Publication Date: Spring/Summer 2019
Kip Niven’s Molière Legacy to Kansas City Lives On
Kip Niven, the genius and motivator behind KC MOlière: 400 in 2022, passed away unexpectedly on 6 May. In the last 18 months of his life, he was devoted to preparing a world-class celebration of Molière’s 400th birthday as a great gift to Kansas City.
Kip saw Molière’s work as a prime source of joyful spirit that could bring together artists and audiences from all of the visual, literary, and performing (theatre, music, dance, film, puppetry) arts to showcase our city’s French heritage and the diversity of our contemporary cultural resources.
Kip Niven’s leadership of KC MOlière: 400 in 2022 paralleled his shepherding of EARTh (Equity Actors Reading Theatre), which he founded with his friend Doug Weaver, who directed the company’s readings of large-cast classic plays. In December 2017 they presented Molière’s hilarious The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Le Médecin malgré lui).
Weaver recalls that talking about Molière with Kip had them giggling a lot. According to Weaver, “Kip loved the way an author who is often seen as highbrow could serve up the lowest of lowbrow humor and the way his comedies spawned so many varieties of theatre and dance, including farce, vaudeville, situation comedy….”
“Kip brought a boyish enthusiasm to the rehearsals,” said Martin Buchanan, who played the bumptious title character Sganarelle in that EARTh performance. “It was infectious. If you didn’t love Molière before, you would with this show.” Felicia Londré saw the show and afterward enthused about it to Kip.
The Doctor in Spite of Himself must be signaled as the starting point for KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. Kip loved to tell “the origin story” to preface the interviews he and Felicia conducted as they sought advice on the project. Kip’s partner and sweetheart Claudia Copping found that origin story in his own words among Kip’s papers:
Some days later [after the December 2017 EARTh reading], I saw Felicia at UMKC and thanked her for her kind words. She said, "You know (I didn't) Molière's 400th birthday is coming up soon and I think we should do something to celebrate." I told her that if EARTh could help in any way, we would be glad to. Some weeks later I called her and suggested that we get together and discuss how to make this happen. The result is that we have formed a group of like-minded folks from across the KC Arts scene (Theatre, Opera, Ballet, The Nelson, The Symphony, etc.) to create a cross-city (indeed regional), cross-cultural celebration that will center on that 400th birthday (15 January 2022), but will have lead-up events (productions, lectures, workshops, etc.) throughout the 2021-'22 Theatre Season and academic school year. Our working title is...
KC MOlière (400 in 2022).
Kip’s retelling is characteristically modest. He called and emailed Felicia in February and again in March before they finally met during her spring break. They spent most of April 2018 building email lists of arts leaders and preparing the 21 May meeting -- as reported in our inaugural newsletter last October -- to gauge potential enthusiasm for the idea. It was Kip who came up with the name we have kept, KC MOlière: 400 in 2022.
A celebration of Kip Niven’s remarkable life drew hundreds to the Kansas City Young Audiences event space on 26 May. The loving tributes culminated in a joyful sing-along of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The upbeat spirit he promoted, even as we grieved our loss of Kip’s physical presence, testifies to the importance of our carrying on with the Molière project to which he was committed.
Kip, né Clifford Wallace Niven, was born in Kansas City on 27 May 1945. He graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School and the University of Kansas. He was a Vietnam War veteran, serving three years in the United States Army. Some of Kip’s career highlights include roles in movies like Magnum Force (1973) and Kevin Wilmott’s Jayhawkers (2014); numerous television roles on shows including The Waltons, Law and Order, and three years (1982-5) on Alice; roles on Broadway in Chess (1988) and Nick and Nora (1991); and acting in radio and regional theatres, including Missouri Repertory Theatre/KC Rep.
In 1995 Kip moved back to Kansas City and has conducted workshops, directed, served on boards, volunteered for arts organizations including KC Rep’s educational programming, and represented Actors Equity Association.
Londré was excited to serve as co-convener with Kip on KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. “We were finding our way together on how to put together a project of such scope,” she says. “We would have flurries of exchanges of emails, responding to each other in different fonts. His font – delightfully! -- was Comic Sans MS, often in red between the lines of my workmanlike black-ink prose. Any quick glance at those emails will show that he was the idea person. Especially fun were our interviews with city leaders whose expertise we sought. And he would always begin those sessions with the origin story!”
