This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Unicorn Theatre is a nonprofit professional theatre at 3828 Main Street in midtown Kansas City, founded in 1974 by three UMKC theatre graduates and devoted almost entirely to contemporary and new American plays. It owns and operates a converted early-twentieth-century parking garage containing two houses — the 152-seat thrust Levin Stage and the 122-seat flexible Jerome Stage — plus rehearsal, shop and administrative space. Cynthia Levin led the company as producing artistic director for 45 years before retiring in 2024; Ernie Nolan took over as artistic director on July 1, 2024. The 2026–27 season, the company’s 53rd, opened with Terrence McNally’s The Ritz in August 2026.

Description

Unicorn Theatre is a professional nonprofit theatre company in midtown Kansas City, at 3828 Main Street. Three graduates of the UMKC theatre program — Jim Cairns, Rohn Dennis and Liz Gordon — founded the company in 1974 in a rented warehouse in the River Market, with the stated aim of giving local artists a chance to work and grow.12 The company took the Unicorn name in 1981, reportedly after donated letterhead arrived with a unicorn printed at the top.1

In the mid-1980s the company moved to Main Street and converted a roughly eighty-year-old parking garage into an intimate thrust-stage theatre.1 Renovations in 1996 added a box office, lobby, rehearsal space and administrative offices, and a capital campaign in the 2000s funded a second performance space.1 The theatre owns the Main Street building.1

Cynthia Levin joined the company in 1979 and became its artistic leader in the early 1980s, serving as producing artistic director for 45 years and shaping the Unicorn’s identity as Kansas City’s home for contemporary work.34 She retired following the 2023–24 season. Ernie Nolan — a playwright, director and choreographer previously at Emerald City Theatre and Nashville Children’s Theatre, and who choreographed the Unicorn’s 2007 La Cage aux Folles — began as artistic director on July 1, 2024.34

The company joined Actors’ Equity Association in 1984 and is a founding member of the National New Play Network.1 It reported an annual operating budget of roughly $1 million in the mid-2010s, with a small full-time staff and roughly 125 seasonal artists, designers and technicians engaged per season.2 Its 2023 budget was reported at approximately $914,805.3

Programming

The Unicorn’s stated focus is contemporary American plays and musicals, with a long-standing preference for scripts less than about five years old that have not previously been staged in the Kansas City region.2 The company has mounted more than 300 productions, a substantial share of them world or regional premieres; American Theatre reported roughly 20 percent world premieres as of 2016, and the theatre’s own materials cite more than 300 plays with about a quarter world premieres.25 Wikipedia records 58 world-premiere plays across the company’s first forty years.1

Programming runs across the two houses in parallel — the larger Levin Stage typically carrying the mainstage subscription titles and the Jerome Stage carrying smaller-cast and more experimental work. The 2026–27 season, the company’s 53rd, opened with Terrence McNally’s The Ritz (August 12–30, 2026, Levin Stage) and includes Hannah Moscovitch’s Red Like Fruit (October 14–25, 2026, Jerome Stage), among other titles.5 The theatre also runs UPROAR, a periodic programming strand, and both of its stages serve as rented venues for the KC Fringe Festival.67

The room

The Main Street building is a converted parking garage of roughly eighty years’ age at the time of its mid-1980s conversion, holding both performance spaces plus rehearsal, production and administrative functions under one roof.12 The Levin Stage — named for Cynthia Levin — is a 152-seat thrust house. The Jerome Stage, opened in 2008 and named for Norge W. Jerome, a former board member and nutritional anthropologist, is a flexible black-box room of 122 seats.1 Both are ADA compliant; the venue offers a full bar and light snacks, and three free surface lots serve the block.7

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia — “Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City)” — asserts: founding 1974 by Rohn Dennis, Liz Gordon and Jim Cairns, UMKC theatre graduates; original River Market warehouse operation; renaming to Unicorn Theatre in 1981 after donated unicorn letterhead; mid-1980s move to Main Street and conversion of an ~80-year-old parking garage into a thrust-stage theatre; 1996 renovations adding box office, lobby, rehearsal and office space; a $2 million capital campaign in the 2000s; Levin/mainstage 152 seats and Jerome Stage 122 seats, the latter opened 2008 and named for board member Norge W. Jerome; Actors’ Equity affiliation from 1984; founding membership of the National New Play Network; 58 world premieres over forty years. (Accessed 2026-08-13. Secondary encyclopedia source — seat counts and the exact move year should be confirmed first-party.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. American Theatre — “Know a Theatre: Unicorn Theatre of Kansas City, Mo.” (January 28, 2016) — asserts: founding 1974 by three UMKC graduates (Jim Cairns, Rohn Dennis, Liz Gordon); original purpose of giving local artists a chance to work and grow; programming focus on contemporary American plays under roughly five years old and unseen in the region; annual budget just over $1 million with six full-time and three part-time staff plus ~125 seasonal artists per season; converted midtown garage housing thrust stage, second space and rehearsal rooms; building purchased and refurbished with no annual debt; more than 300 productions with roughly 20 percent world premieres; Cynthia Levin as artistic director since the early 1980s. (Accessed 2026-08-13.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. American Theatre — “Ernie Nolan Named Unicorn Theatre Artistic Director” (July 1, 2024) — asserts: Nolan’s start date of July 1, 2024; his prior roles at Emerald City Theatre and Nashville Children’s Theatre; his 2007 choreography of the Unicorn’s La Cage aux Folles; Unicorn’s status as a Kansas City nonprofit performing arts organization focused on contemporary plays and musicals; 2023 budget of approximately $914,805; Nolan’s succession of Cynthia Levin after her 45 years with the organization. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Unicorn Theatre — “Unicorn Theatre Announces Groundbreaking Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin Will Retire in 2024 After 45 Years With the Theatre” (May 31, 2023) — asserts: first-party announcement of Levin’s 45-year tenure and 2024 retirement. Companion first-party announcement of Nolan’s selection: unicorntheatre.org ↩ ↩2

  5. Unicorn Theatre — “2026 – 2027 Season” — asserts: the 53rd season; Terrence McNally’s The Ritz August 12–30, 2026 on the Levin Stage; Hannah Moscovitch’s Red Like Fruit October 14–25, 2026 on the Jerome Stage; additional titles including Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Elusive Ear; the theatre’s claim of more than 300 plays produced, about 25 percent world premieres. (Accessed 2026-08-13 via search index; direct automated retrieval returned HTTP 403.) ↩ ↩2

  6. Unicorn Theatre — official site — asserts: the theatre’s existence, midtown Main Street location, current season programming and the UPROAR strand. (Note: the site returned HTTP 403 to automated retrieval on 2026-08-13; content confirmed via indexed pages and the season page at unicorntheatre.org. Re-verify by hand in a browser.) ↩

  7. KC Fringe Festival — venue page, “Unicorn Theatre – Levin Stage” — asserts: address 3828 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64111; full bar and light snacks; ADA compliance; three free parking lots surrounding the theatre; the Levin Stage’s use as a Fringe venue. Companion page for the Jerome Stage: kcfringe.org (Accessed 2026-08-13.) ↩ ↩2

See also

  • Registry
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/unicorn-theatre · record updated 2026-08-13