Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop will host auditions for its summer production, Nina Raine's family drama Tribes, on Saturday, February 21 at 5:00pm, with performances scheduled for June 12 - 28. Directed by Augustana College theatre instructor Jennifer Popple, Tribes features roles for three women and three men, ages early 20s through early 60s, with two of the roles requiring some performance of sign language.

The recipient of the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Best Play, Tribes tells the story of a young deaf man born into a hearing family, whose parents - wanting to protect him from feeling like an outcast - prevent him from learning sign language. However, when he meets a young woman who is losing her hearing and is already fluent in sign, deeper questions about family, community, beliefs, traditions, and communication are raised in this smart and moving new work that the Chicago Tribune called "uncommonly fine play," and the New Yorker magazine deemed "extraordinary."

Raine's unique drama employs both speech and sign language - with the latter being interpreted for hearing audiences via projected super-titles - and two of Tribes' cast members will be asked to perform sign language in their roles. But while prior familiarity with sign language will be beneficial, it is not required, as rehearsals will be set aside for the actors to focus exclusively on sign.

Female actors are sought for the roles of Beth (50s/60s), Ruth (20s), and Sylvia (20s), and male actors for the roles of Christopher (50s/60s), Daniel (20s), and Billy (20s). Those auditioning will be asked to perform a memorized dramatic monologue of two minutes or fewer and be prepared to read from the script. Rehearsals will begin in early May, with opening night scheduled for Friday, June 12.

Prior to Tribes, the QC Theatre Workshop will present its two spring productions. The first production of 2015 is author Keith Huff's Broadway smash A Steady Rain. Running March 13 - 28, and described by the Chicago Tribune as "a gritty, rich, thick, poetic, and entirely gripping noir" this tale of two Chicago cops and a horrific shooting reunites the team who initiated the Workshop's 2012 debut production of RED: director Tyson Danner and co-stars Mike Schulz and Thomas Alan Taylor. In May, the Workshop with partner with Dress for Success Quad Cities to present a benefit production of Nora and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss and What I Wore May 15 - 17.

and other events at the QC Theatre Workshop, call (563)650-2396 or e-mail info@QCTheatreWorkshop.org, and visit QCTheatreWorkshop.org and Facebook.com/QCTheatreWorkshop.

A Steady Rain Performances

Friday, March 13, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 21, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.

Love, Loss and What I Wore

Performances

Friday, May 15, 7:30pm

Saturday, May 16, 7:30pm

Sunday, May 17, 3pm

Tribes Performances

Friday, June 12, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 14, 3 p.m.

Friday, June 19, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 20, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 21, 3 p.m.

Friday, June 26, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 28, 3 p.m.

For its tenth production, the QC Theatre Workshop is staging a creepy and hilarious off-Broadway hit just in time for Halloween - Bat Boy: The Musical. Running October 24 through November 9, this campy, critically-acclaimed title is only the second musical to be produced during the company's history, and among its 10-person cast, nine of Bat Boy's performers will be making their debuts on the Workshop stage.

Bat Boy: The Musical will be presented at the QC Theatre Workshop (1730 Wilkes Avenue, Davenport, IA) Fridays through Sundays, October 24 through November 9. Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 7 p.m., and the Sunday shows start at 3 p.m., with doors opening at 2:30 p.m. Due to its occasional violence and some mild language, the musical is recommended for patrons of middle-school age or older.

Winner of the "Best Off-Broadway Musical" citation at the 2001 Outer Critic Circle Awards, Bat Boy: The Musical found its origins in the famed, fabricated Weekly World News articles about a half-bat/half-boy who was found living in a cave in rural West Virginia. Using these stories as their inspiration, composer/lyricist Laurence O'Keefe (Legally Blonde: The Musical) and book writers Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming constructed a riotous, spooky, and surprisingly touching tale of a misunderstood creature, the family who takes him in, and the townsfolk who want him destroyed.

