CABARET, DAN KNIGHT, BROADWAY MUSIC, DANCE, AND MORE

The Coralville Center for the Performing Arts stage will feature a variety of events in April 2013, giving members of the community many opportunities to participate in performances and enjoy cultural offerings.  Highlights include a production of Cabaret by Way Off Broadway, Iowa's only professional musical theater company; two performances by composer and Steinway artist Dan Knight; and a benefit showcase of Creative Corridor artists performing Broadway music.  In the month of April, the CCPA will host 25 public performances.

The schedule includes:

·        General music concerts by Coralville Central Elementary (Monday, April 1 at 7pm, grades 3-6); Van Allen Elementary (Thursday, April  4 at 6:30pm, grades 3-4); and Kirkwood Elementary (Thursday, April 11 at 6pm).  These events are part of the CCPA's program offering free use of the theater to Coralville schools.

·        The LUNAFEST Film Festival is a traveling film festival of award-winning short films by, for, and about women.  The benefit engagement on Wednesday, April 3 is presented by Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa.  The evening includes a silent auction at 6pm and the films at 7pm.  Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door and are available at lunafest.org.

·        The 2013 American Girl Fashion Show is a fundraiser presented by the Iowa Children's Museum, with 100 local girls serving as models representing American Girl characters in historical fashions and contemporary styles.   Friday, April 5 at 7pm and Saturday, April 6 at 10am and 2pm. Tickets are $27 ($15 tax deductible).

·        Orchestra Iowa Chamber Players present works by Beethoven, Vanhal, Halvorsen, Ibert, and Prokofiev Sunday, April 7 at 2:30pm.  $20 tickets are available at 319.366.8203 or orchestraiowa.org.

·        Ballet Folklorico Los Angelitos brings audiences on a journey through the regions, eras, and customs of Mexico in a free performance at 7:30pm on Sunday, April 7.  Their Iowa tour is presented by a cooperative effort of foundation and individual sponsorship and the support of Rotary Clubs.

·        Hancher presents Compagnia TPO - the world's foremost pioneers in interactive performance media for all ages - in Kindur: The Adventurous Life of Icelandic Sheep, a charming nature adventure.  The public performance is Tuesday, April 9 at 7pm; there will be additional performances for school groups on April 9 and 10.  Tickets ($10-$25) are available through Hancher at 319.335.1160 or at hancher.uiowa.edu.

·        Way Off Broadway presents Kander and Ebb's award-winning musical Cabaret April 12 and 13 at 7:30pm, following a 2-week run in their home Sondheim Center theater in Fairfield.  Lyric Benson as Sally Bowles and Jonathon Christopher as the emcee lead the cast of 18 professional actors accompanied by a live band.  WOB Artistic Director Randal K. West directs. Tickets are $18-$38.

·        Composer and pianist Dan Knight leads children through a fun and educational introduction to jazz (with the help of his dogs Oscar and Ella) in Oscar and Ella Listen to Jazz: A Kid's Musical Introduction by Dan Knight on Saturday, April 13 at 2pm.  Knight demonstrates jazz techniques and works with children to create a new piece of music in this interactive performance.  Tickets are $7.

·        The award-winning dancers of AFFECT Dance Company present a showcase of pieces from the spring competition season on Sunday, April 14, with a solo and duet showcase at 1pm and group performances featuring more than 100 dancers at 6pm.  $5 tickets are available at Nolte Academy, 1619 2^nd Street in Coralville, or at the door.

·        Artists from across Iowa's Creative Corridor come together in The Corridor Sings Broadway on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 in a benefit performances for the CCPA and resident theater company City Circle Acting Company of Coralville.  The performance features Broadway favorites and hidden gems, as well as a silent auction and raffle.  Tickets are $10-$25.

·        Dan Knight performs again with two debut compositions: The Kandinsky Suite, inspired by the art of Vassily Kandinsky, and MURAL, inspired by Jackson Pollock's iconic painting, on Sunday, April 21 at 3pm.  Tickets are $12-$17.

