The Half-Life of Marie Curie takes us back to 1911, and a world in which even the greatest women can be handily undermined by their personal lives. Sound familiar?

After four years, nearly a dozen full-length productions, random special events, and a few Random Access Morons, the Haus of Ruckus team of Tee Green and Calvin Vo is bidding us adieu – for the time being – with Haus of Ruckus Live!, a one-night-only presentation in which the comic duo and their cohorts will perform live for the first time. Again.

Described by Time Out New York as a play that “provides a pleasurable ripple of fear down one's spine and an uncomfortable lurch in the pit of one's stomach,” the intimate chiller The Woman in Black enjoys a spooky-season run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, its October 2 through 12 engagement inviting audiences to witness an evocative stage tale that The Daily Mail called “a truly nerve-shredding experience.”

Remembering the devastating losses and world-changing terror of 9/11 doesn't usually inspire joy, or instill hope. But there's a musical about it that does both, focusing on how the destruction in New York City and Washington D.C. affected a little island roughly 1,500 miles northeast.

A legendary theatrical work that won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens the 2025-26 season at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, this savagely funny and painfully emotional drama helmed by Riverside's artistic director Adam Knight and featuring venue favorites Tim Budd and Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers.

Local Theatre Auditions/Calls for Entry

Updated: Sunday, September 14

Reviews by Rochelle Arnold, Jeff Ashcraft, Patricia Baugh-Riechers, Audra Beals, Pamela Briggs, Dee Canfield, Madeline Dudziak, Kim Eastland, Emily Heninger, Heather Herkelman, Kitty (née Israel) Hooker, Mischa Hooker, Paula Jolly, Victoria Navarro, Roger Pavey Jr., Alexander Richardson, Mark Ruebling, Mike Schulz, Joy Thompson, Oz Torres, Brent Tubbs, Jill Pearson Walsh, and Thom White.

The Playcrafters Barn Theatre brings another of Agatha Christie’s mysteries to life with its production of Murder on the Nile, directed by Karen Riffey. With twists, gunshots, and more exposition than you can shake a fully loaded pistol at, this play will no doubt please fans of the genre.

Mischa: Kristin Wetherington absolutely delivered. From start to finish, she commanded the audience’s attention, with carefree positivity at first, then convincing anguish as the story reached its emotional climax.

Kitty: I was also really impressed by her ability to maintain a consistent, believable Italian accent throughout, both in her speaking and her singing.

Hailed by Time Out New York as a "frisky, feminist crowd-pleaser" that's "enlightening and entertaining," the two-woman historical drama The Half-Life of Marie Curie enjoys its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theare September 19 through 28, its playwright Lauren Gunderson the author of previously acclaimed Black Box productions including Silent Sky, I & You and The Revolutionists.

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