With The New Yorker describing the show as "a giggly cult hit," and with CurtainUp praising its "peppy and melodic pop-rock score," Bat Boy is a musical that the Workshop's Artistic Director Tyson Danner - who also serves as the production's music director - has long wanted to stage.

"I have adored this crazy show for years, and have been waiting for the chance to produce it on our stage. And after Last Call was such a hit last year, we know our audiences are eager for more musicals," says Danner.

James Fairchild serves as Bat Boy's director and has extensive experience in stage musicals, having appeared in the Workshop's Last Call: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim, the District Theatre's Avenue Q and Rent, and the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Fiddler on the Roof, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, and The Full Monty. His directing résumé, meanwhile, includes presentations ranging from the musical A New Brain to the comedy A Tuna Christmas to the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Doubt.

Portraying the title character is area actor Calvin Vo, who previously played Bay Boy in Augustana College's 2012 presentation of the show. With his other area credits including roles in Countryside Community Theatre's South Pacific and Genesius Guild's Twelfth Night and Coriolanus, Vo served as sound designer for the Workshop's How I Learned to Drive but is now making his acting debut on the Workshop stage - along with eight other members of the show's 10-person cast.

"The Quad Cities has a wealth of hilarious, talented actors - many of whom don't get enough opportunities to perform," says Danner. "We're thrilled to have so many new faces involved. Every show we've produced has had at least actor new to our stage, and this time we get nine!"

Included among Bat Boy's ensemble are: Jenny Winn (Quad City Music Guild's Les Misérables; the District Theatre's Company); Becca Meumann Johnson (Music Guild's Legally Blonde: The Musical; the Center for Living Arts' All Shook Up); Kailey Ackermann (Augustana's Bat Boy; the Center for Living Arts' Rent); Macy Hernandez (Augustana's The Secret Garden and The Arsonists); Aaron Lord (the Center for Living Arts' Spring Awakening and Bare); Brant Peitersen (Countryside's Shrek: The Musical); Keenen Wilson (Columbia College

Chicago's Guys & Dolls); and 16-year-old Ty Lane (Bettendorf High School's The Music Man; Davenport Junior Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream).

Bat Boy's cast is rounded out by Workshop veteran Mike Schulz, whose most recent credits include roles in 'Art' and True West, and the show's pianist is Marcia Renaud, the music director and organist at Salem Lutheran Church in Moline who also serves as accompanist for the Quad City Singers.

"It speaks to the quality of our work thus far that so many experienced artists are interested in working at the Workshop," says Danner. "It is very challenging to find staff locally, but show after show we wind up with fantastic artistic leadership - and this show is a real standout in that regard."

As with the Workshop's nine previous productions, Bat Boy: The Musical will be presented under the Workshop's "Pay What It's Worth" pricing policy in which guests see the play first and then pay on their way out, allowing viewers to determine what the experience was worth to them personally. This innovative strategy was designed to create a wholly accessible theatrical experience for patrons regardless of financial means, and the policy's great success - ever since the Workshop's 2012 debut presentation of Red - has allowed it to continue for Bat Boy.

For reservations and more information on Bat Boy: The Musical, please call (563)650-2396 or e-mail info@QCTheatreWorkshop.org, and visit QCTheatreWorkshop.org and Facebook.com/QCTheatreWorkshop.

Bat Boy: The Musical Performance Schedule

Friday, October 24, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 26, 3 p.m.

Friday, October 31, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 2, 3 p.m.

Friday, November 7, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 9, 3 p.m.

QC Theatre Workshop

1730 Wilkes Avenue, Davenport, Iowa, 52804

(563)650-2396

info@QCTheatreWorkshop.org

QCTheatreWorkshop.org

Facebook.com/QCTheatreWorkshop

From May 16 through June 1, Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop will present Sam Shepard's True West, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's lauded comedy about two contentious, long-separated brothers. Yet in a risky and exciting area experiment, neither the production's patrons nor its actors will know who is playing which leading role until just before the play begins, as the casting of siblings Austin and Lee, for each performance, will be determined by an audience member flipping a coin.

