About Us & Activities

Event Archives

        ESU Kansas City Branch Salutes                         #Giving Tuesday

  

2016 has been a remarkable year for The English-Speaking Union, Kansas City Branch. Our educational programs have reached more students, teachers, members and the general public than ever before in our 96 years here in the Kansas City area.

#Giving Tuesday, on November 29, 2016, is an easy way to support the educational programs offered by the Kansas City Branch of the ESU. Your generous support, large or small, is gratefully appreciated.

The English-Speaking Union is a leader in Shakespeare education in America. Our 33rd annual Shakespeare Competition in Kansas City will hold its Branch Finals on February 19, 2017. Through the Competition students develop communication skills and an appreciation of the power of language and literature. Nationwide, the ESU Shakespeare Competition has engaged more than 300,000 young people since its inception.

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  Gerald Charles Dickens Returns to               Kansas City To Perform               “A Christmas Carol” In-Person

Charles Dickens' literary masterpiece, A Christmas Carol, continues to shape the way we celebrate Christmas over 150 years after the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three spirits of Christmas first touched hearts in 1843.

It's been two years since our ESU Group attended this wonderful Dickens program. So we are scheduling it again for this winter. All ESU members and Friends of ESU are invited to a group outing to see this special performance by Gerald Charles Dickens—the great-great grandfather of Charles Dickens.

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ESU Members and Guests-- Celebrate         the 31st Annual British Faire

The British Are Coming!  All ESU members and guests are invited to the 31st Annual British Faire and Tea in Shawnee, KS.  This fun event is sponsored by the Daughters of the British Empire in Kansas.  This annual fundraising event benefits retirement communities and local charities.  Some of the events and activities at the British Faire

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            Dr. Felicia Londré Presents     Annual Lecture on UMKC Campus

The question may be met with chagrin by traditionalists, but to some, the identity of William Shakespeare is not positively decided. Dr. Felicia Hardison Londré, Ph.D, presents a thought-provoking analysis on the Shakespeare authorship question. This free lecture program is at 3:30 pm on Monday, November 7, 2016, at Miller Nichols Library, UMKC Campus.

Was it William Shaksper of Stratford-upon-Avon or was it Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford? Dr. Londré delves into the sensitive question of authorship in an illustrated presentation.

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Next Kansas City Tea & Literature Club Quarterly Meeting: October 10, 2016

The next meeting of the Kansas City Tea & Literature Club will be held on Monday, October 10, 2016. The Region for this meeting is Africa. The book is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; tea host is Nicole Burriss and teas provided by JusTea.

All ESU members and Friends of ESU are welcome and encouraged to attend our quarterly Tea & Literature Club.

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A British Lord Coming to Kansas City To Celebrate History

The Rt. Hon. Lord Alan Watson, award-winning BBC broadcaster, Vice President of the English-Speaking Union of the Commonwealth (UK), and acclaimed author, will give a lecture at a luncheon on Friday, October 14, 2016, at the Carriage Club in Kansas City, MO.

This lecture program is part of the formal celebration of the 70th anniversary of Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, given March 5, 1946, at Westminster College, Fulton, MO., with U.S. President Harry S. Truman in attendance. This program is sponsored by the National Churchill Museum at Westminster College, Fulton, MO.

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ESU’s Annual Tea Party Celebrates Shakespeare’s 400 Year Legacy

This year, to commemorate the 400-year legacy of William Shakespeare, the ESU Kansas City Branch is hosting A Shakespeare Tea Party—Celebrating a 400 Year Legacy. All ESU Members and Friends of ESU are cordially invited to attend one of our biggest social gatherings of the year. This Shakespeare Tea Party will again be held at Anna Marie's Teas in Liberty, Mo.

Our ESU annual tea parties are very popular and have sold out for the last four years so this year we will have two seatings to accommodate all who want to attend.

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To Bee or Not to Bee: The Fascinating Language of Dancing Bees

Language is all around us. It appears in human and non-human forms. When some species of non-humans, such as dogs and cats, communicate with us, their owners know exactly what they are telling us. Other animal species, such as bees, have a more complicated language. Honeybee language is complex but fascinating and decoding it has been a challenge. Until now.

Tania Munz, Vice President for Research and Scholarship at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, has researched the topic of Honeybee language and began studying the groundbreaking scientific research of Karl von Frisch, an Austrian-born scientist, who studied honeybees as their populations were dying in 1940s Europe. She began working on the project as a PhD student at Princeton University. Her new book, The Dancing Bees: Karl von Frisch and the Discovery of the Honeybee Language, tells the story of how Frisch discovered that honeybees communicate when they dance which challenged the belief that complex communication was solely human behavior.

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ESU Kansas City Branch Hosts ESU-Folger Teaching Shakespeare Workshop

The English-Speaking Union, in partnership with the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, developed a custom-designed one-day workshop for middle and high school teachers to give tools they need to bring Shakespeare to life in their classrooms. The ESU-Folger Teaching Shakespeare Workshop was held on June 15, 2016, at the Kansas City Public Library, Central Library, downtown Kansas City, MO.

This workshop was exclusively offered to educators in select cities in the U.S. in which ESU Branches are located. The Kansas City Branch of the English-Speaking Union was pleased to be one of the host cities offering this Teaching Shakespeare Workshop to middle and high school teachers in the Kansas City Metro Area. Jessica Cakrasenjaya, a Master Teacher from the Folger National Teacher Corps was the Workshop instructor and focused on the Folger Four—scholarship, performance, curriculum and assessment.

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             ESU Goes to the Movies        Dame Helen Mirren in The Audience

THE AUDIENCE--an encore film starring Helen Mirren and Richard McCabe coming to Kansas City, July 19 at 7:00 pm. ESU members and friends are invited to attend this one-night screening at AMC Town Center 20. Ticket purchases are below.

In celebration of HRH Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday this year, The Audience which was recorded live during the original run of the production in London's West End in 2013, is returning to select movie theatres.

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