A trio of professional standup comedians, all of them Iowa natives, bring their fall tour to Davenport in a Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel event showcasing the stylings of Davenport's Gideon Hambright, Glenwood's Patrick Hastie, and Marshalltown's James Doyle.

Called “a lively jukebox revue” by the Chicago Tribune and “a warm, straightforward pleasure” by the Denver Post, Broadway's musical celebration of Johnny Cash returns to the area for the first time since its engagement at Circa '21 in early 2009.

One of author Neil LaBute's most critically acclaimed yet controversial dark comedies makes its area debut with a two-performance run at Playcrafters – the third production in theatre's recently initiated “Barn Owl Series” of challenging and decidedly adult-themed presentations.

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None – the story of murder on a remote island – was published in 1939 and adapted into a play in 1943, and is one of the top-10 bestsellers of all time. If you like the game Clue, or just a good whodunnit, you will likely enjoy this mystery, as the audience is taken on a suspenseful ride that's filled with twists and turns until its last scene. And while the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's current presentation of the piece, under the direction of Cynthia Safford, has a straightforward approach and is less scary than some productions I’ve seen, it's still effective.

Based on the famed mystery writer's most successful novel – with more than 100 million copies sold and Publications International recognition as the seventh-best-selling title of all time – Agatha Christie's 1939 And Then There Were None was adapted by Christie herself into a 1943 West End stage hit, with its 1944 Broadway run lasting 426 performances.

On the night of August 25, this one spoken line stuck in my head like newly poured concrete – clammy and heavy while slowly thickening in my mind. I can only imagine that most of us have been stuck at some point, but this didn't refer to the everyday kind of stuck. It wasn't about something normal such as being trapped in traffic, or having writer's block, or doing the same workout over and over. No, this question asked in a play referred to an endless hamster wheel of shame and humiliation stigmatized by one poor life choice.

In a momentary break from touring independent musicians, Davenport's latest Moeller Nights event will showcase the stylings of touring comedian Kristen Toomey, co-star of writer/director Dale Zawada's summer comedy Dirtbags.

A 1998 off-Broadway smash for author Diana Son, the big-city romance Stop Kiss was described by the New York Times as a “delicately balanced comedy-drama,” and a “gentle, affectionate work with a sense of blithe comedy that brings to mind early episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

British farce, when done well, is some of my favorite entertainment, and I personally enjoy the fact that the comedy series Fawlty Towers is set in the seaside town of Torquay, England, which happens to be my birthplace. Hoping for the best, on Friday night I attended the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's production of authors Philip King's and Falkland L. Cary's Big ... Bad ... Mouse! I was a bit disappointed, however, to find that this 1964 show's overall pacing and tone were more representative of broad American comedy than illustrative of “proper” English farce.

In the summer of 2013, Davenport’s QC Theatre Workshop and local playwright Aaron Randolph III presented the world premiere of his one-act drama A Green River, the story of a young solider suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder whose tale is largely told through memories and flashbacks, not all of them shown in chronological sequence.

This summer, beginning on August 25, the Workshop will debut another world-premiere production in author Randolph’s and director Tyson Danner’s one-act Broken, a human-trafficking drama whose protagonist’s journey is traced largely through memories and flashbacks, not all of them shown in chronological sequence.

“What I’ve thought of doing next,” says Randolph during my recent interview with Broken’s creators, “is writing a third play like this. Because then it’s a series, and it doesn’t seem like I’m just copying the same idea. It becomes a purposeful trilogy.”

He’s kidding. (Maybe.) But Randolph and Danner are absolutely serious about the challenge of their theatrical endeavor that opens the Workshop’s sixth season – a play designed to addresses important, heart-rending subject matter, but one that, for the sake of audiences, must also avoid the traps of seeming didactic, preachy, exploitative, and/or depressing as hell.

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