Quantity matters. In the last year, Kansas City has been treated to strong individual plays, but it has seen nothing like the inventiveness — on such a scale, with such varying budgets — of the one-two-three punch comprising Hamlet, The Death of Cupid and The Borderland. On the most technically advanced stage in town, the indefatigable Kyle Hatley, who is Kansas City Repertory Theatre's assistant artistic director, worked The Borderland for memorable tension. Soon thereafter, he mounted a wrenching, whirligig Hamlet on the city's humblest stage and The Death of Cupid — his ribald, epic, hilarious musical adaptation of Lysistrata — in a shopping mall. In these smaller shows especially, he roused the band of local performers he had assembled to career-best performances. He also roused audiences with low comedy, high drama and a knack for set pieces that jolted us in our seats and lingered in our minds.
