“Lauded by the San Diego Reader for its “heightened sense of reality, folk tales, and folk dances transmogrified into sinuous spectacle,” the World Ballet Company's touring production of The Great Gatsby lands at Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 7, this thrilling adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary masterpiece also hailed by the Times-Advocate's critic as “one of the most transcendent cultural experiences I have had in a long time.”

Held in conjunction with the October 5 through 11 Banned Books Week – a celebration of our collective freedom to read – the Midwest Writing Center's and Rock Island Public Library's annual Banned Books Read-In will take place on October 6, with more than a dozen participants gathering at the library's Watts-Midtown Branch to read from frequently challenged works and unite in the fight against censorship.

A beloved actor from That '70s Show, Spider-Man 3, and the Golden Globe-nominated Scott Beck/Bryan Woods thriller Heretic will make a special appearance at Beck's and Woods' Davenport venue The Last Picture House, the October 4 event An Evening with Topher Grace boasting a Q&A with the film and television star and a screening of director/co-writer Christopher Guest's critically acclaimed 1989 comedy The Big Picture.

A celebration of brilliant musicianship and the Romantic with a capital "R," the Quad City Symphony Orchestra opens its 2025-26 Masterworks season with Grieg Piano Concerto, the concert's October 4 and 5 performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre and Augustana College's Centennial Hall boasting a trio of thrilling compositions and the return of guest pianist Wei Luo, an artist whom the San Diego Union Tribune called "destined for stardom."