In its 43rd season, Kechi Playhouse tempers passion with pragmatism
As a hedge against troublesome road construction, the theater will present five royalty-free productions this year. They include past favorites, an original script, and "Much Ado About Nothing."
I asked Misty Maynard, who owns and operates the Kechi Playhouse, if she had an umbrella theme or concept for her 2025 season. “Royalty-free shows,” she said, and then confessed her worries about the potential hit she’ll take this summer because the City of Kechi, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the first month of her summer season would be a swell time to tear up the streets accessing the theater. (Editorial snark mine, not hers; one of Maynard’s talents is perennial diplomacy.)
That bottom-line “theme” seemed as good as any, particularly given the eclectic and interesting mix of old and new she’s put together for the five-month run.
Maynard has been running her business for more than 40 years, presenting farces, mysteries, and her own scripts to die-hard audiences made up of returning fans looking for laughs (and sometimes tears) from a theater they trust run by a woman they love. This summer’s selections — two of which Maynard has previously produced — have proven themselves to be well-built shows offering reliable entertainment, which is exactly what her audiences count on. Maynard is at heart that rarest of creatures: savvy in business and passionately creative, especially regarding all things theater.
In addition to the return appearances of the season’s first two shows — “You Take the Cake” and “Charley’s Aunt” — this season will feature an original play by her sister Storme Maynard (who creates the program and other graphics and helps out in other ways) and the first-ever play by that most notable businessman-artist, William Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing.” Rounding out the five-show season is “Pygmalion,” a live radio play.
Mike Shryock, a longtime player in Kechi shows, was introduced more than 15 years ago when he saw an “auditions” notice in front of the iconic theater. Shryock, who lives in Augusta, travels around Kansas frequently, including regular trips to Valley Center to drop off used auto oil. He had passed the building often and was intrigued. He went in, asked when he could audition, “and they said, ‘now,’ shoved a script in my hand, and pointed me to the stage. They had been trying to cast the role for weeks,” he said.
He caught the bug. “I thought, if I could do one show here, I’d be happy. I think I’m up to 30.”
Shryock particularly enjoys the fully immersive experience of working at a bare-bones, all-hands-on-deck theater where actors are also responsible for scrounging up furniture, props, and costumes as well as building sets and doing whatever else needs doing. “It’s a great place to learn about live theater,” he said. “You help make everything happen. I tell young people that for two months you do nothing but theater.”
For Maynard’s popular “IX’TICHA, Spider-God of the Amazon!!!,” which she has staged four times, Shryock wore the enormous spider costume in the first three productions. “The last time, I said, ‘get someone younger.’ I mean, it’s a great costume,” he said of costumer Christy Railsback’s award-winning spider, “but once you’re in it, you’re in it.”
Shryock doesn’t tire of the long runs of each show, which can range from 12 to 20 performances. “It’s amazing how much characters and shows change throughout the run. By the last show, I’m still on fire.”
For the opening show this summer, Shryock returns to “You Take the Cake” after appearing in it back in 2016 as a mobster’s sidekick. This time round, he plays the mobster himself. He’s also been cast once again in “Charley’s Aunt.”
Andrew Johnson, who appears on various Wichita stages, also returns to those two shows. For “Cake,” he reprises his 2016 role of Clell.
“Most of the cast members are different people giving different portrayals to play against,” he said, “and that affects how I play my character.” In 2016, the character Lou, aligned with Clell, was played by an actor Johnson had often worked with. “We already had chemistry, so we hit the ground running,” he said. By contrast, this is the first time he has worked with the current Lou, Matt Neises, so the two have had to learn “how to mesh.”
Johnson has also stepped in for Kechi on shows already in rehearsal when an actor has had to drop out for medical or other reasons. In one case, he came in three days before opening night.
Following his collaborative work last year with “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Joseph Urick will return this year for “Much Ado About Nothing.” Maynard is adapting the play for her stage and audience.
Storme’s original play will be the third she’s written for Kechi Playhouse. Her first, in 2020, was a mystery. “We wanted a play that was just a little outside of Misty’s wheelhouse, mystery suspense rather than comedic farce,” she said. “I watch, read, and write more mysteries than Misty, so she asked me to plot it out.”
Because of its many mistaken identities and reversals, “I discovered I almost had to write it backwards, from the ending forward,” Storme said. “So, I was doing the whole thing, dialogue and all, just to keep myself on track. When I turned in the first act, Misty’s reaction was, ‘This is good, you keep going!’ We had a table read, made corrections, and launched. And people liked it. What a high!”
The following year, they were asked about doing a Sherlock Holmes play. “Misty asked me to look into it and I agreed, even though I’m not a huge Holmes fan,” Storme said. “To couch it in something I would enjoy, I wrote it as a mystery-enactment weekend where Sherlock devotees would come to live out a Sherlock mystery — which, of course, starts with a real murder and goes all wrong.”
For that play, Shryock said that early on in rehearsals, no one knew who the killer was. “It turned out to be my character!”
Last-minute writing is something of a Kechi tradition. When they began rehearsals for the first production of “IX’TICHA,” Misty had not yet written the second act.
Storme is still at work on the 2025 script. “We were thinking along the lines of a fun, campy take on Sam Spade,” she said. “I’ve been researching noir and watching old movies and swirling ideas around and have come up with a title I really like. I’m not saying it won’t change, but for now the working title is ‘The Maltese Flamingo.’
“The rest is so lucidly unformed I’m afraid I can’t share it at this time.”
The Details
Kechi Playhouse's 2025 season
100 E. Kechi Road in Kechi, Kansas
“You Take The Cake,” June 6-29
“Charley’s Aunt,” July 5-27
“Much Ado About Nothing,” August 1-24
“Pygmalion (Radio Version),” September 5-28
“A New Noir Comic Mystery” by Storme Maynard, October 3-26
A note on getting there: Contact the theater for updates and watch for possible detour signage. As of late May, the theater was only accessible from the north on Oliver Street.
All shows begin at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays.
$16-17
Call 316-744-2152 for reservations.
Anne Welsbacher writes plays, nonfiction, and book and theater reviews. She can be found on Substack and Bluesky. She is the Performing Arts Editor for this publication. awelsbacher.com
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