October 5, 2011 - Iowa City, IA

Get in the mood for The Cripple of Inishmaan at Riverside Theatre with one of the region's best Irish musical ensembles, The Beggarmen, on Saturday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Riverside Theatre.

All music featured in Riverside Theatre's upcoming production of The Cripple of Inishmaan will be provided by The Beggarmen.

Since their first performance at a small pub in Iowa, The Beggarmen has gone on to headline folk festivals and concert halls throughout the Midwest, greeting audiences with their unique style of Irish music.

Original founding member Brad Pouleson (vocals, low and high whistles, uilleann pipes, and mandolin) is joined by veteran Celtic/folk guitarist and singer Keith Reins, renowned fiddler and singer Tara Dutcher and Joe Dutcher on bodhran, Irish flute, and vocals.

Also appearing at the concert will be world class Irish step dancer Taylor J. Best, who is a student at the University of Iowa.

Tickets for the concert are $20 and youth/student tickets are $15 with ID. Tickets can be ordered through the Riverside Theatre Box Office at 213 N. Gilbert St., (319) 338-7672 or purchased at the door the night of the concert.

All proceeds from the event to benefit Riverside Theatre.

For more information on The Beggarmen go to www.beggarmen.com for more information on The Cripple of Inishmaan and Riverside Theatre go to www.riversidetheatre.org.

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October 3, 2011 - Iowa City, IA

An Irish orphan yearns to escape small-town life...by becoming a star.

Riverside Theatre, Iowa City's resident professional theatre company will present The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, October 28 through November 13. Ron Clark, Riverside's Resident Artist and Production Manager, directs. The Cripple of Inishmaan is a co-production with Cornell College.

In this wickedly hilarious Irish comedy, set in 1934 on the remote island of Inishmaan, Crippled Billy dreams of a world away from his adopted aunts, their tiny village store, and their nosy fellow villagers. When he hears that a Hollywood film crew is working nearby, Billy hatches a plot to land a part. What follows is a tale of adventure, loss and redemption.

"Cripple explores the widely held stereotypes about the simple joys of small-town life, and fills the stage with the dark humor that is essential for its characters to survive," Clark said. 

In its thirty-one year history, Riverside Theatre has produced a number of Irish dramas including Stones in His Pockets and Dancing at Lughnasa.  Additionally, the company has produced two other McDonagh plays: The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lonesome West.

"Audiences have raved about the work and thoroughly enjoyed the fine storytelling of these Irish plays.  The colorful and exuberant language and the carefully drawn characters are immensely appealing," Clark said.

The playwright, Martin McDonagh, is generally revered as one of the great contemporary voices of the Irish theatre. McDonagh is the first playwright since Shakespeare to have four professionally produced plays running simultaneously on London stages.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is the ninth collaboration between Riverside Theatre and Cornell College since 1996.

"The Cripple of Inishmaan is also a perfect fit for a co-production with Cornell College, where I have been an artist-in-residence for twenty-five years.  The roles break down very nicely to allow lots of great work for the student-actors while allowing Riverside to employ some of its best resident actors to play the more mature roles," said Clark.

The Cripple of Inishmaan features Riverside Theatre favorites Tim Budd and Kristy Hartsgrove, who were last seen in All My Sons as Dr. Jim Bayliss and Sue Bayliss.

The role of Crippled Billy will be played by Osean Perez, a senior at Cornell. This is Perez's first appearance at Riverside. Returning to Riverside will be Alec Hynes in the role of Babbybobby. Hynes is a junior at Cornell, who was last seen at Riverside as Eglamour in The Two Gentlemen of Verona at this summer's Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival and has previously appeared on Gilbert Street in the last co-production as Peter Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank.

The Cripple of Inishmaan also features scenic design by Christopher Domanski, lighting design by John Wilson, costume design by Jenny Nutting Kelchen, and sound design by Clark.

All music in the production is courtesy of The Beggarmen, one of the region's best Irish music ensembles. The Beggarmen will perform in concert at Riverside Theatre on Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $20 with all proceeds benefiting Riverside.

Tickets for The Cripple of Inishmaan range from $15-$28 with a $15 student rush available 20 minutes before the performance. Tickets may be ordered through the Riverside Theatre Box Office at 213 N. Gilbert St., (319) 338-7672 or online at www.riversidetheatre.org.

The Cripple of Inishmaan contains adult language.

This production is supported in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.

