KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A staged reading of a new musical will take place on the Plaza this weekend, with one member of the cast who’s especially ready to perform for audiences again.
Erin Keller has a gift.
“Well, my mother said that I was singing before I even talked,” she said.
Keller's shared her gift for more than 30 years, and made friends along the way.
“I have known Erin for about 10 years. We would sing together, it’s how we get to know each other," Keith Andrews said.
His new musical, “Broke Open,” features Erin’s voice, which patrons can hear at Unity Temple on the Plaza this weekend.
“The reason why we’re able to do the reading is because of vaccinations,” Andrews said.
The theater’s seats at Unity will be filled with a vaccinated and masked audience, with proof of vaccination and a face covering required to attend.
“We don't want to be responsible for anyone getting ill, or making their loved ones, it's not worth it,” Andrews said.
Keller is especially grateful.
“If those requirements weren’t in place, I would not be able to do it,” she said.
Keller is immunocompromised.
“Four years ago, I had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer,” she explained.
Her outlook was dire, with friends like Andrews watching at her bedside.
“Not knowing if she was going to make it or not, that was really challenging,” he said.
As he developed his new show, Andrews helped Keller heal, and Keller helped Andrews write.
“I would sing to her and, and say what do you think of the song, what do you think of that song,” he recalled.
Chemotherapy is still a part of Keller's treatment.
“It's really like debilitating and I can't really do much, and then I kind of slowly come back up, above the water. And then I get some things done and then I get chemo again and I'm kind of knocked down again,” she explained.
Keller's mother was there to help pick her back up, until this past December.
“She died in December from COVID,” she said.
Her mother spent a week in the ICU.
“They wanted to put her on the ventilator and she said no and she was done, she was ready to be done with her suffering and I had to say goodbye to her through a Zoom call,” Keller remembered.
Even through all of that, she stands on stage at Unity, sharing the gift of song again.
“Being able to provide that opportunity for her is like giving her medicine,” Andrews said. “She has to sing in order to survive.”
“It just keeps me going because otherwise, it's like what do you have to look forward to? Another chemo treatment?” Keller explained.
She's looking forward to this weekend, with once-empty seats now full.
“I don't want my life to just be about cancer. I want it to be about all of the love that I try to give to my community,” Keller said.
Broke Open had its first staged reading on Thursday night, and will have another Friday evening at the Unity Temple at 7 p.m. There are three more readings scheduled for this weekend, with proof of vaccination and a mask required.
