Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
Signature Event Video Video Signature Event Audio Audio Signature Event Interview Interviews
E.g., 2019/06/24
E.g., 2019/06/24

Defiance: ‘A Monument to My Brother’

Discussion

Displaced from their home in Belarus during World War II, a then-teenage Gitla Doppelt and her family joined bands of forest-dwelling resistance fighters who worked to protect themselves and other Jewish noncombatants from their country’s Nazi occupiers.

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The Library takes a compelling, two-part look at the life of one of Kansas City’s dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, Gitla Doppelt, beginning Monday with a screening of the 2008 film Defiance (R). It tells the story of World War II resistance fighters who fled to the Belarussian forests and worked to protect themselves and other Jewish noncombatants from Nazi occupiers. Doppelt, a part of that group with her brothers and parents, speaks at the Plaza Branch two nights later.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

Becoming American: Help Wanted? Immigration and Work

The Library continues its examination of immigration in America with a screening and discussion of “The Golden Door,” the opening episode of the documentary series Destination America. It underscores the important role that immigrant labor played in the building of our country – and the contentiousness it wrought among American workers.

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The Library continues its examination of immigration in America with a screening and discussion of “The Golden Door,” the opening episode of the documentary series Destination America. It underscores the important role that immigrant labor played in the building of our country – and the contentiousness it wrought among American workers. UMKC historian Sandra Enriquez leads the subsequent discussion.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Central Library

Defiance: ‘A Monument to My Brother’

Film Screening

Displaced from their home in Belarus during World War II, a then-teenage Gitla Doppelt and her family joined bands of forest-dwelling resistance fighters who worked to protect themselves and other Jewish noncombatants from their country’s Nazi occupiers.

Learn More >
The Library takes a compelling, two-part look at the life of one of Kansas City’s dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, Gitla Doppelt, beginning Monday with a screening of the 2008 film Defiance (R). It tells the story of World War II resistance fighters who fled to the Belarussian forests and worked to protect themselves and other Jewish noncombatants from Nazi occupiers. Doppelt, a part of that group with her brothers and parents, speaks at the Plaza Branch two nights later.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Jazz at Lincoln Center: Abyssinian Mass

Commissioned a little more than a decade ago to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, Grammy-winning musician, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis created a sweeping composition for a big band and 70-voice gospel choir.

Abyssinian Mass is a blend of sacred and secular music, infused with spirituality, swing, and bluesy swagger. In the latest installment of the Jazz at Lincoln Center digital concert series – featuring streamed presentations of memorable recorded performances – the work is brought to life by Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Chorale Le Chateau directed by acclaimed producer and musical director Damien Sneed. The performance is preceded by brief look at the instrumentation, music, and composer.

 
Learn More >
Commissioned a little more than a decade ago to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, Grammy-winning musician, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis created a sweeping composition for a big band and 70-voice gospel choir. Abyssinian Mass is a blend of sacred and secular music, infused with spirituality, swing, and bluesy swagger. In the latest installment of the Jazz at Lincoln Center digital concert series – featuring streamed presentations of memorabl
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm
Plaza Branch

Charm City

Indie Lens Pop-up

Nightly news cameras trained on the flames, the looting, and the chaos that gripped Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015. Filmmaker Marilyn Ness sought, and found, more.

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Marilyn Ness’ documentary Charm City offers an intimate portrait of those struggling to effect positive change in a troubled Baltimore in the three years before, during, and after the rioting sparked by the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015. The 2018 film is screened and discussed.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm
Plaza Branch

Jay & Leslie's Laughing Matters

Friday Night Family Fun

Kansas City-area entertainers Jay and Leslie Cady have been delighting fans young and old since 1980. They’re off and running again, delivering a lively mix of juggling, mime, magic, and more.
 

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Kansas City-area entertainers Jay and Leslie Cady have been delighting fans young and old since 1980. They’re off and running again, delivering a lively mix of juggling, mime, magic, and other nonsense. For all ages.
Friday, April 5, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology

After more than a century, the voices of anxiety and joy, of longing and frustration and despair, still rise from the cemetery in the fictional Midwestern town of Spoon River.

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The Equity Actors' Readers' Theatre (EARTh) offers a script-in-hand reading of selected passages from one of the most widely read and discussed volumes of poetry ever written – a collecting of haunting monologues by the dead of the fictional Midwestern town of Spoon River.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Write a Letter to a Prisoner

Artist Benjamin Wills has come to understand what a few lines in a letter – or just the arrival of mail – can mean to someone behind bars and separated from society.
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Saturday, March 30, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Central Library

Arrr, Mustache Baby!

Friday Night Family Fun
Kansas City children’s author Bridget Heos shares the latest addition to her award-winning series about a little boy and with a bad-guy mustache and the hilarious adventures he finds. Ages 4 and up.
 
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Kansas City children’s author Bridget Heos shares the latest addition to her award-winning series about a little boy and with a bad-guy mustache and the hilarious adventures he finds. Ages 4 and up.
Friday, March 29, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Change in a Changing World

Drawing from his new book, Harvard University’s Robert Mnookin takes stock of the situation of American Jews today. While they’ve achieved unprecedented integration, esteem, and influence, he identifies a number of critical challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, a waning sense of community (owing to a diminished threat of persecution), and conflicting views about Israel.
 
Learn More >
Drawing from his new book, Harvard University’s Robert Mnookin takes stock of the situation of American Jews today. While they’ve achieved unprecedented integration, esteem, and influence, he identifies a number of critical challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, a waning sense of community (owing to a diminished threat of persecution), and conflicting views about Israel.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

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