Copping summarizes what Molière meant to Kip: “He appreciated the contemporary relevance and timelessness of Molière’s work, and he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Felicia. As ambitious and challenging in scope as the KC Molière project is, Kip’s fearlessness and ‘can do’ attitude made him a positive force and a great collaborator.”
It is heartening to know that everyone who worked with Kip is committed to seeing KC MOlière: 400 in 2022 through to completion. We will be celebrating his memory along with that of his beloved Molière.
Kip saw Molière’s work as a prime source of joyful spirit that could bring together artists and audiences from all of the visual, literary, and performing (theatre, music, dance, film, puppetry) arts to showcase our city’s French heritage and the diversity of our contemporary cultural resources.
Kip Niven’s leadership of KC MOlière: 400 in 2022 paralleled his shepherding of EARTh (Equity Actors Reading Theatre), which he founded with his friend Doug Weaver, who directed the company’s readings of large-cast classic plays. In December 2017 they presented Molière’s hilarious The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Le Médecin malgré lui).
Weaver recalls that talking about Molière with Kip had them giggling a lot. According to Weaver, “Kip loved the way an author who is often seen as highbrow could serve up the lowest of lowbrow humor and the way his comedies spawned so many varieties of theatre and dance, including farce, vaudeville, situation comedy….”
“Kip brought a boyish enthusiasm to the rehearsals,” said Martin Buchanan, who played the bumptious title character Sganarelle in that EARTh performance. “It was infectious. If you didn’t love Molière before, you would with this show.” Felicia Londré saw the show and afterward enthused about it to Kip.
The Doctor in Spite of Himself must be signaled as the starting point for KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. Kip loved to tell “the origin story” to preface the interviews he and Felicia conducted as they sought advice on the project. Kip’s partner and sweetheart Claudia Copping found that origin story in his own words among Kip’s papers:
Some days later [after the December 2017 EARTh reading], I saw Felicia at UMKC and thanked her for her kind words. She said, "You know (I didn't) Molière's 400th birthday is coming up soon and I think we should do something to celebrate." I told her that if EARTh could help in any way, we would be glad to. Some weeks later I called her and suggested that we get together and discuss how to make this happen. The result is that we have formed a group of like-minded folks from across the KC Arts scene (Theatre, Opera, Ballet, The Nelson, The Symphony, etc.) to create a cross-city (indeed regional), cross-cultural celebration that will center on that 400th birthday (15 January 2022), but will have lead-up events (productions, lectures, workshops, etc.) throughout the 2021-'22 Theatre Season and academic school year. Our working title is...
KC MOlière (400 in 2022).
Kip’s retelling is characteristically modest. He called and emailed Felicia in February and again in March before they finally met during her spring break. They spent most of April 2018 building email lists of arts leaders and preparing the 21 May meeting -- as reported in our inaugural newsletter last October -- to gauge potential enthusiasm for the idea. It was Kip who came up with the name we have kept, KC MOlière: 400 in 2022.
A celebration of Kip Niven’s remarkable life drew hundreds to the Kansas City Young Audiences event space on 26 May. The loving tributes culminated in a joyful sing-along of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The upbeat spirit he promoted, even as we grieved our loss of Kip’s physical presence, testifies to the importance of our carrying on with the Molière project to which he was committed.
Kip, né Clifford Wallace Niven, was born in Kansas City on 27 May 1945. He graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School and the University of Kansas. He was a Vietnam War veteran, serving three years in the United States Army. Some of Kip’s career highlights include roles in movies like Magnum Force (1973) and Kevin Wilmott’s Jayhawkers (2014); numerous television roles on shows including The Waltons, Law and Order, and three years (1982-5) on Alice; roles on Broadway in Chess (1988) and Nick and Nora (1991); and acting in radio and regional theatres, including Missouri Repertory Theatre/KC Rep.
In 1995 Kip moved back to Kansas City and has conducted workshops, directed, served on boards, volunteered for arts organizations including KC Rep’s educational programming, and represented Actors Equity Association.
Londré was excited to serve as co-convener with Kip on KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. “We were finding our way together on how to put together a project of such scope,” she says. “We would have flurries of exchanges of emails, responding to each other in different fonts. His font – delightfully! -- was Comic Sans MS, often in red between the lines of my workmanlike black-ink prose. Any quick glance at those emails will show that he was the idea person. Especially fun were our interviews with city leaders whose expertise we sought. And he would always begin those sessions with the origin story!”