Grassley Presses for Additional Information on Conference Expenditures Review

WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley today asked Jacob Lew, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to provide further information about his review of conference expenditures throughout the federal government.

The government-wide review comes on the heels of an audit report released by the Department of Justice's Inspector General that revealed the department paid $600,000 for event planners, in addition to paying an average of $32 for snack packs and $16 for muffins at conferences held at venues across the country.  The report also showed a 53 percent increase in conference expenditures at the Justice Department from 2008 to 2009.

The audit included information about conferences held at four-star hotels.  When questioned about the high-priced hotel by the Inspector General, the response from the Justice Department was that a four-star hotel was chosen because, "Only a four or five star hotel was capable of providing the level and quality of services expected by senior executives and other political appointees."

"No economy can rationalize a 53 percent increase in conference expenditures between 2008 and 2009, let alone an economy that is facing 9 percent unemployment and stagnant job growth," Grassley said.  "Whether it's $16 for muffins or $600,000 for event planners, these are expenditures that can and should be looked at for cost savings measures.

The Inspector General's office has stated publicly that it stands by the report.

Here is a copy of the text of Grassley's letter to Lew.  A signed copy can be found here.

September 26, 2011

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

The Honorable Jacob J. Lew

Director

Office of Management and Budget

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20503

Dear Mr. Lew:

I am pleased to hear that you are directing a government-wide review of how taxpayer dollars are spent on conferences in response to a report that the Department of Justice (DOJ) paid $16.00 per muffin at a recent conference.  The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is standing by its report despite arguments by some that it may have miscalculated the figure in its investigation of conference expenditures.

If the OIG made errors in its report, I hope that it will step forward and correct the record.  Nevertheless, I would note that even by Hilton's own accounting, DOJ spent $4,200 on 250 muffins, 200 pieces of fruit, 15 gallons of coffee, and 30 gallons of iced tea.  That amounts to $16 for only one muffin, less than one piece of fruit, 8 ounces of coffee, and 15 ounces of iced tea.   By anyone's account, that's excessive spending.  Additionally, while a DOJ spokesperson has suggested that the package included the cost of meeting space, the OIG report itself made clear that DOJ had negotiated with the hotel to provide that particular meeting space without charge as part of a larger agreement on other conference expenses.

The more important story from the OIG's report is that DOJ increased total conference expenditures by 53% from $47.8 million in 2008 to $73.3 million in 2009.  That's a $25.5 million increase in the first year of the Obama administration.   As I have been saying, this kind of spending is unacceptable given the economic realities most Americans are facing right now.

Please explain why the cost of conference expenditures increased so dramatically at DOJ in 2009.  I also have additional questions about your September 21 memorandum to executive department and agency heads.   Is it intended that each agency's OIG be involved?  Will the findings of these inquiries be made public, in addition to being compiled for the Vice President?  I understand that each agency is to respond back to you by November 1, and I look forward to hearing their reports.

Thank you in advance for ensuring that your response arrives no later than October 3.  Should you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Tristan Leavitt of my staff at (202) 224-5225.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley

Ranking Member

cc:        The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.

Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

Ms. Cynthia A. Schnedar

Acting Inspector General

Amana - All he wants is to be a real boy, but his lies and his nose keep getting in the way! Join The Old Creamery Theatre for Young Audiences for the retelling of a classic. Pinocchio opens Saturday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. on the Main Stage in Amana and runs through Oct. 15.

This beloved Italian story will be brought to life through the classic theatrical tradition of "Commedia dell'Arte." Using sound effects, masks and lots of humor, the characters in this play will be truly unforgettable.

The cast of Pinocchio consists of John Hill of Rockford, Illinois; Andrew Bosworth of Holly Springs, North Carolina; Laura Ambrose of Minneapolis, Minnesota.; Nicholas Hodge of South Amana; and Kamille Zbanek of Ely. Directed by Sean McCall of Marengo, Pinocchio was adapted from Carlo Collodi 's classic Italian tale by Johnny Simons.

Tickets for Pinocchio are $8 per person and all seating is reserved. Reservations are highly recommended. Show times are Saturdays at 1 p.m., Oct. 1 and 8 with two shows on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The Old Creamery Theatre Company is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1971 in Garrison, Iowa. The company is celebrating 40 years of bringing live, professional theatre to the people of Iowa and the Midwest. We thank KGAN and Fox 28, our 2011 season media sponsor.