When the roles you’re playing originated with acting legends like Steve Martin and Michael Caine, any actor in community theatre has good cause to be nervous. Just don’t tell that to the actors in Topeka Civic Theatre and Academy’s latest production, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” who turned in hilarious, fun-filled performance that was just as enjoyable [...]

Just east of 15th + Adams is a new development with a café that feels like it’s been there forever. Despite opening its doors just four weeks ago, The Café Next Door already gives off the vibe of a Topeka mainstay. Owners Mark and Karen Rumbo recently relocated to Topeka from Missouri—south of Branson, near [...]

The disclaimer right up front—before last night at the Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy, I was a complete “Rocky Horror” virgin. Never seen a production before. Or the movie. Total neophyte. And I wasn’t the only one in the room, either. And the lesson I learned rather quickly: Just go with it. “The Rocky Horror [...]

To start everything off, first an explanation, then a confession. I’m not from Topeka. I’m not even from the Midwest. I moved here when I was younger, moved away, moved back again, moved away again, moved back again—and I believe there’s a couple more away-and-back moves in there. The point is, I’ve been inconsistent—Topeka’s on-again, [...]

I was one of the lucky ones to have had a happy childhood. Not every moment was sunshine and rainbows, but when I look back I can say to myself, “Self, you had a pretty happy upbringing.” And while I’m looking back at that rolodex of memories, we can stop at one of the happiest [...]

Roger Angell, former fiction editor for the New Yorker, once provided the most apt description of a baseball there is. “Pick it up,” he wrote, “and it instantly suggests its purpose; it is meant to be thrown a considerable distance — thrown hard and with precision.” The Mexican pizza at Tequila’s is similarly defined by [...]

For you TV addicts, think of it as 30 Rock, only minus 50 years and with a lot more F-bombs. Or for those old enough to remember, The Muppet Show without puppets or Dick Van Dyke without Mary Tyler Moore—again with a healthy dose of swearing. Either way, tonight Topeka Civic Theatre and Academy opens [...]

Lushious Lucy puts on her skates—black quads, old-school—before a Capital City Crushers practice at Sk8away. Her striped socks come up to her knees, underneath a pair of heavy-duty kneepads that look able to withstand a pretty serious beating, and probably already have. Roller derby is tough work, after all. “I never really was an athlete [...]

It’s a musical. And a murder mystery. And a comedy. And it’s ending this weekend, so if you’re hoping to catch Curtains at the Topeka Civic Theatre, you’ll want to head out sooner rather than later. Curtains centers on an acting company in Boston, set in the late 1950s, performing what is perhaps the world’s hokiest [...]