The Genesius Guild’s 2021 season continues with a joint Don Wooten and William Shakespeare production, Shakespeare’s Life in His Works, with performances at 7 p.m. on July 3, 4, 10, and 11. All performances are held at the Don Wooten Stage in Lincoln Park, Rock Island,

Don Wooten, who founded Genesius Guild in 1956, created the reader’s theater production on Shakespeare over 30 years ago.

and admission is free.

Originally developed by Don Wooten (who founded Genesius Guild in 1956) as a readers’ theater production many years ago, Shakespeare’s Life in His Works has been adapted to fit the stage. The show explores Shakespeare’s life and his tremendous impact on the English language through the lens of his plays. He regularly had trouble finding the right words or phrases to convey his desired meaning; to compensate, he created his own words and phrases that have become commonplace parts of the English lexicon, according to a Genesius release. Also

Genesius Guild will present “Shakespeare’s Life in His Works” this weekend and next (Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m.) at Lincoln Park, Rock Island.

showcased is the historical knowledge of Shakespeare’s experiences growing up, and how they are referenced in his later works.

Shakespeare’s Life in His Works highlights these literary parallels from his life, while featuring scenes from the plays where they first appear. The show includes bits from a wide variety of Shakespeare’s works, including Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Merry Wives of Windsor (among many others).

The Genesius Guild is a Q-C community theatre organization specializing in free classical drama. The group performs Greek drama, Greek comedy, the works of Shakespeare (1564-1616), and other classical authors every weekend throughout the summer. This summer, the season has been abridged to just three productions.

For more information, please visit www.genesius.org.

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Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner -- who has called the Quad Cities home since 1995 -- has decades of experience as a professional journalist and pianist. His experience writing for daily newspapers, public radio and local TV encompasses a wide range of subjects, including the arts, politics, education, economic development, historic preservation, business, and tourism.

Jonathan most loves writing about music and the arts (which he now does as a freelancer for the River Cities Reader and Visit Quad Cities). He has a passion for accompanying musicals, singers, choirs and instrumentalists, including playing for QC Music Guild's 2023 productions of RENT and SWEENEY TODD. He is assistant music director and accompanist for the spring 2025 Music Guild show, ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. He wrote an original musical based on The Book of Job, which premiered at Playcrafters in 2010. Jonathan penned a 175-page history book about downtown Davenport, that was published by The History Press in 2016, and a travel guide about the QC published by Reedy Press in 2022.