Copping summarizes what Molière meant to Kip: “He appreciated the contemporary relevance and timelessness of Molière’s work, and he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Felicia. As ambitious and challenging in scope as the KC Molière project is, Kip’s fearlessness and ‘can do’ attitude made him a positive force and a great collaborator.”
It is heartening to know that everyone who worked with Kip is committed to seeing KC MOlière: 400 in 2022 through to completion. We will be celebrating his memory along with that of his beloved Molière.
Volunteers Needed
KC MOlière: 400 in 2022 is looking for volunteers.
Are you gaga for galas? Do you have the gift of gab? Are finances fun? Do you bustle while doing business?
We need volunteers to help with fundraising and grant writing. At present the project operates on a volunteer basis. The participating arts organizations, both professional and academic, will cover their own production costs for the 2022 events that will be part of their normal seasons.
External funding is becoming necessary in 2019. Send an email to: kcmoliere400@gmail.com to learn more about our committees' needs.
Are you gaga for galas? Do you have the gift of gab? Are finances fun? Do you bustle while doing business?
We need volunteers to help with fundraising and grant writing. At present the project operates on a volunteer basis. The participating arts organizations, both professional and academic, will cover their own production costs for the 2022 events that will be part of their normal seasons.
External funding is becoming necessary in 2019. Send an email to: kcmoliere400@gmail.com to learn more about our committees' needs.
The French Connection
Napoleon: Power and Splendor was organized and circulated by the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts with the participation of the Nelson-Atkins, the Musée national du Château de Fontainebleau, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It was curated by Sylvain Cordier, Curator of Early decorative Arts at MMFA. It traveled to France after it closed here and is on view at Musée national du Château de Fontainebleau until July 15.
Artnet included the show in an article titled 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For. KCUR included the exhibition in 6 Life-Changing Things to do in Kansas City This Weekend. The exhibition was popular and many visitors came to see it; the high point for most was being absolutely wowed by the splendor of the Throne Room.
Artnet included the show in an article titled 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For. KCUR included the exhibition in 6 Life-Changing Things to do in Kansas City This Weekend. The exhibition was popular and many visitors came to see it; the high point for most was being absolutely wowed by the splendor of the Throne Room.
Kansas City in tune with French culture
Why should ordinary Kansas Citians care about Molière?
The question was floated as a conversational gambit, but it raises a good point.
Our first newsletter emphasized Kansas City’s French cultural heritage beginning with the French fur traders and François Chouteau, whose role as a founder of our city will be recognized with a Chouteau Heritage fountain in North Kansas City.
But what does that mean to our richly diverse population in the 21st century?
The point is that our world-class city in today’s global economy is directly plugged in to France as the source of timeless works of art that still inspire, influence, get quoted, and are engagingly reinterpreted, often with contemporary satirical bite.
Whether you drink Champagne or wear perfume or watch movies that star Gérard Depardieu or hum along to “April in Paris” or learned “Frère Jacques” in kindergarten, YOU carry that spark of Frenchness. The proof is in the sheer quantity of events based on French art in Kansas City just this year!
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art recently concluded the six-month run of its hugely popular exhibit, Napoleon: Power and Splendor, which was organized and circulated by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (curated by Sylvain Cordier) with the participation of the Nelson-Atkins, the Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Visitors were wowed by the splendor of the Throne Room, and KCUR touted the exhibition as one of 6 Life-Changing Things to do in Kansas City This Weekend. Artnet included the show in an article, 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For.
A wealth of French plays and plays on French subjects, recent and in the works, grace Kansas City stages. The Unicorn’s June production of Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson spins historical French women Olympe de Gouges, Charlotte Corday, and Marie Antoinette as “badass rebel women.” In December the Unicorn will open Theresa Rebeck’s recent Broadway success Bernhardt/Hamlet about the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt who performed five times in Kansas City between 1887 and 1918.
UMKC Theatre presented Marivaux’s charming 18th-century comedy The Game of Love and Chance (Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard) in May. Its 2019-20 season-opener in Spencer Theatre will be An Italian Straw Hat (Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie), a mid-19th-century farce by Eugène Labiche. It’s like an extended chase scene by an entire wedding party in pursuit of a hat that was eaten by a horse, and it’s often called “the funniest play ever written.”
