-Residence with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). She is an organizer with Artists for Chicago and a founding member of Artists Commit, an artist-led initiative to cultivate climate consciousness in the art world. She serves on the Board of Directors of the global climate organization 350.org, the artist residency ACRE, and Arts First, which launched in 2026 as Chicago's first community arts fund. She also directs the artist website platform People’s Pixels. The Land Institute is leading a global movement to transform agriculture and secure a sustainable future for all. They develop perennial crops and advocate for systems that work with nature to feed humanity and repair our environment. They collaborate with farmers, scientists, and with the plants themselves to evolve humanity’s relationship with the earth: from taking to sharing; from depletion to restoration. The Land Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1976 in Salina, Kansas, USA. * * * _**Announcements** are submissions from arts and cultural organizations and community members. They are published at the discretion of SHOUT editors and may be lightly edited. Send press releases and other announcements to __emily@shoutwichita.com_ _._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Despite minor quibbles, a masterful cast and crew deliver a spectacular season closer for MTW.

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Stay for the spectacle: Music Theatre Wichita's 'Les Misérables'

Music Theatre Wichita closes its season with a robust production of the 1980s West End and Broadway musical “Les Misérables” by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. The crowd streaming from the parking lot to our iconic Century II was a familiar summer season show-night sight, but once settled in the theater, the air of anticipation became palpable. This fully produced version of the show — a rare occasion these days given its financial demands — soared under director Brian J. Marcum and his cast and crew. “Les Mis” nearly sold out at MTW’s opening night. “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. Having been a part of a small production company adapting another Hugo novel, I can tell you his sprawling epic narrative does not compress easily. Though the music in “Les Mis” runs nearly three hours, it is a highly abridged version of the original story, which follows the life of Jean Valjean from his 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread to his final crossing over in death to be reunited with lost loved ones. I will save you the plot synopsis. You know it already, and you aren’t going to the musical for the story. You come for the hits, and you stay for the spectacle. The musical follows Jean Valjean (Chris Mann) from his decades of imprisonment to his death. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) “Les Misérables,” not unlike opera, is a “sung-through” show. The songs, like opera’s arias, halt narrative time while the singer explores the emotional depth of a moment, as in “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables,” or gives a closer look at characters, as in “Master of the House.” The plot unfolds through a speak-sing style comparable to opera’s recitative. These portions of the show, while less recognized by the general audience, contribute to the gift of experiencing a full production rather than an in-concert “just the hits” gala or listening to a highlights cast recording. The show breathes through these scenes of sung dialogue. Music director Laura Berquist anchors them all together. Not once, to my observation, did singers, orchestra, and crew get out of sync — not a small feat — which serves the production in more ways than meet the eye. The show’s songs are ubiquitous in the musical theater cannon. Famous interpretations of “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Stars,” and “On My Own” are outnumbered only by students across the nation singing them for auditions, competitions, and workshops. If you are an educator, it is a great relief to hear the songs sung by voices ready to do the work. And these singers are ready to do the work. The lead voices peeled the paint off the walls, and even most of the shorter sections sung by the ensemble held their ground. Marcum deftly exploited the strengths of the summer stock ensemble members, allowing them to grow into challenges within their reach. Police inspector Javert (Andrew Marks Maughan) pursues convict Jean Valjean (Chris Mann) throughout the course of the musical. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) The ensemble glues the show together, but the main attraction here is the visiting artists. The impressive voice of Wichita native Chris Mann as the principled, doomed Jean Valjean soared through grandiose lines with a vocal style falling squarely in the center of the show’s style. Andrew Marks Maughan, singing the role of the complicated, villainous Javert, offered a worthy vocal counterpart to Mann’s Valjean as the baritone antagonist. These two singers on a single stage are a gift to Wichita. Though a delicately-presented character, Fantine (Mary Kate Moore) had an impressive vocal range. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Mary Kate Moore brings a delicate nature to her interpretation of the tragic Fantine. Predominately featured in the first part of the show, Moore depicts frailty without thinning too much of the vocal. Her surprising range is impressive, opening the low notes and letting them hover over the stage. Edin Kebedi’s vocal interpretation of Éponine is more modern; I was uncertain how I felt about it until she brought down the house with the popular “On My Own” at the top of Act 2. The number is a showstopper, and she served it well. Carly Cannon as Fantine’s daughter Cosette brought a female balance to the power singing of Mann and Maughan with a formidable range and crystal-clear soprano. Éponine (Edin Kebedi), eldest daughter of the Thénardiers, has a spoiled life as a child (Khaliya Brown) that takes a turn during her teenage years. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Cosette (Elizabeth Scott and Carly Cannon) similarly has a drastically different life over the course of the show. