Lauded by the New York Times as “an upsetting and believable study of the disruptive power of unleashed desire,” Free Fall serves as the latest presentation in the Kinogarten series of German works screened on the first Friday of every month, with Rock Island's Rozz-Tox and Davenport's German American Heritage Center, on June 4, co-hosting this award-winning tale that Front Row Reviews called “one of the sexiest and most enthralling gay dramas of all time.”

Staging its first full Broadway musical in more than a year, Moline's Spotlight Theatre will house a can't-miss crowd-pleaser from June 4 through 13 in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the Tony Award-winning reunion for Charles M. Schulz's beloved Peanuts characters that the New York Times called “a miracle,” adding that “almost everything works, because almost everything is effortless.”

Energetic, multi-hued works by an Arizona-based artist with significant ties to the Quad Cities will be on display in the next exhibition at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, with the Bettendorf venue, through July 8, housing Tim Schiffer: Paintings within Paintings, a collection of arresting pieces created by the former executive director of Davenport's Figge Art Museum.

One of the few professional perks to the pandemic hitting when it did was that I had an excellent excuse to avoid reviewing several spring-of-2020 titles I was quietly dreading, among them the computer-animated Scoob!, an update on the numerous Scooby-Doo series I didn't enjoy even as a kid. As if to punish me for my relief, however, director Tony Cervone's movie opened this past weekend at both local cineplexes and both area drive-ins, all but forcing me to finally cave and watch the damn thing. So I did. It was actually pretty good. I suppose I had that coming.

If I had told you during the brief legislative session last May, while the state was still under a stay-at-home order and everything appeared to be collapsing, that Illinois would have an extra $2 billion laying around to pay off the remainder of a $3.2-billion federal loan, you might have thought I was insane. But here we are.

Too many of us have been silent amid the COVID contradictions for fear of reprisal and/or rejection, even as we watch destruction roll over our communities with impunity. Many of us are convinced on an emotional level that continuously wearing cloth masks, social distancing, and accepting experimental injections are contributing to the greater safety of ourselves and others, regardless of the range of unresolved concerns that plague these mitigation efforts.

The culmination of an Illinois State University Honors Program project six months in the making, the German American Heritage Center's virtual presentation The Dirndl: Reclaiming German Dress will, on May 30, find Hannah Hoge discussing heritage, culture, and ancestry through study of traditional German dress, with specific insight into the origins of this clothing, its use in Nazi propaganda, and how the symbol of the dirndl can be reclaimed to express German pride.

Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action will again present a series of outdoor presentations in the first month of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks, weekly programs that, from June 1 through July 1, will address such topics as commercial fishing, German American heritage, hydropower, and the Mighty Mississippi.

Works by one of the most gifted and prolific artists of the 21st century will be on display in the newest exhibition at the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue, through August 22, housing Lesley Dill – Wilderness: Light Sizzles Around Me, a showcase for the talent whose wide variety of media including sculpture, print, performance art, and music explores the power of language and the mystical nature of the psyche.