Opera, ballet, and musical performance organizations like Trilla Ray-Carter’s Baroque Ensemble draw frequently from the French repertoire. Lyric Opera of KC’s 2018-19 season included Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Coming in November is La Bohème in a French setting despite the Italian composer (Puccini). La Bohème had a more intimate production by Opera 180 in June; it was staged in an art gallery with the middle two acts performed under the stars in an enclosed alley space behind the Weinstein Gallery. The Kansas City Ballet’s 2019-20 season features Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, both by Tchaikovsky whose aesthetic derived largely from French tradition.
Beyond this brief sampling are many more French works in musical programming and academic theatre productions. Vive la France à Kansas City!
Why should ordinary Kansas Citians care about Molière?
The question was floated as a conversational gambit, but it raises a good point.
Our first newsletter emphasized Kansas City’s French cultural heritage beginning with the French fur traders and François Chouteau, whose role as a founder of our city will be recognized with a Chouteau Heritage fountain in North Kansas City.
But what does that mean to our richly diverse population in the 21st century?
The point is that our world-class city in today’s global economy is directly plugged in to France as the source of timeless works of art that still inspire, influence, get quoted, and are engagingly reinterpreted, often with contemporary satirical bite.
Whether you drink Champagne or wear perfume or watch movies that star Gérard Depardieu or hum along to “April in Paris” or learned “Frère Jacques” in kindergarten, YOU carry that spark of Frenchness. The proof is in the sheer quantity of events based on French art in Kansas City just this year!
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art recently concluded the six-month run of its hugely popular exhibit, Napoleon: Power and Splendor, which was organized and circulated by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (curated by Sylvain Cordier) with the participation of the Nelson-Atkins, the Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Visitors were wowed by the splendor of the Throne Room, and KCUR touted the exhibition as one of 6 Life-Changing Things to do in Kansas City This Weekend. Artnet included the show in an article, 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For.
A wealth of French plays and plays on French subjects, recent and in the works, grace Kansas City stages. The Unicorn’s June production of Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson spins historical French women Olympe de Gouges, Charlotte Corday, and Marie Antoinette as “badass rebel women.” In December the Unicorn will open Theresa Rebeck’s recent Broadway success Bernhardt/Hamlet about the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt who performed five times in Kansas City between 1887 and 1918.
UMKC Theatre presented Marivaux’s charming 18th-century comedy The Game of Love and Chance (Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard) in May. Its 2019-20 season-opener in Spencer Theatre will be An Italian Straw Hat (Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie), a mid-19th-century farce by Eugène Labiche. It’s like an extended chase scene by an entire wedding party in pursuit of a hat that was eaten by a horse, and it’s often called “the funniest play ever written.”
Opera, ballet, and musical performance organizations like Trilla Ray-Carter’s Baroque Ensemble draw frequently from the French repertoire. Lyric Opera of KC’s 2018-19 season included Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Coming in November is La Bohème in a French setting despite the Italian composer (Puccini). La Bohème had a more intimate production by Opera 180 in June; it was staged in an art gallery with the middle two acts performed under the stars in an enclosed alley space behind the Weinstein Gallery. The Kansas City Ballet’s 2019-20 season features Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, both by Tchaikovsky whose aesthetic derived largely from French tradition.
Beyond this brief sampling are many more French works in musical programming and academic theatre productions. Vive la France à Kansas City!
committee updates
Cultural Context Committee:
Tracy Terstriep Herber and Linda Ade Brand have met and discussed a Nelson Atkins/Lyric Opera collaborative event, hosted by the Nelson Atkins with guest speakers from the Lyric. Plans are to contact the KCBallet and check if either its students or professional trainees could join that evening and share the roots of ballet that were developing at the time of Molière.
They look forward to scheduling a gathering of professors and artists in music and dance that have expressed interest in KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. This would include Quixotic and other dance companies.
They’re excited to add Dr. Alison DeSimone and Trilla Ray-Carter into their efforts. Alison is a music history professor at UMKC who, in a perfect match, has done extensive research on the Baroque. She’s also on the board of the KC Baroque Orchestra, led by Trilla Ray-Carter.Their expertise, enthusiasm and connections will be invaluable.
