KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's time for some Weekend Fun with 41!
On Thursday, November 13th, SevenDays is hosting a 'Thrive with Kindness Festival'
It's a free event for all teenagers in the greater metro area.
I spoke with Mia Mondry and Varun Kavra, a part of SevenDays Kindness Youth Leadership Team, and organizing the event about what teens can expect.
"I mean there are prizes," Mondry said with excitement. "That's like a big thing for a lot of teenagers I think. But like it's just going to be a fun event! I keep texting my friends like you should pull up!"
"We're going to have interactive games, we're going to have a taco truck, live DJ and overall just an atmosphere that is suited for teens to connect with each other," Kavra said.
It's from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Kirk Family YMCA Downtown at 222 W. 11th St. Teens need to bring their student ID.
The Story Center at Mid-Continent Public Library is hosting its 12th annual Local Author Fair, featuring nearly 50 authors.
Bring your holiday shopping list, enjoy prizes, sip on some hot cocoa or cider and meet local authors. This is an event for all ages. There are books for children, teens and adults. I's from 1 - 4 p.m. at the Woodneath Library.
Brookside is having its annual tree lighting event November 13th.
Enjoy live music, cookies and cocoa and shopping at participating Brookside shops.
The tree lighting is at 6 p.m.
Brookside is also hosting other holiday events throughout the weekend.
Tanger Kansas City at Legends is hosting its Tree Lighting Celebration.
Activities include writing letters to Santa, face painting, glitter tattoos and magical performances.
It's Saturday from 5 .m. to 8 p.m. at 1843 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, KS 66111.
All events are free and open to the public.
Olathe West Theatre is getting ready for its upcoming show, MAMMA MIA!
Shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. You can get tickets at owtheatre.com
I spoke with students who are a part of the production, who shared this show will be spunk and it'll be timeless for those who watch. They also shared what this means for them as their last year in high school.
"The movie that I watched with my mom hundreds of times like it's really special to me and I'm really glad it can like one of my senior sendoffs," senior and main stage manager, Lily Smith said. "All of our crew, all of our actors have really been working tirelessly behind the scenes to create the end product that you're going to see today."
Teddy Garcia, who is the Olathe West Theatre's head publicity manager and also plays Bill Austin in the musical, says expect a lot of energy from the show.
"You can see the energy not only from the actors and the way that they're dancing but also the energy that the lights bring, the energy that the back stage crew takes to flip all the things and run all the things, just the energy it takes to bond the show," Garcia said.
He says theatre has been life changing for him and what he wants to do after he graduates.
"Theatre here at Olathe West has just meant the world to me. It's changed who I am as a person," Garcia said. "Next year I'll be going to K-State to be a theatre educator."
Nora Brown, who plays Donna, says it's been a sentimental moment as she and her peers enter their final year of high school, and is excited for people to come and watch the show.
"To look back and see wow, I've grown so much and I've done so much and it's bittersweet that it's come to an end of course because we're ll getting older, but I'm just so grateful for everything. The past four years here has been phenomenal, Brown said. "So come see MAMMA MIA and the love and energy and joy it'll bring you and your family."
Tickets range between $5 and $15. You can buy them at owtheatre.com. Students also shared they have a KSHB 41 discount code. If you type in 'MM41' at checkout, you will get 10% off your ticket.
Garcia said they're also submitting this show for judication for the Kansas Thespian Festival.
"It's like a state competition for theater," Garcia said. "We're going to record every single night of the show, and then we're going to submit it into the Kansas Thespian Festival and they'll choose three shows around the Kansas area to perform at this Thespian Conference in January. That means if our show is chosen, we'll perform around 2,000 to 3,000 Kansas thespians."
They find out in Thanksgiving week, whether they'll get to perform in January in Wichita, Kansas.
