Welcome to The Color Purple at Kansas City Repertory Theatre.
It is an immense honor to share this powerful story with you — one that has moved audiences across generations and mediums, and now finds new resonance on our Spencer stage. Alice Walker’s indelible novel, brilliantly adapted for the musical stage by Marsha Norman, with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, remains a triumphant celebration of the human spirit — its capacity for survival, transformation, and joy.
At the heart of The Color Purple is Celie — a woman whose journey from voicelessness to selfpossession is both deeply personal and widely universal. Her story, and the stories of the women and men around her, pulse with pain and beauty, sorrow and resilience. Set against a backdrop of rural Georgia in the early 20th century, the show speaks to the legacy of trauma and oppression, but it also sings — literally — with love, sisterhood, and the radical act of choosing joy.
In bringing this production to KCRep, we wanted to center the emotional and spiritual truths of this story. We are proud to collaborate with extraordinary artists — actors, designers, musicians, and technicians — whose hearts and talents illuminate this work with fresh perspective and deep respect. Among them are so many exceptional Kansas City-based artists, including several who are returning home to tell this story in the community that first nurtured them. Their presence makes this production not just powerful, but personal —infused with the spirit, history, and talent of this city and our community. Their artistry reminds us that theatre, at its best, can be a communal act of healing. This is a story about the things we inherit and the things we choose to carry forward. About reclaiming your name, your body, your song. It’s about love — hard-won, imperfect, redemptive love — and the beauty we find when we dare to see ourselves fully and to be seen in return.
Thank you for being here and for sharing space and spirit with us. …We hope The Color Purple leaves you moved, uplifted, and perhaps, like Celie, more connected to your own power and possibility.
— Stuart Carden, Artistic Director
Musicians
The Color Purple is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide 1180 Ave. of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.theatricalrights.com
Q&A with Angela Wildflower
Interview by JANA LILES, Director of Marketing & Communications
We are so thrilled to welcome back Angela Wildflower to the KCRep stage after her brilliant performance as Billie Holiday in last season’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. She was kind enough to give us an update on what she’s been up to since that production and a glimpse into her thoughts on preparing to play Celie in The Color Purple.
Q: KCRep patrons last saw you playing Billie Holiday in our production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill last fall. What have you been up to since?
A: Since Lady Day, the journey has been both rich and rhythmic. I filmed an episode of Poker Face on Peacock, then traded sound stages for snowy peaks in Whitefish, Montana, where I had the joy of performing in the annual Yuletide Holiday concert. After that, I traveled to Minneapolis to portray the powerful and complex character of Silver in Paradise Blue at the legendary Penumbra Theatre.
Back home in Kansas City, I stepped into the shoes of Miss Adelaide in Guys & Dolls at Musical Theatre Heritage, then poured my energy into summer theater camps filled with joy, imagination, and young dreamers. Along the way, I’ve been creating original content,
and developing theater curriculum for youth programs across the country.
And now, I return to KCRep to
begin one of the most inspiring journeys of all — becoming Celie in The Color Purple.
Q: As someone who grew
up in Kansas City, what does it mean to you to be performing here, in this city, for this community?
A: Getting to perform The Color Purple here at home is such a full-circle moment. This show has quickly become one of the highlights of my career, and I’m both humbled and honored to bring it to the city that raised me. There’s something deeply special about performing for the community that first poured into me. Every time I step on stage, it feels like I’m giving back a piece of the gift, love and inspiration Kansas City gave me.
Q: This is not your first time starring in The Color Purple. What has been your journey with this show?
A: In 2022, I had the incredible opportunity to play Celie at Broadway Sacramento —
a role I had dreamed of for years. In 2023, I stepped into Shug Avery’s shoes at the Denver Center, and returned to that role again in 2024 at Theatre Latté Da and Geva Theatre in Rochester, NY. Each version of the show revealed something new to me —about womanhood, about strength, about forgiveness.
Now, stepping back into Celie’s shoes, I bring new understanding, new information, and a deeper foundation in the story. That foundation allows me to leap further—and continue peeling back the layers of this moving, powerful journey. The Color Purple has become a part of me, and I’m honored every time I get to tell it.
Q: What excites you the most about taking on the role of Celie? What makes you the most nervous?
A: What excites me most is Celie’s transformation. To witness a woman go from voiceless to powerful —
from invisible to fully seen — is breathtaking. As an actor, that kind of journey is a rare and sacred challenge. Celie’s growth is subtle, spiritual, and seismic all at once, and getting to live through that arc on stage is both humbling and electrifying.