True West will be staged at the QC Theatre Workshop (1730 Wilkes Avenue, Davenport, IA) Fridays through Sundays, May 16 through June 1. Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 7 p.m., and the Sunday shows start at 3 p.m., with doors opening at 2:30 p.m. Due to occasional strong language and violence, the play is recommended for patrons of high-school age or older.

A 2000 Tony Award nominee for Best Play, True West is an intense, funny, explosive tale of polar-opposite brothers: Austin, a mild-mannered screenwriter hoping to score his big break, and Lee, an unpredictable and volatile drifter hoping to score any way he can. Shepard's play opens with the men meeting again after five years apart, and over the next 90 minutes, True West explores the maddening, hilarious, and dangerous bonds shared by family, resulting in a work the New York Times praised as "a great American play, arguably Mr. Shepard's finest."

True West's Broadway engagement famously had leading actors John C. Reilly and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman - both of them Tony-nominated - alternating the roles of Austin and Lee throughout the show's run. This inspired QC Theatre Workshop director Tyson Danner to try a similar approach for his production of True West, but with an added caveat: Instead of scheduling which actor would play which role in advance, the casting would be determined by a flipped coin mere minutes before each performance.

"We wanted to find a way to keep the performances spontaneous," says Danner, who also serves as the Workshop's Artistic Director. "And because I was already crazy enough to ask the leading actors to play two characters, I decided we might as well go all the way with it and let the audience in on the fun."

Alternating the roles of Austin and Lee are local actors Jeremy Mahr and Mike Schulz. Although True West marks his first appearance as an actor in a Workshop production (having previously served as a crew member in Private Eyes), Mahr previously performed at the venue in the Prenzie Players' Bear Girl and The Rover, and has also been seen in area works including the Green Room Theatre's Doubt, the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Arcadia, and the Curtainbox Theatre Company's Wit. Schulz, meanwhile, performed alongside Mahr in The Rover and the Prenzies' Cyrano de Bergerac, appeared in the Workshop productions How I Learned to Drive, A Green River, and Red, and co-created and directed the company's 2013 musical revue Last Call: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim.

Says Danner, "It's rare to find actors willing to tackle such complicated, dynamic roles - not to mention two roles at the same time. Without Jeremy's and Mike's vast experience, talent, and guts, there's no way we'd be able to attempt such a unique and exciting approach."

Filling out True West's four-person cast are two area performers making their Workshop debuts: Brent Tubbs, who plays the Hollywood producer Saul, and Susan Perrin-Sallak, who portrays Austin's and Lee's mother. Tubbs is a frequent performer with Rock Island's ComedySportz troupe and an instructor at Davenport Junior Theatre, and was a longtime member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, for which he toured Holland, Belgium, and across the United States. And Perrin-Sallak is a familiar presence on local stages, with credits including Next Fall and Other Desert Cities for New Ground Theatre, Doubt for the District Theatre, and Electra and The Winter's Tale for Genesius Guild.

"I am beyond excited for the opportunity to present this one-of-a-kind production in our community," says Danner. "As a director, I usually enjoy rehearsals more than performances, due to all the fun and experimentation that can happen in the rehearsal room. But this may be the first time that the performances will be more unpredictable than the rehearsals!"

As with the Workshop's seven previous productions, True West will be presented under the Workshop's "Pay What It's Worth" pricing policy in which guests see the play first and then pay on their way out, allowing viewers to determine what the experience was worth to them personally. This innovative strategy was designed to create a wholly accessible theatrical experience for patrons regardless of financial means, and the policy's great success - ever since the Workshop's 2012's debut presentation Red - has allowed it to continue for True West.

or e-mail info@QCTheatreWorkshop.org, and visit QCTheatreWorkshop.org and Facebook.com/

True West Performance Schedule

Friday, May 16, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 17, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 18, 3 p.m.

Friday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 25, 3 p.m.

Friday, May 30, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 31, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 1, 3 p.m.