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) My personal favorites, who bring welcome comedic relief to the show’s serious, melodramatic tone, are Maggie Spicer Brown and Steve Hitchcock as Madame Thenardier and Thenardier, respectively. Their work in “Master of the House” is precise, specific, and a delightful treat. Later, when they return to spoil the wedding of Marius and Cosette, they thrill again with their clever performance of “Beggars at the Feast.” Thénardier (Steve Hitchcock) and Madame Thénardier (Maggie Spicer Brown) bring some razzle-dazzle to the solemn drama. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) The design team for this final season production is almost exclusively Wichita based, and it gives us reason to be proud. Century II’s limited space is used to its fullest potential by scenic designer Jordan Slusher, who encloses it with beautiful painted flats extending through the upper frame of the proscenium arch, including two periactoids rotating three ways for multiple looks. Clara Rimes and Claudia Emig are notable as head scenic artists who painted a stunning reality into existence. Slusher used several moving pieces to offer specificity to multiple locations and then later smartly designed transparent scrims, flown-in scenery, and flight rigging on actors to create wonderful visuals to keep the story moving. The extravagant set was created by scenic designer Jordan Slusher and head scenic artists Clara Rimes and Claudia Emig. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Debbie Roberts and Abby Stroot brought characters to life via costume, including the Thénardiers in all their colorful chaos. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Costumes, designed by Debbie Roberts and coordinated by Abby Stroot, never betrayed time and place. Notably, they pushed the colors in Thénardier’s Inn into a brighter color palette to help support the comedy of the scene, then brought them back to more subdued tones as dictated by the plot. This subtle shift happened again at the wedding, but with textures shifting toward soft and elegant. It is costume artistry at its finest. Jean Valjean (Chris Mann) and Cosette (Carly Cannon) are bathed in vibrant pink light, courtesy of lighting designer Benjamin Juhnke. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Lighting designer Benjamin Juhnke, another Wichita local, continued the visual mood bath, holding the pop-opera style together visually with purples, greens, and — just at the right moments — brilliant whites. Mechanical spotlights, or movers, acutely focused into pin-light specials creating isolating effects setting each character on their own journey. Just enough haze in the air through the first two thirds of the production provided texture in the lighting and peaked at the barricade when gun smoke and fire filled the stage. The only moment to raise an eyebrow of suspicion was the twinkle light background during the musical number “Stars,” crudely executed and a bit too on the nose. Javert (Andrew Marks Maughan) performs "Stars." (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) Other than one or two late cues, a few missed microphones cues, and some quick transitions I expect will be smoothed out by the run’s second night, I only had one grievance with the production. The use of miming when a few simple props would have given the actors something to anchor their action seemed an oversight. Miming is tricky business, even for trained actors, and should be avoided unless it is a built-in conceit of the show. This is not devastating to the production, but a well-placed rag, piece of bread, water in a glass, or ram-rod for a musket would have helped unify the movement and kept from pulling viewers out of the musical’s world. Enrolas (Carson Tate) stands front and center in his devotion to the revolution. (Kacy Meinecke/Music Theatre Wichita) “Les Misérables” at Music Theatre Wichita is the perfect curtain call to a season of big musicals. Marcum and the masterful artistic staff are serving Wichita with their very best, and I am grateful to have them in the heart of our city. Tickets are selling fast, so make your reservation and help our city stand tall as we close one more season of musicals. * * * _**Leslie Coates** is a theater faculty member at Butler Community College and has acting and directing credits from San Diego to New England. He is a former board member for Forum Theatre Company where he also appeared in "Christmas Letters," "Pump Boys and Dinettes," and various Words and Music performances._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

The farce about a business plan turned upside-down stars Andrew Johnson, Bradel LaBrue-Layman, Hannah Smith, Anna Bohr, and Mike Taylor.

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Kechi Playhouse to perform Misty Maynard's 'Office Party'

_The following announcement is based on a press release from Kechi Playhouse._ KECHI – Kechi Playhouse’s fourth play of their 44th year is "Office Party," written and directed by Misty Maynard. Owen is nothing if not exciting. When the wanna-be entrepreneur decides to reopen the town’s abandoned skating rink as an office supply store, his best friend, Egbert, and very pregnant wife, Rene, get swept along in his enthusiasm. However, when a series of accidents leads to the business being mistaken for a party planning service, Owen jumps on the new plan with gusto. Featuring an overly enthusiastic Egbert fan and a mail person with dreams of becoming a cop, this farce is designed to elicit laughs. This production stars Andrew Johnson, Bradel LaBrue-Layman, Hannah Smith, Anna Bohr, and Mike Taylor. The production team features direction by Misty Maynard, set design by Richard Shultz, and costumes by the cast. Performances take place September 11-October 4 at Kechi Playhouse, 100 E. Kechi Road in Kechi, Kansas. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. General admission tickets are $18 on Fridays and Saturdays and $17 Sundays. The show runs 2 hours. To make a reservation, call 316-744-2152 or send a message through the Kechi Playhouse Facebook page. * * * _**Announcements** are submissions from arts and cultural organizations and community members. They are published at the discretion of SHOUT editors and may be lightly edited. Send press releases and other announcements to __emily@shoutwichita.com_ _._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