What makes me nervous is how personal it is. There’s nowhere to hide in this role. Celie demands vulnerability, truth, and a willingness to feel everything. But I also believe that’s where the magic lives — in the raw, honest places where the audience meets you heart first.
Q: If you could say one thing to Alice Walker, who in 1982 became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Color Purple, which this musical is based on, what would it be?
A: I would say: Thank you for telling the truth. Thank you for giving voice to the silenced, space to the overlooked, and beauty to the broken places. Your words have helped generations of women — myself included — see ourselves with more clarity, compassion, and courage. This story continues to liberate, awaken, and restore. Because of your pen, we are reminded that love —especially self-love — is revolutionary.
Q: What’s next for you and how can our patrons follow your journey?
A: Next up, I’m working on a new solo concert while continuing to audition for my next Broadway, TV, or film opportunity. At the same time, I’m passionately developing original children’s content through my Wildflower brand, creating theater curriculum for arts programs around the country, and working both in front of and behind the camera on new TV and film projects. It’s a beautifully creative season, and I’m excited for what’s unfolding.
If you’d like to stay connected or explore ways to bring Wildflower programming to your school or organization, you can follow me on Instagram @iWildflower, on Facebook at Angela Wildflower Polk, and online at AngelaWildflower.com.
For curriculum, workshops, and youth programming inquiries,
visit AWildflowerDreams.com.
I’d love to connect!
Q&A with Damron Russel Armstrong
Interview by JANA LILES, Director of Marketing & Communications
Most of Kansas City knows Damron Armstrong from both his work onstage and off- as the Artistic Director of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City. Here at KCRep, we most recently worked with him in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and we are so happy to have him back for The Color Purple. We caught up with him just before rehearsals started to chat about his process as an actor, what he is most excited about with The Color Purple, and how he balances a very full and vibrant
Q: You spent time here in Kansas City growing up and then worked on stages all over New York and the United States. What brought you back to Kansas City?
A: To effect the change I want to see. After Travyon Martin’s death in 2012, a cord struck in me of how the senseless death of a young boy was covered in the media — not with the sense of loss of a life a in motion with possibilities, but it was more about fashion sense: “Be afriad of boys in hoodies.” My thoughts went to, “Where is the platform that humanizes young men/boys of color? It was at this moment I had an idea of the platform in which the Black voice could be elevated … and where better than in my home town, where African American actors had limited opportunities, and patrons
of the arts had limited access
at best.
Q: Tell us more about The Black Repertory Theatre of
Kansas City and the work you do there.
A: The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City (BRTKC) elevates opportunities in the arts in Kansas City for people of color. It provides an additional platform for the African American, diaspora which provides another view of American life — the uniqueness of our experience — but most offends the commonalty.
Q: Did you draw inspiration from any real-life figures, historical or personal, when preparing for a role like Ol’ Mister?
A: For the role of Ol’Mister, I’m inspired by the men of my Great-grandfathers’ generation; men who were born and raised in rural North Carolina. Men who lived through slavery to become free men. Men who were instilled with a strong work ethic, but may not have been in touch with their emotional side.
Q: What excites you the most about taking on the role of
Ol’ Mister? What makes you the most nervous?
A: This is one for the bucket list, folks! I have been in the business long enough that I was around this show since its inception , and I got to be around to see Kansas City’s own Kingsley Legg originate this role on Broadway. Even while in Kansas City, Kingsley was an inspiration for young African American actors.
Q: You have dedicated your life to the art form of theatre, both on the stage and behind the scenes. What keeps you motivated to do this work?
A: Opening up theatre to those who have traditionally not had a pathway to the art form through our educational programming, as well as those performers who didn’t have a platform that bridged them into mainstream theatre in Kansas City and beyond. I do the work because introducing the African American diaspora to theatre-lovers is so important to me — as is providing representation to this often-marginalized group of Kansas Citians.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you and your work?
A:THEATRE IS FOR everyone! Come take in a show at The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City! For the last eleven years, I have worked hard to bring thought-provoking theatre to Kansas City. I invite you to join our team as a patron, volunteer, technician, administrator or board member! Things are in motion for the doors to open at our new home, The Boone Theatre, located at 1701 E. 18th Street, in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, in the spring 2026, and we need your support for another ten years of programming —
and beyond!
