The stunning variety and high quality performances the Midwest Trust Center has planned for its 2025-2026 season should gladden the heart of every arts lover in the Kansas City area.

From Dickens and Shakespeare presented by one of the world’s greatest acting companies to a Broadway party put on by the Barricade Boys to solid classical performances from the Vienna Boys Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, there’s something to tickle everyone’s fancy.

And there’s something for all ages, too. The Midwest Trust Center prides itself on making entertainment available for everyone, from seasoned connoisseurs to young families with children. That’s certainly the case next season. 

There are several programs with special appeal to children which their parents will also enjoy. Like the puppet show A T-Rex Ate My Toothbrush Sept. 26 and 27 and theatrical presentations of Jungle Book Jan. 17 and 18 and The Ugly Duckling April 9. 

There’s no doubt about it, the Midwest Trust Center has assembled a season with a premium on variety.

“That's sort of our guiding philosophy,” Stacie McDaniel, the executive director of the Midwest Trust Center said. “I go into every season trying to put together a series of performances where every member of the community, both here at Johnson County Community College and the wider region at large, can look at and say, ‘Oh, yeah, that show is of interest to me, that show really represents something that that is part of my culture. Really, I’m just trying to touch all of those different communities.”

After beginning the season with the classical cross-over quartet Sons of Serendip on Sept. 6., MTC will present a concert with special appeal to a rather non-traditional community: gamers. The Witcher in Concert on Sept. 11 will feature music written for the incredibly popular video game series. The Witcher has won over 800 awards, including game of the year.

“It’s now common for movies to be shown with their live scores and soundtracks played live,” McDaniel said. “This is really the video game version of that. It's a fantasy game, so there will be scenes from the gameplay with the music that takes place in those scenes. I think it's going be a really good fit for people who are both fans of the game, as well as people who just love classical music.”

Dance is a big component of the series, starting with the ongoing homegrown project New Dance Partners Sept. 19 and 20. The year’s performance is called The Ultimate Collaboration.

“This is a project that we do annually, where we bring four internationally and nationally known choreographers to Kansas City to work with our local dance companies,” McDaniel said. “It’s two evenings of new works produced with new dance partners. It's really an exciting program. It's very unique in the dance community, and we're very proud of it.”

On October 10, just in time for the Day of the Dead, MTC will present a colorful evening of traditional Mexican song and dance.

“We've got Mariachi Garibaldi & Ballet Folklorico del Rio Grande in Eternamente: A Dia De Los Muertos Spectacular,” McDaniel said. “It's a celebration of Dia de los Muertos with music and dance and a digital altar where audience members can submit the names and pictures of their loved ones to be honored. We're really excited about that one.”

Pop culture gets its due. Oct. 18 it’s a Live Conversation with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook following a screening of their hit 1999 romantic comedy She’s All That. Then there’s a program celebrating George Michael Oct. 23.

You can always count on the Midwest Trust Center for Christmas concerts that are not your typical fare. On Dec. 6 Christmas in Killarney will celebrate the holiday with Irish song and dance. Dec. 11, it’s a country twist on a beloved Christmas story with Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol.

“It's a holiday musical written by Dolly Parton, based on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol,” McDaniel said. “It tells the story of a mining town where Ebenezer Scrooge is the CEO of the mining company and how he learns to capture the Christmas spirit.”

Speaking of Dickens, on Feb. 14, The Acting Company will bring Dickens’ novel Great Expectations to life. Then on Feb. 15, they’ll perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream. You can’t go wrong with Dickens and Shakespeare, especially when performed by a venerable acting company that was founded at the Juilliard Institute by John Houseman in 1972.

For real life drama, there’s Serial Killers with Dr. Scott Bonn on March 13.

“It’s a true crime podcast but live and in person,” McDaniel said. “Dr. Scott Bond is a criminologist and a serial killer expert. He's personally interviewed Dennis Rader, the BTK strangler, as well as David Berkowitz, Son of Sam. This is an evening where he talks about what creates a serial killer, what is happening in their mind when they're doing these horrific crimes, what leads them to that place. I would say it’s not for the faint of heart, although I think it's going be as entertaining and educational as it will be scary.”

But the heart of any Midwest Trust Center season is its classical offernings, and next season does not disappoint.

The Vienna Boys Choir, always audience favorites, will sing their hearts out Oct. 25. Kansas City’s own Opus 76 String Quartet performs Nov. 8 and the critically acclaimed Australian Chamber Orchestra takes the stage April 19.

“They’re celebrating their 50th anniversary, and they’re doing that by celebrating five centuries of music,” McDaniel said. “They're doing basically one piece for every century starting from the 1600s forward. They've got Handel, Henry Purcell, and then some new works as well.

The season has so many other delights, from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain to Irish bluegrass, music of North Africa and Southern Spain and the Gullah culture from the islands off the coast of North Carolina, as well as Afro-Cuban jazz on the series’ ever-popular Winterlude Jazz Festival.

To peruse the entire season and to purchase tickets, www.jccc.edu/midwest-trust-center.

Sept. 6 Sons of Serendip 

Sept. 11 The Witcher in Concert 

Sept. 13 MTC Kids Jam – Big Bang Boom

Sept. 19-20 New Dance Partners The Ultimate Collaboration 

Sept. 26-27 What if Puppets – A T-Rex Ate My Toothbrush 

Oct. 10 Mariachi Garibaldi & Ballet Folklorico del Rio Grande – Eternamente: A Dia De Los Muertos Spectacular 

Oct. 17 Varietopia with Paul F. Tompkins* 

Oct. 18 A Live Conversation with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook Following a Screening of She’s All That 

Oct. 19 Dustbowl Revival & Hot Club of Cowtown: 60 Years of Bob and Willie 

Oct. 23 The Life and Music of George Michael 

Oct. 25 MTC Kids Jam – Flor Bromley

Oct. 25 Vienna Boys Choir 

Nov. 7 Cirque Mechanics – TILT! 

Nov. 8 . Opus 76 Quartet with Alexander Markov, violin 

Nov. 14 Collage Dance Collective – RISE/Their Eyes Were Watching God 

Dec. 6 Christmas in Killarney 

Dec. 11 Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol

Dec. 13 MTC Kids Jam – Dan + Claudia Zanes Holiday Sing Along featuring Elena Moon Park

Jan. 17-18 Jungle Book* 

Jan. 24 MTC Kids Jam – Mr. Stinky Feet and the Hi-Tops* 

Jan. 30 The Barricade Boys Broadway Party 

Feb. 13 Twin Flames

Feb. 14 The Acting Company – Great Expectations 

Feb. 15 The Acting Company – A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

Feb. 20 The Westerlies

Feb. 22 Ranky Tanky 

Feb. 26 Tango After Dark 

March 6 Secrets of Space 

March 7 MTC Kids Jam – Divinity Roxx

March 7-8 Winterlude Jazz Festival featuring Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble 

March 13 Serial Killers with Dr. Scott Bonn

March 14 Seffarine

March 15 JigJam 

April 4 Yagódy 

April 9 Lightwire Theater – The Ugly Duckling 

April 18 The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain 

April 19 Australian Chamber Orchestra 

April 14 I Am, He Said - A Celebration of the Music of Neil Diamond

May 9 MTC Kids Jam – Uncle Jumbo

May 15-16 StoneLion Puppet Theatre – 1,000 Cranes and the Tree of Wishes