01 Feb 2022

“The Odd Couple,” February 18 through 27

By Reader Staff

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.

24 Jan 2022

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: “The Play That Goes Wrong,” at the Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse through March 12

By Madeline Dudziak

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.

18 Jan 2022

“Eden Prairie, 1971,” January 27 through February 20

By Reader Staff

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.

18 Jan 2022

“The Little Mermaid Jr.,” January 21 through 30

By Reader Staff

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.

18 Jan 2022

“Freedom Riders,” January 31

By Reader Staff

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.

04 Jan 2022

“Medea,” January 13 through 16

By Reader Staff

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.”

03 Jan 2022

“We Wrote This in a Day (Don't Yell at Us),” January 8 and 9

By Mike Schulz

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.

29 Dec 2021

“The Play That Goes Wrong,” January 19 through March 12

By Reader Staff

With The Telegraph reviewer Tim Walker stating, “I have seldom, if ever, heard louder or more sustained laughter in a theatre,” the object of that praise – the Tony-winning slapstick farce The Play That Goes Wrong – makes its area debut at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, the show's January 19 through March 12 Rock Island run sure to demonstrate why the New York Times deemed it “a knockabout farce” whose audience “roared as loudly as the crowds at any wrestling match.”

20 Dec 2021

Picks o' Six 2021: Highlights from the Year in Area Theatre

By Rochelle Arnold, Pamela Briggs, Madeline Dudziak, and Mike Schulz

With the fruits of our non-laborious labors landing in your laps (or on your laptops) just in time for gift-giving week, your intrepid theatre correspondents Rochelle Arnold, Pamela Briggs, Madeline Dudziak, and I officially welcome you to the sixth-annual Reader Tony Awards! Now returned to full fighting strength after 2020's truncated-by-necessity ceremony!

13 Dec 2021

Radio Holy Night: ”Deck the Halls: A Holiday Musical,” at The Mockingbird on Main through December 18

By Madeline Dudziak

I know the holidays are busy and holiday weekends busier still, but make room in your calendar for this fast-paced, hilarious little show, because it's completely worth it. The energy that director Tristan Tapscott’s cast brought to a very nearly empty house was unbelievable, and I can only imagine what the show would amount to in a packed theatre.

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