Bickering Couples Provide Fireworks at New “God of Carnage” at Moline’s Playcrafters
The 2026 season at Playcrafters Barn Theatre (4950 35th Ave., Moline) kicks off this weekend and next with the bitter, black comedy “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza, hailed by Variety as “elegant, acerbic, and entertainingly fueled on pure bile.”
When a playground fight between two boys leaves one injured, their parents agree to meet and resolve the matter calmly. What begins as a civil conversation soon unravels into chaos, as egos, insecurities, and prejudices bubble to the surface.
This internationally acclaimed comedy takes you deep into the most dangerous place on Earth: parenthood. “What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?” the play synopsis says. “Boys will be boys, but the adults are worse – much worse. Tony and Olivier Award-winning God of Carnage is a comedy of manners, without the manners.”
Stephanie Burrough in “God of Carnage,” running Feb. 27 to March 8 at Playcrafters, 4950 35th Ave., Moline.
The original 2009 Broadway production – with the star-studded cast Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden – won three Tonys, including Best Play. “God of Carnage” was first done in the Quad Cities in 2011 at the Village Theatre in East Davenport.
The stacked QC cast in the new Playcrafters version features Leslie Day and Tom Taylor as one couple, and Stephanie Burrough and Mike Schulz as the other.
A review of a recent southern California production in the Orange County Register said the play “turns out to be intoxicating, albeit toxic, entertainment. Social bile drives 90 minutes of back-and-forth savage bickering. The animated arguing is notably rooted against a backdrop of White privilege, seasoned with, among other aspects, dollops of sexism and racism.”
Jeremy Mahr (a noted local actor who’s had prominent roles in the past year at Moline’s Black Box Theatre, in “To Leer at Lear” and “The Lion in Winter”) is directing the new Playcrafters quartet. He was originally supposed to direct Yasmina Reza’a Art, but the rights were not granted, so he pivoted to “God of Carnage,” which was selected by the board.
Tom Taylor, left, and Mike Schulz in “God of Carnage,” directed by Jeremy Mahr.
“The board didn’t choose to go with this show due to anything particular happening culturally. But this play will always be timely since it explores human nature and how some of the manners we’ve developed to maintain polite society do not actually help us communicate effectively with each other,” Mahr said recently “And it involves ideas of how to raise children and how we mostly just leave it up to everyone to figure it out; which is also not helping anyone out.”
He has directed shows for Prenzie Players (Taming of the Shrew, Tartuffe, and Coriolanus) and Genesius Guild (Measure for Measure and A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Mahr said his nerdy hobby is reading all sorts of acting theory.
“And with my background in improv comedy, I’ve learned how to essentially direct myself spontaneously,” he said. “Afterwards the performers and directors reflect on the experience on how we can make stronger, more interesting choices next time. With directing, I get to think about the whole show and guide everyone to the same vision. Which happens in a different way when acting, but I get to skip the whole grind of memorization.”
Mahr was interested in directing actors who haven’t been on the stage in a while, so he started reaching out to people.
Leslie Day and Mike Schulz in “God of Carnage,” at Playcrafters Barn Theatre.
“With Tom and Stephanie, they had stepped away to raise their families, so I thought with the play touching on parenting that it would be a perfect fit,” he said. “I have worked with all four of these people before and so I knew that they were fun, playful, pleasant to be around, and that they set a high standard for themselves in performance. Hopefully someone else will produce the show again soon so we can give four more of our Quad Cities actors the opportunity to have fun with it.”
“It is a joy to come into rehearsal with every member of this cast and crew,” Mahr said. “We start off each rehearsal with space to check in with each other, and share if anything is going on that might affect how we are present at rehearsal. Early on we established boundaries and methods of advocating for ourselves in the moment, which has allowed us to push each other and the show into surprising places with less of a focus on getting it right, and more on playing and taking chances.”
“God of Carnage,” opening Friday, Feb. 27 at Playcrafters, features (L-R) Leslie Day, Mike Schulz, Tom Taylor and Stephanie Burrough.
Mahr also will be directing The Minutes by Tracy Letts (another scathing comedy) at The Black Box Theatre this fall, which will have auditions in March. There is an audition time sign-up form with all of the show and audition information on it HERE.
“God of Carnage” will be performed at Playcrafters on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27-28 at 7:30 p.m. (plus March 6-7), and Sunday, March 1 (plus March 8) at 3 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit the Playcrafters website HERE.
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