Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as that year's Tony Award for Best Play, author David Auburn's brilliant, funny, and moving Proof enjoys a student-produced run in the St. Ambrose University Studio Theatre from February 17 through 19, with the New York Times stating that Auburn's drama “has the pace of a psychological thriller” ans is “as accessible and compelling as a detective story.”

Winner of seven 1977 Tony Awards and one of the 25 longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the iconic comic-strip adaptation Annie will be brought to life – in abbreviated form – in Davenport Junior Theatre's February 12 through 20 run of Annie Jr., its iconic score by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin boasting such timeless tunes as "It's the Hard-Knock Life," "Easy Street," "Maybe," and the unforgettable "Tomorrow."

With Time Out describing the show as “worthy of the gods,” the stage adaptation of Rick Riordan's popular book series debuts at the Spotlight Theatre when the Moline venue houses the 2019 Broadway spectacle The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, its February 18 through 27 run sure to demonstrate why The Hollywood Reporter raved that this family outing “provides an excellent if irreverent introduction to Greek mythology.”

One of the most beloved stage comedies in American history opens the 2022 season at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, with the venue, from February 18 through 27, housing Neil Simon's classic tale of divorced roommates The Odd Couple, the five-time Tony Award winner that inspired a successful film adaptation and a long-running, Emmy-winning sitcom.

The Play That Goes Wrong is an apropos title given that director Warner Crocker’s cast, in the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's new production, is enacting the Cornely Polytechnic Drama Society troupe's production of The Murder at Haversham Manor. It's a play within a play. As such, there’s even a program within a program.

A world-premiere presentation that challenges commonly held beliefs about the true cost of freedom, playwright Mat Smart's Eden Prairie, 1971 enjoys a January 27 through February 20 run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its author a noted talent whose The Royal Society of Antarctica received Chicago's 2015 Jeff Award for Best New Work.

From January 21 through 30, the Center for Living Arts, the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities, and Augustana College's theatre department will team up to help turn kids into stage stars for the eagerly awaited family-musical presentation The Little Mermaid Jr. – a production based on Disney's Oscar-winning animated adventure, and a show that boasts a cast composed of talented youths with special needs.

An exploration of the valiant and courageous personalities behind one of the most critical chapters in the history of the Civil Rights movement, Mad River Theater Works' Freedom Riders will enjoy a special January 31 staging at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, the play delivering unforgettable heroes and facts essential to a full understanding of the Civil Rights era and American history.

One of the most enduring and harrowing of all classical Greek tragedies, Euripides' Medea serves as Augustana College's first student-directed production of 2022, the title character described, in the New York Times, as “one of the huge, ravenous roles of dramatic literature … it will take everything a performer can give, then ask for more.”

If you spend nearly two years working on your company's debut show, and it not only gets successfully produced but enjoys several sold-out performances during its run, what do you do for an encore? If you're the Haus of Ruckus' TJ Green and Calvin Vo, and your comedy “Jacques”alope turned into a hit for the Davenport venue the Mockingbird on Main, you return to the site of your previous triumph – and give yourself all of one day to stage something new.

Pages