“The Niceties" at Riverside Theatre -- March 11 through 27.
Friday, March 11, through Sunday, March 27
Riverside Theatre, 119 East College Street, Iowa City IA
Praised by Chicago Theatre Review as an "enthralling" play "that audiences who like their entertainment spiced with controversy and seasoned with today’s headlines will absolutely enjoy," author Eleanor Burgess' The Niceties runs at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre March 11 through 27, the work lauded by the New York Times as “a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States, and it begs to be argued with.”
As The Niceties opens, academia is the new battlefront. Zoe, a black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor Janine’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution. Yet discussions of grammar and Google between the student and her professor soon turn to matters of race and reputation. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about history and power. And before Zoe and Janine know it, they’re in dangerous territory, facing stunning implications that can’t be undone in this electrifying stage piece that Variety called “a shrewd piece of writing, allowing audiences to alternate between both sides in a fast-evolving debate.”
Serving as The Niceties' director is Curtis M. Jackson, a Milwaukee native whose Chicago credits include roles in the Steppenwolf Theatre's productions of A Separate Peace and Carter's Way. Jackson's two-person cast showcases a pair of gifted Riverside Theatre veterans in Crystal Marie Stewart (The Winter's Tale, Sonnets for an Old Century) and the venue's co-founder Jody Hovland (Wit, Midnight Your Time). And with Maggie McClennan serving as stage manager, additional members of The Niceties' creative team include assistant stage manager and COVID safety officer Sara Ashbaugh, scenic designer S. Benjamin Farrar, costume designer Bethany Kasparek, lighting designer Kim Fain, sound designer Bri Atwood, prop designer Stephen Polchert, technical director Chris Rich, and COVID safety officers Anna Novak.
The Niceties runs March 11 through 27 at the Iowa City venue, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $15-35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)259-7099 and visiting RiversideTheatre.org.
