My introduction to the KC Fringe was in 2014, directing Shaeffer Nelson’s original play, The Kings of Israel. This proved to be quite a controversial piece, exploring the alleged secret homosexual love affair between the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David, against the backdrop of their power struggles for the nation. It was very well received.
The following year, 2015, marked the beginning of my involvement with a series of plays based on Huckleberry Finn. Initially envisioned as a six play cycle, (and later expanding to seven), the first installment premiered in 2015 under the title Never Ever After. In 2016, I jumped ahead to produce the third play in the series, Been Finn, followed in 2017 by play #2, The Mystery of the Ominous Shadow. The fourth play, The Search for the Winding Wind, then debuted in 2018.
The fifth and sixth installments, which were the final plays in the Huckleberry Finn series, weren’t presented at the Fringe Festival. Instead, they were produced three months later in 2018 as a full-evening production titled In Regard to Flight. In 2020, I was notified by the national theater organization, Broadway world, with the wonderful news that In Regard to Flight was recognized as Kansas City’s Most Original Work of the Decade.
Interestingly, it was almost a year later that I suddenly discovered a seventh play which was #3 in the cycle. This play provided me much relief in that it filled a number of gaps and holes of the overall story, explained the origin and existence of a major character, and added a caveat by identifying the origins of Robert Louis Stevenson’s action adventure novels. This play is currently awaiting production.
In 2019, the following year, I wrote and presented a play that explored the unlikely collaboration between the London Bach Choir and The Rolling Stones in 1968 during the recording of their iconic song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” This production, a comedic romp through the 60s, was titled You Get What You Need. And that brings us to the present, 2025, with To Boldly Go!
Actually, KC Fringe wasn’t my introduction to the fringe scene. Back in 1996 and 1997, while teaching at Shawnee Mission East, I took a group of students to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland on two separate occasions. Before our departure to Scotland, each year, we would present the play we were taking to any local audience who wished to attend. Then, after immersing ourselves in the Edinburgh Fringe experience – seeing other shows and grasping the essence of the festival – we would return home and perform the same play again, but this time with incredible and tremendous improvements.
Cheryl Kimmi, former Executive Director was at one of those shows became very, very interested in fringe festivals and that’s how she got the general idea for KC Fringe.