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Lawrence playwright tells her family's story of migration to Kansas for better opportunities

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Lawrence playwright tells her family's story of migration to Kansas for better opportunities


LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Lawrence community can gather to celebrate Juneteenth on Saturday by attending a stage play by a local playwright who is telling the story of her parent’s migration from Mississippi to Kansas in search of better opportunities.

Rita Rials’ “Panther Burn: From the Fields of Struggle to the Road of Hope” will take the stage at the Lied Center of Kansas in Lawrence this Saturday.

Her parents were sharecroppers in Panther Burn, Mississippi, and moved to Kansas in the early 1960s in search of better opportunities.

“While we think about Juneteenth and it being recognized as the freedom day, this is just one example of how that struggle for freedom and for equal rights was still continuing and is still continuing,” Nicole Rials, Rita’s sister, said.

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Rita and Nicole were two of 13 children in the Rials family. They grew up in North Lawrence.

“In our eyes, we lacked for nothing, but we didn’t know what their (parents’) struggle was, we didn’t know what it took for them to provide us with everything that they did,” Rita Rials said.

Nicole Rials said the play will help “open up our eyes to this experience and how it was similar for many Black families around that time.”

“The struggles during this time as it related to sharecropping was that this was post-slavery time, but in a lot of ways it was another form of slavery,” Nicole Rials said.

Lily O’Shea Becker/KSHB

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Nicole and Rita Rials tells the story behind writing and producing a stage play based on the true story of their parent’s migration from Mississippi to Kansas in search of better opportunities.

While their mother will be in the crowd on Saturday, their father passed away in 2000. Nicole Rials said she thinks their dad would be “incredibly proud.”

“Our parents were real supporters of education, of giving back to your community,” she added.

Nicole helped Rita with the production of the stage play. It’s their seventh time presenting at the Lied Center.

“All of our products are original, centered around culturally relevant, diverse, social justice-themed opportunities to spread important messages,” Nicole Rials said.

The play is written and directed by Rita Rials. In addition to the Lied Center, Life Restoration Ministries — which both Rita and Nicole help lead — will present the play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. You can learn more here.

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins


TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Wednesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

6A Boys West Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

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  • Topeka High 57, Washburn Rural 50 (will play Maize Saturday)
  • Junction City 70, Dodge City 56 (will play Derby Saturday)
  • Manhattan 58, Wichita-Northwest 56 (will play Wichita-East Saturday)

4A Boys East Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Rock Creek 62, Louisberg 57 (will play Bishop Miege Saturday)
  • Atchison 74, Wamego 43
  • Hayden 72, Independence 56 (will play Atchison Saturday)
  • Eudora 76, Santa Fe Trail 68

GIRLS

5A West Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Hays 80, Topeka West 18
  • Eisenhower 55, Seaman 41
  • Kapaun Mt. Carmel 71, Emporia 41

5A East Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Shawnee Heights 89, Sumner 15 (will play Pittsburg Saturday)
  • Basehor-Linwood 74, Highland Park 28 (will play Piper Saturday)

3A Pomona-West Franklin Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Osage City 75, Columbus 31 (will play Frontenac Saturday)

3A Sabetha Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Silver Lake 48, Nemaha Central 26 (will play Riley County Saturday)
  • Riley County 51, Jeff West 40 (will play Silver Lake)



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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins


TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

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  • KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
  • Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)

5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
  • Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
  • Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)

3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)

3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
  • Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)

GIRLS

6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
  • Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
  • Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)

4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
  • Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
  • Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)

2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

  • Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
  • Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
  • Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)



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Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

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Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union


In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.

The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.

The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

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