Location

QC Theatre Workshop

1730 Wilkes Avenue

Davenport, IA, 52804

(563)650-2396

info@QCTheatreWorkshop.com

QCTheatreWorkshop.org

Facebook.com/QCTheatreWorkshop

After producing five acclaimed plays, one of them a world premiere, during the company's first 13 months, Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop is set to stage its first musical with the debuting Last Call: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim.

Running Friday, November 1, through Sunday, November 17 at the QC Theatre Workshop (1730 Wilkes Avenue, Davenport), Last Call is an original revue of songs featuring lyrics and/or music by the legendary Sondheim, the winner of eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for 1985's Sunday in the Park with George. Lauded for such classic works as Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Company, and numerous others, Sondheim has been described by the New York Times as "the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theatre," and according to Last Call's producer and music director Tyson Danner, consequently seemed like the perfect artist to celebrate in the Workshop's first musical endeavor.

"While our first season consisted entirely of plays," says Danner, who also serves as his company's Artistic Director, "we at the Workshop have been looking forward to presenting a musical that would highlight the vast talents of Quad Cities singers. And when we had the idea of producing a revue, it only made sense to feature the songs of one of the kings of the modern musical."

Created by Danner and director Mike Schulz, Last Call features performances of more than two dozen numbers from Sondheim's musical canon - songs ranging from Dick Tracy's Oscar-winning "Sooner or Later" to Company's well-known "Ladies Who Lunch" to the rarely heard "Take Me to the World" from the 1966 TV-movie Evening Primrose.

Yet the show also weaves its songs together in the form of a mostly dialogue-free narrative (conceived by Danner and Schulz) set in a hotel bar, with a group of spouses, lovers, friends, and strangers crossing paths, reminiscing, and falling in and out of love over the course of Last Call's 90-minute running length.

Says Danner, "It's a testament to Sondheim's brilliant songwriting that each of these numbers can be interpreted in so many ways. Out of hundreds of possibilities, we chose the songs that played to our actors' greatest strengths, and they've had a blast approaching the material in different contexts."

Featured among Last Call's cast are: Erin Churchill (Circa '21's Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the District Theatre's Avenue Q); Don Denton (Circa '21's Miracle on 34th Street and The Full Monty); Angela Elliott (the District Theatre's Company and Sweeney Todd); James Fairchild (Circa '21's Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, the District Theatre's Rent); Kim Furness (Circa '21's Southern Crossroads, the Curtainbox Theatre Company's Time Stands Still); Patrick Gimm (Playcrafters' The Trouble with Cats, the Prenzie Players' The Rover); Mark Ruebling (Quad City Music Guild's Curtains, Countryside Community Theatre's Gypsy); Allison Swanson (St. Ambrose University's alumni presentation of You Can't Take It with You, the Curtainbox's Wit); and, in her area-theatre debut, Sara Tubbs (ComedySportz's "Sketchville" ensemble).

Only Elliott, who played Barbara in the springtime comedy boom, has performed in a previous Workshop production, and Danner is thrilled to have her joined by eight area talents appearing in their first show for the company.

"This season," Danner says, "we began holding open auditions for every production, and we were overjoyed to have such a strong turnout for Last Call. It has been a delight to work with both longtime colleagues and performers we haven't had the chance to collaborate with before.

"Each time an actor appears for the first time in a Workshop production, they bring new ideas that make the theatre more dynamic and exciting. We're sure our patrons are going to enjoy this incredible cast."

As with the Workshop's five previous productions, Last Call will be presented under the company's popular "Pay What It's Worth" policy, which allows patrons to determine their own ticket prices following each performance.

, call (563)650- 2396 or e-mail qctheatreworkshop@gmail.com, or visit QCTheatreWorkshop.org

Last Call: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim performances

Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 3, 3 p.m.

Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 10, 3 p.m.

Friday, November 15, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 16, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 17, 3 p.m.

QC Theatre Workshop

1730 Wilkes Avenue, Davenport, Iowa, 52804

(563)650-2396

info@QCTheatreWorkshop.org

QCTheatreWorkshop.org

Facebook.com/QCTheatreWorkshop