MOLINE, ILLINOIS (August 20, 2025) — The Black Box Theatre is excited to announce the lineup for their first Solo Fringe Festival showcasing solo artists. The project is being funded in part by Quad City Arts. Admission is “Pay What It’s Worth” at the end of each performance.
August 29
Jeff Adamson — Tales from a misplaced river to our local connection to the JFK assassination, these are stories you have probably never heard. Join Jeff for Twisted Tales of the Quad Cities. Show Time 3PM
Rag Doll on a Bomb Site, created and performed by Shelley Cooper, is an Original Solo Musical with dance that the Hollywood Reporter raved saying “weaves a poetic spell. It’s opening night of The Threepenny Opera in Berlin, 1928, when Kurt Weill steps into Lotte Lenya’s dressing room and drops a bombshell that her name is not in the program.
Absolutely furious, Kurt demands they cancel the opening night performance. Lenya laughs in his face. She has been through far worse than this in her traumatic past. Lotte Lenya grew up in a slum, beaten repeatedly by a cruel father, endured hunger and crushing poverty, rape, and repeatedly found herself in morally-compromising positions as she struggled to survive and advance herself. She’s come so far, and now that she has her dream role, Kurt must allow her to go on stage. But will he? Nominated at the Hollywood Fringe Festival for Best Dance and Physical Theatre Show, infusing a new contemporary score composed by two-time off-Broadway award winner Shelley Cooper, and contemporary choreography, this solo musical dance show takes a gritty look at a woman who fled her abusive home, and survived adversity.
Show time — 7:30PM
August 30
Ballet Quad Cities Dance Me A Story
Join Ballet Quad Cities and they read and dance to Shel Silverstein’s “Danny O’Dare, the dancin’ bear/Ran away from the County Fair/Ran right up to my back stair/And thought he’d do some dancin’ there.” Bring your children and experience Danny O’Dare with Emily Kate Long. Show Time — 3PM
Paxton Sherbeyn is a local musician based out of the Quad Cities playing those old blues, country, and soul tunes you haven't heard for a while, as well as original compositions. Show time Jeff Adamson 5PM
American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A Wallace performed by Tom Mulligan, is a one-act play about Henry A Wallace, the agricultural innovator and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred seed corn company, who became US Secretary of Agriculture and later Vice President and Secretary of Commerce under President Franklin Roosevelt. Named “the most influential Iowan of the 20th Century," Wallace’s legacy includes accomplishments in science, journalism, business, academics, politics, and humanitarian efforts. Show time — 7:30PM
August 31
Dan Haughey EA POE: Edgar Allan Poe's Imagination! Dan Haughey (hoy) Theatre Professor Emeritus from Black Hawk College becomes a modern critic for a prominent metropolitan newspaper as he reflects on and illuminates — through the art of oral interpretation — the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Some of Poe's greatest poems, short stories, and a satire or two, will be featured as Haughey both expresses the emotion of Poe’s works, and criticizes them in the guise of a skeptical rock-and-roll-music critic. Show time — 3PM
Richard Robert Jr’s writer and performer of original tunes in the genre Americana/Folk/Country/Blues. Show time Jeff Adamson 5PM
Ro, a one-women show by Elissa Dynes, exploring the complex gender dynamics and economic pressures that shape many relationships today. The story follows Ro, a 28-year-old woman, as she navigates emotional and financial hardships of being in a relationship, ultimately leading Ro to confront what she must do to put herself first.
Ro is a contemporary adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s one woman play, Before Breakfast. Developed as part of Dynes’ Independent Research Project for her MFA in International Theatre Practice and Performance at Rose Bruford College (London), this adaptation reimagines O’Neill’s classic within a modern context.
Content warnings: This production includes references to mental illness, drugs, nude photos, and opioids. Show time 7:30PM
Seating will be open fifteen minutes before each performance.
Refreshments will be available for donations to The Black Box Theatre.
The Black Box Theatre is located at 1623 5th Avenue, Moline, Illinois.
