By Anne Welsbacher

A woman in the esteemed Explorers Club? Preposterous! A foreigner slapping Queen Victoria? Perish the thought! 

The ICTRep theater company opens its 2026-27 season August 7 with “The Explorers Club,” a satire lampooning the 19th-century colonialism of the British Empire. The show, by the lyricist for “Legally Blonde” and “Mean Girls,” opened off-Broadway in 2013 and received an Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding off-Broadway play.

ICTRep’s ensemble cast includes Coleman Adams, Hunter Bartholomew, Jackson Dorris, James Earlywine, Matthew Gwinner, JR Hurst, Holland Lee Kiser, Nilo Reynoso, and Torey Wilson. Julie Longhofer directs.

“The Explorers Club” runs for two weekends August 7-16 at Wichita State’s Welsbacher Theatre at the Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex, 5015 E. 29th St. General admission tickets are $38 with discounts for seniors, veterans, students, and audience members under 30. Learn more and buy tickets online. 

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