·        Borlaug Elementary students perform in My School's Got Talent on Tuesday, April 23 at 6:30 PM  My School's Got Talent is a fundraising program for PTO's sponsored by Nolte Academy.  Tickets are $8 and are available at Nolte Academy and at Borlaug Elementary, and at the door.  Weber Elementary also has a MSGT date scheduled for May 1.

·        Dr. Zubo & The Bird Purples, an Iowa-based musical ensemble with members hailing from around the globe, performs music composed for, and dedicated to, the CCPA on Friday, April 26 at 7:30pm.  Music will fill the theater, lobby, and hallways, morphing from classical to pop, and incorporating traditional and nontraditional instruments.  Tickets are $8.

·        Iowa Dance 2013: Dancing Our Visions on Saturday, April 27 at 8pm celebrates National Dance Week and International Dance Day in Iowa with a special evening featuring dancers and choreographers from across the state. Tickets are $3 for children 12 and under, and $8 for adults.

·        The Iowa City Girl's Choir performs on Monday, April 29 at 7pm.  Suggested donation of $5 per family benefits the CCPA Access Fund, which offers rental subsidies for small nonprofit organizations.

Further information on these events and details on other upcoming events are available at CoralvilleArts.org.

Tickets for most CCPA events are available by phone at 319.248.9370, online at CoralvilleArts.org, and in person at the CCPA box office at 1301 5^th Street and Coralville Recreation Center at 1506 8^th Street.

Owned and operated by the City of Coralville, the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to enriching the community and contributing to the vitality of Coralville by offering an accessible, affordable venue for a variety of performances, presentations, and public and private events.  The 472 seat theater opened August 26, 2011 and has hosted performances from City Circle Acting Company, Orchestra Iowa, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Dan Knight, Lola Astanova, Lorie Line, Judy Carmichael, Jim McDonough, Nolte Academy of Dance, and many others.  Coralville schools are also able to use the Center free of charge up to three times per year; 13 school events took place at the Center in 2012. The Center was named 2012 Member of the Year by the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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(DES MOINES) - Governor Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds today highlighted the work progress of the seven-foot statue of Dr. Norman Borlaug being created by artist, Benjamin Victor, and announced the funding for the statue which will eventually be displayed in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

"Today, March 25th, would have been Dr. Borlaug's 99th birthday and his development of miracle wheat saved an estimated billion people around the world from hunger and starvation," Gov. Branstad said. "With the generous support of DuPont Pioneer and an anonymous individual, his statue will stand in honor representing Iowa in the U.S. Capitol building."

"With the creation of the Dr. Borlaug statue, we are seeing history in the making," Lt. Gov. Reynolds said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I would like to thank the artist, Benjamin Victor, for sharing his tremendous talent with us to be enjoyed by the future visitors to the U.S. Capitol."

"Dr. Borlaug was not only one of Iowa's great innovators, but also one of the state's greatest humanitarians," said Paul E. Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer. "It is my hope that the statue's placement in the U.S. Capitol will inspire future generations to be a part of solving this extraordinary challenge of feeding the world."

The Borlaug Statue Committee Chairman, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, praised members of the Iowa legislature and Iowa's Congressional Delegation, of which Congressman Steve King and Congressman Tom Latham were in attendance, for their bi-partisan support of the Dr. Borlaug statue, noting they have been instrumental in facilitating communications with the Architect of the Capitol's office, which oversees the statues on display in the U.S. Capitol.

The Borlaug Statue Committee, who selected the artist and organized fundraising efforts for this project, has the goal of installing the statue of Dr. Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol building on March 25, 2014, the centennial observance of Dr. Borlaug's birth. It will be one of two statues depicting notable citizens from Iowa. The Dr. Borlaug statue will replace the statue of U.S. Senator James Harlan, which will be returned to Iowa. The second statue representing Iowa is of Governor Samuel Kirkwood.