Tracy Terstriep Herber and Linda Ade Brand have met and discussed a Nelson Atkins/Lyric Opera collaborative event, hosted by the Nelson Atkins with guest speakers from the Lyric. Plans are to contact the KCBallet and check if either its students or professional trainees could join that evening and share the roots of ballet that were developing at the time of Molière.
They look forward to scheduling a gathering of professors and artists in music and dance that have expressed interest in KC MOlière: 400 in 2022. This would include Quixotic and other dance companies.
They’re excited to add Dr. Alison DeSimone and Trilla Ray-Carter into their efforts. Alison is a music history professor at UMKC who, in a perfect match, has done extensive research on the Baroque. She’s also on the board of the KC Baroque Orchestra, led by Trilla Ray-Carter.Their expertise, enthusiasm and connections will be invaluable.
International Relations Committee:
Cyprienne Simchowicz made contact with the cultural attaché in Chicago who reports the respective French delegates are interested in the organization and timelines of KC MOlière: 400 in 2022.
Dorothée Bazin Werner will make further inquiries while in Paris. Virginie Roche-Tiengo may speak to the organizers of the Molière Festival which is taking place this month in Versailles, France.
Cyprienne Simchowicz made contact with the cultural attaché in Chicago who reports the respective French delegates are interested in the organization and timelines of KC MOlière: 400 in 2022.
Dorothée Bazin Werner will make further inquiries while in Paris. Virginie Roche-Tiengo may speak to the organizers of the Molière Festival which is taking place this month in Versailles, France.
Press & Publication Committee:
In Medieval Europe, town criers were the chief means of news communication with the townspeople. For KC MOlière: 400 in 2022, mistresses Chantal Roberts and Rebecca Smith take on that role. Chantal channels Moliere on his time-warp Facebook page and has implemented the event’s website, social media being the “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!” (modern French, oyez, infinitive, ouïr) of today. Chantal is instrumental in compiling the newsletter. Becky assists her in those efforts and works to insert written articles promoting the project’s plans and activities into local publications - or onto the door post of the local inn (the moniker “The Post" comes from this practice, after all.)
In Medieval Europe, town criers were the chief means of news communication with the townspeople. For KC MOlière: 400 in 2022, mistresses Chantal Roberts and Rebecca Smith take on that role. Chantal channels Moliere on his time-warp Facebook page and has implemented the event’s website, social media being the “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!” (modern French, oyez, infinitive, ouïr) of today. Chantal is instrumental in compiling the newsletter. Becky assists her in those efforts and works to insert written articles promoting the project’s plans and activities into local publications - or onto the door post of the local inn (the moniker “The Post" comes from this practice, after all.)
College & University Education Committee:
Jennifer Martin reports that the first meeting of participants will be held Friday, September 21, 2019. There are currently 18 schools from Columbia to Manhattan; some have already scheduled Molière productions for 2021-22, the others are brainstorming possibilities.
Cooperative projects among related disciplines within and between institutions are being encouraged. Master classes/ workshops and possible symposia are under consideration and the UMKC Emeritus College hopes to have a Molière-focused program for their annual dinner in November 2021.
The Theatre Production Committee
Co-chaired by Sidonie Garrett and John Rensenhouse, has been immersed in preparation for the Shakespeare Festival and has enjoyed contemplating the mass popularity of both writers. Molière and Shakespeare were rock stars! John and Sidonie point out that Liz Lochhead’s play Thon Man Molière is a Molière-themed Scottish cousin to Stoppard and Hall’s Shakespeare in Love, which is HASF’s current offering, being performed through July 7. If you haven’t read Thon Man Molière, check it out.
As time frees up for the committee after HASF, it plans to add new members in July and work on pledges from the professional theatres to produce Molière during the celebration.
Co-chaired by Sidonie Garrett and John Rensenhouse, has been immersed in preparation for the Shakespeare Festival and has enjoyed contemplating the mass popularity of both writers. Molière and Shakespeare were rock stars! John and Sidonie point out that Liz Lochhead’s play Thon Man Molière is a Molière-themed Scottish cousin to Stoppard and Hall’s Shakespeare in Love, which is HASF’s current offering, being performed through July 7. If you haven’t read Thon Man Molière, check it out.
As time frees up for the committee after HASF, it plans to add new members in July and work on pledges from the professional theatres to produce Molière during the celebration.