Some of the most talented area actor / singers in a one-performance-only event! The second annual Rising Stars Musical Cabaret will take place Saturday, June 20 at 2:00 PM at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are only $10 each, general admission.  Tickets are available at the door, or in advance through the CCPA Box Office: 319-248-9370, www.coralvillearts.org.

Representatives from nine corridor Junior and Senior High Schools come together in a performance of thrilling music and eclectic diversity!

Familiar songs from stage and screen (including some Disney tunes) to music from five decades of radio hits, including songwriters Carol King, Van Morrison, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to lesser known character songs from Cabaret clubs across the world.  Solos, duets, group numbers and a sing-a-long, this afternoon will showcase the wide ranging talents of young performers in our area.

Cast includes:   Mary Kate Meade, Sage Spiker, Alison DeVore, Macayle DeVore, Emma Arp, Katey Halverson, Lucy Polyak, Sofia PerezRivera, Jessie Shaw, Lydia Jennissen, Mikayla Johnston, Chad Keitel,  David Daugherty, Caroline Brown, and Gabby Finlayson.

Drew Bielinski on Piano.

MOUNT CARROLL, IL - Timber Lake Playhouse continues its 54th season with a new kind of play, The Big Meal by Dan LeFranc, which is directed by Chuck Smith. Opening Thursday, June 18th, the play takes place entirely in restaurants and tells the funny, complicated and sometimes heart-breaking story of one big, noisy family over the course of several generations. Eight actors play all the members of the family at various ages in the play that will run through June 27th.

The Big Meal follows Sam and Nicole from first meeting through almost 80 years of moments that define their families. A series of dates, holidays and celebratory family dinners create the backdrop for the extraordinary stories of an ordinary family

Of this, playwright LeFranc writes, "Perhaps because my parents both worked in the service industry, my most vivid memories of family take place around laminated menus and sampler platters. Like many Americans, we spent a lot of time going out to eat. [...] So often, in fact, that many of these places came to feel like an extension of our living room. We laughed, cried, and fought like crazy for an audience of countless waiters and diners."

As the characters age and their families grow, new revelations are brought to light. Artistic Director James Beaudry says, "The play uses those moments we've all experienced in restaurants and family dinners?crying children, a couple clearly breaking up two tables away, the tensions between rival siblings?and makes one family's story feel like everyone's."

LeFranc describes these moments that feel universal and define families?"the great joys and disappointments of my parents' marriages; [...] the wonderful and weird relationships I have with my siblings; how much I look like my dad; the dizzy bliss of falling in love; what happens to parents when their kids become parents; the way the familial pecking order shifts; family and friends who have fallen ill; how death brings countless lives to a halt; how my grandmother lights up when I finally come to visit ... ."

All of this is accomplished in under 90 minutes, and the effect on the audience is astonishing. Time Out New York says, "You will be amazed," while the New York Daily News called the play, "Packed with humanity and humor." The Big Meal does contain adult language.

The cast includes Brigitte Ditmars, Jaguer Heier, Judy Knudtson, Victoria Kuzlik, Paige ManWaring, Matt W. Miles, Brian Pauley and Cullen Rogers. Acclaimed Chicago director Smith returns to TLP for his fourteenth consecutive season. His previous work at TLP includes Working, An Inspector Calls, Tuesdays With Morrie, Smokey Joe's Café and more.

Following The Big Meal, TLP will present Peter Pan, Greater Tuna, Big Fish and Big River to round out the lineup. The Magic Owl Children's Theatre at TLP will also present a stage adaptation of James and the Giant Peach in August. Tickets to all shows are available at the theatre box office, by calling 815-244-2035, and online at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org. Show times are available online.

Timber Lake Playhouse is located at 8215 Black Oak Road in rural Mount Carroll. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Event includes costumed suspects and outdoor screening of classic comedy film

TIPTON, Iowa–Prepare to live out (or die in) the classic murder mystery board game "Clue" on July 8 in Tipton.

The Hardacre Theater Preservation Association (HTPA) will present a "Clue"-themed murder mystery dinner party at 6:30 p.m., featuring local actors from the Cedar County Stoplight Players as cast members/victims. An outdoor screening of the classic 1985 comedy/mystery film "Clue" starring Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn and Michael McKean will follow at 9 p.m.

The event will be held in and around the Spear House Bed and Breakfast, 120 E. 9th St., in Tipton. The event is sponsored by the HTPA, the Spear House, and Wiskus Construction.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $50 each for murder mystery participants, which includes dinner, the murder mystery and the movie screening. Only 30 tickets will be sold for the murder mystery dinner. Tickets to watch the film afterward only are $10 each and are unlimited to participants.

The deadline to order tickets for the murder mystery dinner is June 30. Dinner tickets will be available soon at thehardacre.org. Movie-only patrons can buy tickets online or at the event.

"We want movies to come to life at the restored Hardacre Theater, along with live theatrical events and music, and this event is a perfect example of that," said Greg Brown, HTPA president.

Local actors will play various roles in the murder mystery. Participants can solve the murder in groups to win prizes. There will also be a "Clue"-themed costume contest for all participants.

The event is one of several fundraisers planned for summer 2015. The group previously announced a Hardacre "Big Lebowski" Festival set for Aug. 8 in Tipton, featuring a screening of the cult classic comedy, live music and bowling.

For more information about the event, to order tickets, or to find out more about the "Save the Hardacre" campaign, go to thehardacre.org.

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Sat., Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Celtic Woman 10th Anniversary World Tour

This enchanting musical experience features Celtic Woman performing a treasure chest of traditional Irish standards, classical favorites and contemporary pop songs in the group's distinctive signature style. The 10th Anniversary World Tour features four sublimely gifted Irish women - three angelic vocalists and a dazzling Celtic violinist - with a full band, plus the Aontas Choir, bagpipers, and Irish dancers all under the direction of Emmy®-nominated music producer David Downes.

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