Benjamin Victor is currently conducting an artist-in-residency at the State Historical Museum of Iowa, 600 E. Locust Street in Des Moines. The public is invited to visit with Victor as he works on the sculpture 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. through Thursday.

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True stories written by children for children

Teaching History, Tolerance, Courage, Compassion, Kindness, Perseverance, Integrity, Cooperation and more.

This week A BOOK by ME series features #30 A True American Liberator The story of an American Liberator as told by author/illustrator Amanda DeVilder of East Moline, Illinois Amanda DeVilder & Eugene Parmer This week we highlight our young author and illustrator Amanda DeVilder of  East Moline, Illinois. Hi!  My name is Amanda DeVilder!  I wrote and illustrated A True American Liberator when I was fifteen years old and a freshman at United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois.  In school, I participated in volleyball, basketball, track & field and student council.  I also enjoy reading and listening to music. One thing I really want to do is travel.  In fact, I would really like to be a foreign exchange student.  I like history too and A BOOK by ME gave me a better understanding of the Holocaust.  You can't capture someone's feelings, thoughts, worries, or fears by reading a textbook.  But you can capture it when a person describes how they felt in their own words. If someone told me they were thinking about being involved in this writing project, I would tell them, without hesitation, to go for it.  Only good things will come out of it.  Not only will you learn new things but you will pass on this information to young children who read your book.  Plus, you give the WWII veteran or Holocaust survivor recognition and honor they truly deserve.   Carol Eugene Parmer 92nd Signal Battalion As a young boy, Eugene Parmer lived in Bettendorf, Iowa. Just before he joined the military he moved 40 miles north to the quiet town of Maquoketa, Iowa.  He joined the 92nd Signal Battalion who furnished communications for the United States Army. While serving in Europe during WWII, Eugene was ordered to join American soldiers liberating a concentration camp called Dachau. He was to investigate the camp's communication equipment and report to his officer. When he arrived at Dachau, Eugene didn't want to park his weapons carrier at the main gate so he drove around the side of the camp. There he located railroad tracks with parked coal cars leading out of the camp.  Eugene's curiosity got the best of him so he climbed up the ladder. There was no coal in the cars. Eugene was not prepared for what he witnessed. Shock hit him hard. The train cars carried human bodies. Then he looked in the second car and there were more. He could not believe his eyes.  What he saw made him physically sick. Eugene then approached the gate and shot the lock off with his revolver. Immediately, a prisoner who spoke English yelled "don't open the gate".  This man told other prisoners to stay back but then disappeared. The prisoners didn't listen and came towards Eugene and began to mob him.  He fell to the ground. The American soldier assumed they were after his rifle. But the Jewish prisoners did not want his rifle nor did they want to harm him. All they wanted was American flags lapel pin which was the Signal Corps insignia. All they wanted were the flags of their liberator. The English speaking prisoner quickly returned with something to secure the gate. He wanted that gate shut! Eugene removed his flag pin and gave it to the man. The others backed away. The frightened soldier was relieved. "Do you have some spare time?" asked the prisoner, "Follow me." As they walked past buildings, Eugene saw more death. The horrors of this war were everywhere. Then the prisoner suggested Eugene get his rifle ready. What was going to happen? They uncovered a German guard who hid when the camp was liberated. It wasn't safe for the guard to be surrounded by angry prisoners. There was another guard hiding in a 55 gallon container used to store human waste. When they tipped it over, the guard fell out. His life was also in danger. The German guards had been cruel. Now the prisoners wanted revenge. Eugene needed to stay focused and asked the English speaking prisoner to show him the signal equipment and he did. Finally, his simple yet dangerous mission was accomplished. The young soldier returned to his regular duty. Those horrible memories of war stayed with Eugene his whole life. Years later at an event recognizing veterans, Eugene listened to a grateful Holocaust survivor speak to the audience. While she spoke about her memories, Eugene felt sick all over again - just like he felt during his time at Dachau. Eugene returned to and lives today in historical Maquoketa, Iowa.  When Eugene is asked what message he'd like to say to children, he replies:  "Children should see pictures and realize what can happen if we lost our freedom. I have no words to express my feelings towards these people. If I hadn't seen it, I don't know if I'd believe it. It happened." Deb Bowen Creator, A BOOK by ME

