Artspeak Radio with Whim Productions, The National Toy & Miniature Museum, and Be Kind Films

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 9am -10am CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org

Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes Director/Whim Productions Diana Watts, film maker Jerry Rapp, Madeline Rislow, Ph.D. Curator/Sr. Manager of Learning & Engagement The National Toy & Miniature Museum

Whim Productions-Kissing in the Grocery Store is presented at Whim Space (415 Prospect Ave,
Kansas City, MO) in historic Pendleton Heights. For full details, visit
whimproductions.org.
Dates: February 6-16
Ticket Information:
On sale now at https://our.show/whimproductions/kissing
● General Admission – Advanced Tickets: $25 / Walk-Up: $28
○ Pay What You Whim pricing is available for some performances
● Premium Seating: $30
● VIP Seating: $40
Run Time: 90 minutes without intermission

Appropriate for Ages 16+
Contains some adult language and conversation about sex

Performance Details:
Venue: Whim Space, 415 Prospect, Kansas City, MO 64124
Dates and Times:
Thursday, Feb 6th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Friday, Feb 7th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Saturday, Feb 8th, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Feb 9th, 3:00 pm
Monday, Feb 10th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Thursday, Feb 13th, 7:30 pm
Friday, Feb 14th, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Feb 15th, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Feb 16th, 3:00 pm

Whim Productions, founded in 2011, creates challenging and evocative queer
theater. Whim focuses on providing opportunities for LGBTQ+ theater artists
to tell their own stories and share the diversity of queer experiences with
Kansas City audiences.
Queer theater. Whimsical edge.

Meet the Team! Artistic Director 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 founded Whim Productions in 2011 and has directed, written, and choreographed intimacy in many of our productions. He’s currently tackling the sound design and intimacy choreography for the world premiere of Kissing in the Grocery Store! Kevin’s passion for creating safe, evocative, and inclusive theatre shines in this production.

Meet the Director! 𝙆𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚 marks 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝘁𝘀’ (she/her) directorial debut, stepping outside her roles as an actor and Whim board member. Her Whim Productions acting appearances include 𝘉𝘰𝘹𝘦𝘥, 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺, and 𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦.
𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁! Trish Price (they/them) is making their Kansas City stage debut with 𝙆𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚! Trish graduated from Missouri State University’s BFA Acting program. After moving and working as an actor in New York City, Trish is back in Kansas City and the KC theater community. Previous work includes 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, and national commercials (Swiffer, Etsy, YouTube Official). Trish is represented by Long Island Models ([email protected]).

DR. MADELINE RISLOW, The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures to Host Black Dolls Symposium Featuring Presenters from Around the World
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, 5235 Oak Street, Kansas City, Missouri, is hosting a two-day research symposium on the historical significance of Black dolls in America, c. 1850-present, featuring 17 presenters from around the world. The Black Dolls Symposium will be held Thursday, February 6, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., and Friday, February 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Attendees must register for the free symposium, and will have an opportunity to purchase lunch from Thelma’s Kitchen after registering for the event.
The symposium was developed as part of the programming centered around a unique, groundbreaking temporary exhibition that opened June 29, 2024, and closes March 3, 2025. The exhibition, titled Portraits of Childhood: Black Dolls from the Collection of Deborah Neff, features 135 handmade Black dolls dating c. 1850 – 1940, as well as almost 60 period photographs and paintings depicting the dolls posed alongside both children and adults.
Register for the two-day symposium here https://www.eventbrite.com/…/black-dolls-symposium…

The symposium’s keynote speaker, Dr. Tiya Miles (Harvard University), will present a lecture, Material Culture as Archive: Finding Black Women’s History in Sacks and Dolls, on Thursday, February 6, 6-7 p.m., at the UMKC Student Union Theater, 5100 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Missouri, followed at 7-8 p.m. by a book sale and signing. A separate registration is required to attend the keynote address.
Register for the keynote lecture here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tiya-miles-tickets-978446829807

Tiya Miles is the author of eight books, including four prize-winning about race and slavery in the American past. Her latest work is the biography Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People. Her 2021 National Book Award winner, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, was a New York Times bestseller that won eleven historical and literary prizes, including the Cundill History Prize and the Frederick Douglass Prize. Miles was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she is currently the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.

