With the New York World-Telegram calling the character drama "the rarest of theater experiences" and "an evening which will prove an indelible memory," Horton Foote's stage classic The Trip to Bountiful serves as the 2023-24 season opener at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its October 20 through November 5 run sure to demonstrate why the Wall Street Journal's reviewer raved, "I've never been more deeply moved by a theatrical production of any kind."

Had I gone by the sudden chilly weather, or the title of the play itself, I would have assumed I was on my way to a night of frights at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre. Despite its name and October debut, however, there were no scares to be had on Friday – unless, that is, you jump a little at the sight of the word “layoffs.” Skeleton Crew, written by Dominique Morisseau and directed here by Marquita Reynolds, is a solid stage experience and worth seeing.

The world seems to be rampant with disappointments, disasters, and persistent obstacles. Conflict drives drama, but does real life have to be so hard so often? Sometimes, theatre can provide answers, comfort the life-weary, or entertain so thoroughly that you forget your problems. The Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's production of The Seafarer does all three.

A delightful stage adventure boasting mystery, laughs, and a winning tale of friendship, The Skokie Detective Charter School serves as the first presentation in Davenport Junior Theatre's 2023-24 mainstage season, its October 14 through 22 run opening the company's astounding 72nd season with another free entertainment performed wholly by phenomenally gifted student actors.

One of Tennessee Williams' most arresting, fascinating and controversial works will enjoy its long-awaited Quad Cities debut when Suddenly Last Summer is staged at Moline's Black Box Theatre October 9 through 28, the legendary playwright's 1957 drama famed for its deep emotionalism, startling themes, and 1959 film version that earned Best Actress Oscar nominations for both Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.

School of Rock: The Musical was directed by the theatre's co-owner (and set, lighting, and sound designer) Brent Tubbs, aided here by musical director Laura Hammes and choreographer Becca Johnson. Onstage, we have 30 actor/singer/musicians, plus seven musicians in the pit, and they and the crew have staged an ambitious, complex production that runs smoothly, sounds great, and will leave you grinning.

A 2022 Tony Award winner that Variety magazine praised as "filled with depth and relatable characters," author Dominique Morisseau's drama Skeleton Crew enjoys its Quad Cities premiere at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre from October 6 through 15, the lauded work also praised by the New Yor Times as "a swift, well-crafted look at factory workers trapped in an economic 'dumpster fire," and by the New Yorker as a work "bristling and jumping and speeding forward with skillful talk."

Lauded by DC Theater Arts as "a thrilling experience in theatergoing" and by the Wall Street Journal as a "fresh, theatrically potent spin on the novel," playwright Kate Hamill's witty, creepy, and macabre Dracula, a feminist revenge fantasy opens Augustana College's 2023-24 season in Rock Island, the production certain to demonstrate why New York Theatre Guide proclaimed the genre-bending stage work "biting in every sense of the word."

Delivering what The Hollywood Reporter described as “a joyous blast of defiant analog vitality in a manufactured digital world,” Moline's Spotlight Theatre and the QC Rock Academy team up from September 29 through October 8 for the area premiere of School of Rock: The Musical, the Tony-nominated stage sensation based on the beloved film comedy starring Jack Black, and a work lauded by Broadway World as “a big, beautiful blast of musical comedy from start to finish.”

A Tony and Olivier Award-winning drama lauded by The Guardian as "sparkling and suspenseful," acclaimed author Conor McPherson's The Seafarer makes its area debut at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre during the play's October 5 through 15 run, this genre-melding 2006 work inspiring the New York Times to rave that "as unlikely as it sounds, The Seafarer may just be the pick-me-up play of the season."

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