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Mount Carroll--Executive Director James Beaudry and Timber Lake Playhouse, will present the first regional production of Monty Python's SPAMALOT as part of TLP's upcoming summer season. Lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, SPAMALOT retells the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, their quest for the Holy Grail and features a bevy of beautiful show girls, not to mention cows, killer rabbits, and French people. Did we mention the bevy of beautiful show girls? The show that "raises silliness to an artform" (The Sunday Times), will open August 1, 2013 and run through August 11th.

The show has been a huge hit in a long run on Broadway and on three national tours, but it had it's pre-Broadway premiere in Chicago, where its entire run was sold out before it began in late 2004. Beaudry confirmed that TLP was offered the rights to produce the show a full year ago, but had to keep mum about it until now. "Sean Cercone, director of professional licensing for Theatrical Rights Worldwide, contacted us and several other theatre companies in April 2012. We had a four-day window to make a decision and secure the rights, or the show would be unavailable because another national tour was going back out," Beaudry said.

"So we made it happen. But the only catch was that we couldn't advertise the show until March 2013. When we announced the rest of the season last July, we were as creative as possible about selling the show without saying anything specific about it." According to Beaudry, "It was quickly brought to our attention by some eager, Google-savvy subscribers, however, that the licensing company had our production listed on their website. We weren't allowed to advertise, but we were allowed to encourage people to go on their own quest to find the information we weren't allowed to tell. It quickly became the worst kept secret in the history of our company!"

The show that the New York Times calls a "no-holds-barred smash hit," will star John Chase of Mount Morris as King Arthur. He has previously been seen at TLP in Working, Sunset Boulevard and Oklahoma!. Sharriese Hamilton (Working, ...Spelling Bee) takes on the Tony Award winning role of The Lady of the Lake, Brandon Jess Ford (All Shook Up, Sunset Boulevard, Boeing Boeing) returns to play Sir Lancelot, and James Beaudry returns to the TLP stage in the role of Brave Sir Robin. Rounding out the cast are newcomers Brandyn Day (Baldwin Wallace University) as Sir Galahad, Cody Jolly (Webster University) as The Historian, Elliot Marach (Millikin University) as Sir Bedevere and Matthew Webb (Savannah College of Art and Design) as Patsy. The new resident company of TLP fills out the ensemble.

The 52nd Season at Timber Lake Playhouse opens June 6, 2013 and includes A Chorus Line, Tuesdays With Morrie, The Music Man, Unnecessary Farce, Spamalot and 'S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical. Subscriptions for all six shows are only $110. The Magic Owl Children's theatre will also present The Hobbit and Seussical. More information is available at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org.

Monty Python's Spamalot performs August 1-11. Performances are at 7:30pm, Tuesday through Saturdays and there are 2pm matinees on Sunday and Wednesday. There is also a Saturday matinee performance on opening weekends at 3pm. Season subscribers and groups may reserve tickets immediately during regular business hours, 11am - 4pm Monday through Friday at 815-244-2035, or any time at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org. Single tickets will go on sale May 20th.

Timber Lake Playhouse presents
Monty Python's SPAMALOT
Book & Lyrics by ERIC IDLE
Music by JOHN DU PREZ & ERIC IDLE
A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
From the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Original Broadway Production produced by Boyett Ostar Productions,The Shubert Organization, Arielle Tepper Madover, Stephanie McClelland/Lawrence Horowitz,Elan V McAllister/Allan S. Gordon, Independent Producers Network, Roy Furman, GRS Associates, Jam Theatricals, TGA Entertainment, Live Nation
Directed by Derek Bertelsen
This program is partially supported by a grant for the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

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