Other Symposium Presenters
Deja Beamon (University of Missouri-Kansas City), “Black Girlhood: Intersections of Theory, Memory, and Material Culture”
Marlee Bunch (University of Illinois), “How Dolls Carry Forward Stories and Oral Histories”
Wanett Clyde (The New York City College of Technology, CUNY), “Size, Shape, Textile, Texture, Color, Condition: The Physicality of a Doll”
Destiny Crockett (Rutgers University-Camden), “’Grandma Ruby and Me’: Black Age and Archiving Girlishness”
Randall K. Johnson (University of Missouri-Kansas City), “Race, Dolls and The Law”
Loren Macon (University of Missouri-Columbia), “From Play to Perception: Exploring Race, Identity, and Beauty Standards through Bratz Dolls”
Karen McCarthy Woolf (Goldsmiths College, University of London), “Were s/he inclined to speak…”
Janine Napierkowski (Girl Scouts USA), Blake Changnon (The Changnon Family Museum of Toys and Collectibles), and Connie Porter (American Girl author), “Addy Walker: Why She Matters”
Emily L. Newman (East Texas A&M University), “’What’s Hair Got to Do with it:’ CROWNing Black Dolls”
Madelyn Shaw (Independent Scholar), “Bodies of Evidence: The Material Culture of Black Dolls”
Karina Simonson (Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University), “Black Dolls in White Spaces: Navigating Cold War and Race in the Baltics”
Kipton D. Smilie (Missouri Western State University), “Black Dolls in American Public Schools: Implications of a History of Absence”
Rhoda Terry-Seidenberg (Bronx Community College), “Coconut and Bananas: Dolls from the Black Diaspora”
Sabrina Thomas (Duke University), “Zora’s Sara Lee: The First Anthropologically Correct Negro Doll”
Telia Mary U. Williams (Northern Illinois University), “Doll Story: A Fashionable Legal History of Resistance to, and Engagement with, Sumptuary Laws by Enslaved Persons in Antebellum and Postbellum America.”

This program is supported by The City of Kansas City, Missouri, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, the Hall Family Foundation, Rainy Day Books, Shutz Lecture Series, the UMKC Women’s Center, and a generous private donor.
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures educates, inspires, and delights adults and children through the museum’s collection and preservation of toys and miniatures. Located on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, the museum exhibits the world’s largest collection of fine-scale miniatures and one of the nation’s largest collections of historic toys on public display. For more information, call 816.235.8000 or visit www.toyandminiaturemuseum.org.

JERRY RAPP- Founder/CEO Be Kind Films
“Be Kind Films was born out of an observation of what was needed in these opaque and confusing times. Having spent a lifetime making media, I have been ever-concerned by our numbness as an audience to stress-inducing imagery, frantic edits and violent scenarios. Be Kind’s mission is to create inspiring content that offers alternative viewpoints, celebrating life’s heroic acts that go on all around us in daily life.” www.bekindfilms.com
Writer, producer and director Jerry Rapp has been working professionally in the media field since attending the USC School of Cinematic Arts, with an emphasis in screenwriting. His first screenplay was acquired by Imagine Entertainment and led to additional projects with Paramount, Universal, MGM, HBO and others. He has produced television projects with HBO, Showtime, New Line, USA Network and PBS.
Rapp is the founder of Pangea Media Partners, promoting connectivity between creative international entities.
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
—Charles Dickens
So much of today’s content exemplifies violence, fear and uncertainty. Be Kind Films offers a counterbalance.
We are a universe of short-form internally produced and curated pieces dedicated to bringing smiles, reflection, and insightful life lessons. A blend of original and familiar stories designed to help us smile, listen… or just think differently.
Be Kind Films seeks to change lives, inform perceptions, and affect viewers through insights into diversity and differences.
We release our short-form content on a semi-regular basis, based around auspicious, indelible dates. We can’t wait for your feedback as we build our community. Please be sure to visit our our Youtube and Facebook pages too.
Thank you for being on the journey with us!

The Team;
Jerry Rapp, Founder/CEO
Paul Cannon, Executive Producer
Jenny Hahn, Producer
April Kincaid, Creative Director
2024 Films; tender, The View From Here, Elaine, Left Behind
2025 Films; Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times, Vows, Meet Me There


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