With the show based on the multi-award-winning television series that thrills viewers nationwide, the stage spectacle Masters of Illusion comes to Davenport's Adler Theatre on November 5, this evening of jaw-dropping magic combining fantasy, fervor, and flair via headlining illusionists, colorful birds, beautiful dancers, and hysterical comedy.

"Wicked" and "weird" are two words that can sum up various Quad Cities events and serve to define the region's past and present, and on October 26, historian, storyteller, and Eerie Quad Cities co-author John Brassard Jr. will share fascinating tales of our area history in The Wicked & the Weird: Stories from the Quad Cities, the latest presentation in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series.

A wildly popular comedy show filled with stage shenanigans, songs, contests, and prizes designed to lift the spirits, the touring hit Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic lands at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on October 26, treating patrons to a night with Canadian actor Patrick Roach and his alter ego: lovable Randy of Trailer Park Boys fame.

An associate professor of religion and highly decorated professor of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Augustana College, Dr. M. Wolff will be at the Davenport Public Library's Eastern Avenue Branch on October 30, discussing and signing her new book Body Problems: What Intersex Priest Sally Gross Teaches Us About Embodiment, Justice, and Belonging.

A journey to the back lot of an inventive theme park, where audiences will dwell in the shadow of the roller coaster and under the lights of the Ferris wheel, Cirque Mechanics' stage spectacular Tilt comes to Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on October 23, inviting guests to meet the gifted, acrobatic carnies, characters, and operators that keep the thrills coming and the rides running.

Touring the haunted halls and dark crevices of Skellington Manor is scary enough, with its depraved permanent displays and figures. But add the colorful, creepy live performers during the haunted-house season of October 3 through November 2, and the fear factor is super-charged.

Enabling visitors to explore the remarkable ways in which animals across 500 million years have adapted armor for survival, and how these adaptations continue to inspire human innovation, the traveling exhibition Animal Armor takes residence in Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center from September 20 through February 15, the fascinating exhibit exploring the evolutionary battle between protection and predation.

From July 19 through January 4, guests of Davenport's German American Heritage Center are invited to explore themes of nostalgia, community, nature, and perspective in the wonderful collection The Prints of David & Sarojini Johnson.

A massive display of one of the venue's six collections storerooms, the long-awaited open-storage locale The Vault is officially viewable at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center. its shelves featuring countless pieces of fine China dinner sets, 16th-century saddles, a ship wheel, turn-of-the-century furniture, and a full-sized shrine.

Amassed over four decades by a pair of noted printmakers and educators, the fascinating works found in German Expressionist Prints from the David & Sarojini Johnson Collection will be on display in Davenport's German American Heritage Center through December 14, this showcase of arresting pieces held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's companion exhibit Fever Dreams: German Expressionism.

Pages