ICTRep presents a Victorian thriller to start off the Halloween season on Friday, October 2.

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ICTRep presents Steven Dietz's 'Gaslight' October 2-11

_The following announcement is based on a press release from ICTRep._ ICTRep (Wichita Repertory Theater) continues its 2026-27 season with the psychological thriller "Gaslight" by Steven Dietz, based on the 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton. The play opens on Friday, October 2 at The Oliver Place, 2512 N. Oliver St. in Wichita. In this turn-of-the-century Victorian thriller, strange things start to happen to newlyweds Bella and Jack as their seemingly perfect marriage devolves into something sinister. Why is the attic door locked? Whose footsteps wander the halls at night? And is that gaslight flickering … or not? Bella’s reality is twisted, forcing her to question both the truth and her husband’s intentions in this haunting thriller based on the acclaimed play and classic film that gave rise to 2022’s word of the year: “gaslight.” The cast is headed by Karen Harpenau as Bella Manningham and Jacob Steward as her manipulative husband Jack. Diane Tinker Hurst plays the housekeeper Elizabeth, and Chelsie Penner portrays the young maid Nancy. Linda McDonald appears in a “pants role” as SergeantRough. The play is directed by James Earlywine, and Abby Lowe serves as stage manager. Costume design is by Julie Longhofer, lighting design is by Stan Longhofer, sound design is by Kirk Longhofer, and scenic design is by Julie & Stan Longhofer. Performances run Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 11. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $38 for general admission, $33 for seniors and veterans, $25 for 30-and-under, and $15 for students. Ticket prices are inclusive of all taxes and fees. Tickets can be purchased on the ICTRep website at https://ictrep.org/gaslight2026/. “Gaslight” (Dietz) is presented by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. Remaining shows in the 2026-27 ICTRep season: • "Red Velvet" by Lolia Chakrabarti, November 13-22, 2026 • "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard, February 26-March 7, 2027 — A joint production with Newman University Theatre • "Flyin' West" by Pearl Cleage, April 16-25, 2027 ICTRep (Wichita Repertory Theater) is a semi-professional company that produces comedies, dramas, and thrillers. * * * _**Announcements** are submissions from arts and cultural organizations and community members. They are published at the discretion of SHOUT editors and may be lightly edited. Send press releases and other announcements to _ _emily@shoutwichita.com_ _._ * * * ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT

The SHOUT @theshout.shoutwichita.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

The performance served as a door onto the past and a mirror of Wichita now.

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John Legend helps usher in a new beginning for the Orpheum Theatre

