Deaf theater troupe to perform varied show

Overland Park– A Russian theater troupe of deaf actors will perform a show that includes pantomime, dance and clowning at 7 p.m. Wednesday in The Theatre at the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd.

TOYS Theater offers a family-accessible show that’s appropriate for both deaf and hearing audiences. The troupe is composed of four performers, Vasily Solonitsky, Ludmila Romanovskaya, Alexander Filimonov and Ilya Goltsov. The director is Oleg Golovushkin. All are deaf.

The group first formed in 1985 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under, and are available by calling (913) 469-4445. Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers may call TDD/TTY (913) 469-4485.

Free Fridays features Chinese music, dance

Kansas City, Mo. — The Chinese School of Greater Kansas City will perform a free program of traditional Chinese music and dances at 7 p.m. Friday in Atkins Auditorium at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.

The show is the latest installment of the World Music Concert Series, part of Ford Free Fridays, sponsored by Ford Motor Co.

Musical selections include group and solo performances of ancient Chinese stringed instruments, including the Chinese fiddle and kujang, or Chinese zither. Planned vocal offerings consist of a quartet performing Chinese and Taiwanese folk songs, as well as a choir of Kansas City Chinese Choir Society members joined by Chinese School parents. The dance portion will feature a traditional Chinese ribbon dance by the Chinese School Dance Class and a solo Chinese baton dance.

For more information, call (816) 561-4000.

Lyric Opera stages Mozart’s ‘Abduction’

Kansas City, Mo. — Lyric Opera of Kansas City will stage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” through March 23.

This new concept of “Abduction,” presented in German with easy-to-read English translations, displays Mozart’s comedy in an unusual setting: aboard the Orient Express speeding from Istanbul to Paris in the 1920s.

Soprano Madeline Bender makes her Lyric debut as Konstanze, a Spanish noblewoman. Tenor Mark Thomsen, last seen at the Lyric as Camp Williams in “Cold Sassy Tree,” will sing the role of Belmonte, a Spanish nobleman and Kontanze’s fiance.

Tickets range from $10 to $60 and can be bought by calling (816) 471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org.

Postcards feature disco-era fashions

San Francisco, Calif. — Disco is back. At least on paper.

San Francisco-based Chronicle Books is introducing a campy line of postcards featuring photographs gleaned from 1970s clothing catalogs.”Catalog Man: Mail-Order Fashion Hunks” shows studly guys with feathered hair sporting corduroy and polyester bell-bottom pants, striped shirts with oversized collars and extra-wide ties. “Catalog Woman: Mail-Order Fashion Foxes” has models in brightly colored dresses and shirts, all with outrageous patterns. Each set features 30 postcards with different styles (underwear fashion is even included). Each set will be available next month for $8.95 and can be found at www.chroniclebooks.com.