The Black Box Theatre Re-Opens March 11th with “Dick Tracy: A Live Radio Play”
It’s been a while, but the Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline will be back with live theater starting Thursday, with a new production of “Dick Tracy: A Live Radio Play,” starring James Driscoll, Matt Walsh, Doug Kutzli, Mark Ruebling, Jenny Winn, Sara Nicole Wegener and Tom Vaccaro in the “Case of The Big Top Murders.”
Veteran Quad-Cities actor Jim Driscoll will play classic sleuth Dick Tracy in the new radio play production.
“Dick Tracy and The Case of the Big Top Murders” is a whodunnit focusing on the renowned sleuth’s investigation of murder and mayhem in a traveling circus company. ho killed the clown, and why? Theater veteran Jim Driscoll is Dick Tracy.
Lora Adams, BBT co-founder will be directing and designing the show, with lighting design by David Miller. The BBT (1623 5th Ave., Moline) will have a maximum audience of 30 and actors wearing clear face shields.
Audience temperatures will be taken upon entry, hand sanitizer is provided, and the theater will be sanitized, Adams said.
The small theater had just finished their run of “Waiting for Godot” (which opened last October) when the State of Illinois mitigation for Covid once again shut the venue down. “We weren’t really sure when it would be okay to open again,” said co-founder David Miller.
Shelley Cooper will bring her one-woman show about opera singer Maria Callas to the Black Box on March 26-28.
Now, the state allows indoor theaters and performing arts venues to operate at the lesser of 50 guests or 50-percent performance space capacity.
The Dick Tracy radio play will be performed March 11 through March 20, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets will be $13 for Thursdays, and $16 for all other performances.
The Black Box Theatre, 1623 5th Ave., Moline, will open Thursday for its first show since the fall.
Following “Dick Tracy” will be “La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas,” starring Shelley Cooper, for just three performances — March 26-28.
The show, inspired by the life and work of the dramatic 20th-century opera singer Maria Callas (1923-1977), contains stories of Callas’ life and famous iconic arias that she was known for singing. Cooper – an assistant professor of theatre arts at Augustana College — “La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas” at Augustana and at the Retzhof Castle near Graz, Austria, as a part of the International Global Theatre Experience.
That show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 28. All tickets for “La Divina” are $16, and tickets are available at www.theblackboxtheatre.com.