They’re very comfortable. That’s the short answer to “How are the seats?” — the question that is top of people’s minds, based on interactions before and after I attended the John Legend concert that reopened the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday. To elaborate a bit: The seats aren’t especially wide, but they’re not too narrow either, and the orchestra-level legroom was more than sufficient for this 6-foot-tall correspondent. The cushions are firm and plush. Gone is the downward slope that the old chairs — thriftily recycled from an old movieplex — imposed on complaining backs and posteriors. Sightlines are excellent. New seats have been installed throughout the theater, and a new accessible seating area accommodates 12 wheelchair users and seating for 12 companions. (Hannah Crickman/The SHOUT) The seating was far from the only aspect of the revitalized Orpheum that impressed Sunday’s sell-out crowd. Most attention-grabbing was the new (old) fire curtain, part of architect John Eberson’s original 1922 design for the theater. It shows a Spanish torero and his sweetheart strolling through a colorful fantasy version of an Andalusian marketplace while being eyed by a parrot on a perch. A balcony view of the Orpheum Theatre's new fire curtain. The theater raised $13 million for a major renovation, which took 15 months to complete. (Hannah Crickman/The SHOUT) The curtain had hung, unseen but well-protected, in the theater’s rafters for decades. In a pre-show speech, Orpheum executive director Stacee Olden explained that during the restoration, the original asbestos-based curtain was encapsulated and affixed to a modern fire curtain in order to make it, once again, a functional part of the building. Its silent rise to reveal John Legend’s piano drew its own round of applause. Those who remember the Orpheum from before this restoration will be struck by the difference the replastering and repainting — with a lovely, unusual, detailed color palette reconstructed through historical research — makes in the overall impact of the space. Before, the “atmospheric” effect Eberson intended — of sitting out under the stars on a spring evening in the Mediterranean — was something you could pick up on if you knew to look for it; if you knew to look past the splotches, the patches, the crumbling plaster and the fading paint. John Eberson designed the Orpheum to resemble an open-air garden in the south of Spain, complete with twinkling stars in the "night sky." (Hannah Crickman/The SHOUT) Now that effect really grabs you. It’s easy to indulge in the fantasy, especially if you step upstairs to the balcony level, where the barrel roof tiles and the star lights twinkling in an artificial deep-blue twilight are more visible. The Orpheum now serves not just as a doorway into a fantasy version of Spain, but also, at least in my mind, as a portal back to the bygone Wichita of a century ago — a time when a typical weekend night saw more than 20,000 Wichitans stream into 11 different theaters to view live performances, silent films or, as on the September 4, 1922, opening night of the Orpheum, mixed bills that combined the two. ## Our free email newsletter is like having a friend who __always__ knows what's happening Get the scoop on Wichita’s arts & culture scene: events, news, artist opportunities, and more. Free, weekly & worth your while. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. As I wrote four years ago in an East Wichita News feature that marked the centennial, the Orpheum’s opening day of performances featured two vaudeville comedians, Dave Ferguson and Ned Norworth; a handful of other players who did skits and sketches; the Henry Melody Sextett, with “vocal offerings by six attractive girls;” and finally a silent film, “The Three Must-Get Theres.” “Presentation of the whole entertainment is practically perfect,” the Beacon reported. But that wasn’t the full story. “It was crazy hot in Wichita that weekend, and people got dressed up,” said Rachel Banning, the Orpheum’s previous executive director. “The patrons came and sat in these beautiful, red leather chairs, and when they got up to leave at the end of the night, their sweat and the dye from the leather had turned their clothes red.” In response to the resulting uproar, the Orpheum management offered to reimburse patrons’ laundry bills. The well done history page on the Orpheum’s new website fills in more of the story, including the decades of volunteer- and community-led efforts that let Wichita keep its Orpheum when so many other theaters were lost to the wrecking ball. The page also highlights historic performances, such as a 1923 appearance on the Orpheum stage by Harry Houdini, and 1940s shows by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. John Legend performs under the twinkling lights of the Orpheum Theatre. (Orpheum Theatre) Sunday’s audience was brimming over with the pleasure of being on hand for another historic night, one that Olden called the true beginning of the Orpheum’s second century. John Legend — a singer-songwriter who chose his stage name at age 25, then backed it up by collecting an EGOT — was an inspired choice to provide the Orpheum's musical rededication (and a great "get" for the Grumpy Old Men, the philanthropists who underwrote his appearance). The songs Legend chose, both originals and covers, focused on timeless themes that would have been equally familiar to 13th-century troubadours or early-20th-century vaudevillians: nearness to the beloved, or distance from the beloved, and yearning or anxiety over the prospect of one state giving way to the other. “Come and go with me. There’s so much new to see … so much I want to show you,” he sang to open a one-hour set that felt all too brief. "Shall we sing this song together?" Legend asked the audience as he launched into one of his signature tunes, "Ordinary People." But few people took up the invitation, perhaps because it was his voice we wanted to hear, alone on stage with his piano — a slightly reedy voice at mid-range, sweeping smoothly upward to hit bold, well-supported high notes. The piano and his voice were both closely miked, so piano overtones hung in the air, creating almost organ-like effects at times. John Legend takes in the audience's appreciation during a concert that marked a new chapter for the Orpheum — and forWichita. (Orpheum Theatre) Being part of such an event meant more than witnessing a good show, or even a historic one. At the risk of belaboring my metaphors, the restored Orpheum, as inaugurated by Legend’s concert, is not just a door onto the past, but a mirror of Wichita now — one in which we can see ourselves, and one in which we are given leave to hold ourselves in high regard. We’re the sort of people, the sort of city, to go out of our way to hold onto a beautiful place like this. And we’re worthy of the values it represents and contains: the aesthetic value, the artistic value, the emotional value, the civic value. That’s a worthwhileness that will carry on for decades, a lasting legacy that is only just beginning, or beginning again. * * * Sam Jack_is a poet, a classical tenor, and the adult services librarian at Newton Public Library. He performs with several local groups, including Wichita Chamber Chorale, Wichita Grand Opera, and Opera Kansas. He received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Montana._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT