Deemed “extraordinary” by the London Times and “seriously funny” by the Charleston City Paper, David Lee Nelson's one-man-show Stages will be available for March 5 through 21 viewing in a virtual presentation by Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, the late writer/star's final offering a work that, the Charleston City Paper continues, “gives the audience a glimpse of a man wrestling with his fate, coming to grips with a death sentence, and yet accepting it with humbling joviality.”

Lauded by the New York Times as an “extraordinary accomplishment” that “becomes a virtuoso study in sensory overload,” the Tony Award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will be produced by Augustana College in a virtual presentation available March 4 through 7, with playwright Simon Stephens' exhilarating stage piece described by Time magazine as “a demonstration of the power of theatre to transport us to exotic places.”

Described by the Associated Press as “a madcap mashup of musical styles and lyrics blazing with one-liners,” the Broadway musical comedy First Date enjoys virtual City Circle Theatre Company performances February 26 through 28, this presentation hosted by the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts praised by the Hollywood Reporter for its “genuine wit and musical flair.”

Continuing its 69th season of theatre “for kids, by kids,” Davenport Junior Theatre will present its second virtual production with the February 20 through 28 run of Alice in Wonderland, a charming and imaginative version of the Lewis Carroll storybook classic boasting a script by the organization's former artistic director Daniel D.P. Sheridan.

Described by TheatreMania.com as a drama that “has a lot to say about the agonizing process of political change,” playwright Lee Blessing's Two Rooms will be presented by St. Ambrose University in virtual performances running February 19 through 21, the student-produced offering a work that Variety magazine called “that rare political play that survives beyond its period not merely because it remains timely, but because its characters and conflict cut close to the bone.”

With its playwright Andrew Bovell described by The Guardian as “a wizard from Oz who writes fiendishly intricate plays” with “trademark ingenuity,” the thrilling drama Speaking in Tongues is the latest student-produced offering at Augustana College, its virtual performance on February 19 sure to demonstrate why Stage-Door.com called the work “the perfect play for people who like intellectual puzzles,” as well as “a play you will find yourself thinking about for days afterward.”

Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated Nicole Kidman film, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's family drama Rabbit Hole will enjoy a one-night-only virtual reading in a January 8 event hosted by Princeton's Festival 56, with the acclaimed work lauded by Entertainment Weekly as “a transcendent and deeply affecting new play which shifts perfectly from hilarity to grief.”

A virtual dose of holiday cheer featuring some of Iowa City's and Coralville's most familiar performers, City Circle Theatre Company's online presentation A Christmas Cabaret will be available for home viewing from December 18 through 25, this collection of song-and-dance vignettes professionally recorded and edited by CoralVision, and boasting dynamically talented stars of stage and television.

Beloved seasonal songs and familiar Midwestern performers will be showcased December 18 through 20 in the virtual yuletide performance Let It Show, Let It Show, Let It Show, a family-friendly celebration of the holidays hosted by Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre.

Taking the Antoinette Perrys as our inspiration, we theatre lovers at the Reader have decided that Our Show Must Go On, too. So even though we've been given far fewer titles to choose from than usual, with our own categories and the excellent work within abbreviated out of necessity, we happily welcome you, ladies and gentlemen, to the Fifth-Annual Reader Tony Awards!

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