The beloved Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods” – done at Augustana College this past weekend for very limited, campus-only audiences – was a cathartic, unprecedented experience for its young performers. The emotional 1987 musical, combining classic fairy tales and an original story about a baker and his wife, is full of longing, doubt, adventure, […]
Eighteen months after staging their last full production, Quad City Music Guild will return in June, to perform a filmed version of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” with no in-person audience, to be streamed online three times. Originally scheduled for June 2020 (and postponed with the entire season due to Covid), the original Music Guild cast and […]
It’s been a long process, but this Friday, theater students from Davenport Central High School will present a filmed version of Clue: High School Edition. The play will be shown for free on the Broadway on Demand streaming platform, at 7 p.m., Feb. 26. Clue: High School Edition is based on the 1985 Paramount mystery/comedy […]
Restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the cancellation of the annual performance of “The Vagina Monologues” at Western Illinois University; however a series of activities have been planned in its place between Feb. 22-24. “Although we are not having the play this year, I feel like students will benefit and have […]
St. Ambrose University senior Tyler Hughes made his full-length directing debut in the middle of a global pandemic, with another tense story of international crisis. “Two Rooms” by Lee Blessing – a love story of Lainie and Michael, married American educators working in Lebanon during the mid-1980s – features four student actors and was filmed […]
Can we ever get out of the rabbit hole? That eternal question is more relevant today than ever, as Davenport Junior Theatre (DJT) continues its 69th season with its second virtual production, “Alice in Wonderland,” directed by local theater artist Bobby Becher. Based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and adapted by Daniel […]
After a fairly hellish 2020, Shelley Cooper is back in musical heaven as the first half of 2021 is shaping up to be very busy and fulfilling. The enthusiastic Augustana College assistant professor of theater arts recently filmed two special performances for Circa ’21; she’s directing a new college production of “Into the Woods” this […]
Leslie LaCorte, drama director at Davenport North High School, and her students are itching to get back to live performances. That will happen March 5-7, with their first live play since the pandemic started – a comedic mystery, “The 39 Steps” – and the month will also be special for 10 North students who will […]
A wise man (lyricist Hal David) once wrote “What the World Needs Now is Love.” Man, do we need it now more than ever, and you can certainly get your affectionate fix in the new Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse Valentine cabaret, “Let’s Fall in Love.” Valentine’s Day is technically over — but really, who doesn’t […]
The brave new world of streaming theater seems to be cursed for Rock Island’s Augustana College. First last August, they had a derecho sweep through the area, forcing postponement of a Zoom reading of “For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday.” In the fall, the college had a transformer next to Centennial Hall catch on […]
