Sydney Chatman and Jalyn Greene know what it’s like to teach theater to minority, inner-city students. So the African-American women are a natural pair to direct and act, respectively, the one-woman show “No Child…,” which is the last Mississippi Bend Players production this summer. It runs Thursday through Sunday at Augustana College’s Brunner Theatre Center, 3750 7th Ave., Rock Island. “No Child…” (written and premiered in 2006 by Nilaja Sun) follows the story of Miss Sun, a visiting teacher who uses theatre as a means of connecting with students in the New York City public school... Read More

E-commerce behemoth Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to open its second robotics fulfillment center in the state of Iowa, creating 1,000 new full-time jobs in Davenport that will provide employees with at least $16 per hour and comprehensive benefits. Amazon announced it will build a 640,000 square-foot robotics fulfillment center in Davenport that will create 1,000 new full-time jobs when operational. The center will be located on 158 acres in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center along Interstate 80. Crews already are doing site work in preparation of construction to begin later this summer according... Read More

Tyed Together 2021 will be a day of family fun where you can listen to local youth bands and have fun learning how to tie-dye T-shirts, this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Freight House Farmers‘ Market, 421 W. River Dr., Davenport. Funds raised will go to the HAVlife Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization based in the Quad-Cities. HAVlife helps young people to participate in activities they usually wouldn’t be able to afford. Funds raised at the event will pay for kids’ music lessons and instruments. Mama Bosso Pizza of Rock Island has organized and sponsored Tyed Together for... Read More

Music Guild is apparently big into musicals with exclamation points!! Three days before opening its first live musical post-pandemic, “Mamma Mia!,” the Moline-based nonprofit announced the shows for its 2022 season Tuesday on Facebook. They will be: “Disaster!” (April 1-3, 8-10) “Something Rotten!” (June 10-12, 16-19) “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (July 8-10, 14-17) “Jekyll & Hyde” (Aug. 5-7, 11-14) “Elf: The Musical” (Nov. 30, Dec. 1-4) “Disaster!” is a jukebox musical comedy created by Seth Rudetsky, and written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick.... Read More

For its first musical with a live, in-person audience in 19 months, Quad City Music Guild has the ideal show – the breezy, massively popular “Mamma Mia!,” opening Friday at the Prospect Park theater, 1584 34th Ave., Moline. Directed by Colleen Houlihan, a panoply of ABBA’s hits tell the hilarious story of a young woman’s search for her birth father. This sunny and funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise, with a golden jukebox of songs including “Honey, Honey,” “Money, Money, Money,” “Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen,” “The Name of The Game,” “SOS,” “Knowing Me,... Read More

Tuesday, July 6th would have been legendary jazz drummer Louie Bellson’s 97th birthday. Davenport drummer Josh Duffee will perform a snare drum solo on his Bellson Model Remo Snare Drum to celebrate his birthday, next to Bellson’s grave at Riverside Cemetery in Moline. Duffee will broadcast a Facebook Live video feed from his Facebook page, and will be at Bellson’s grave the exact time he was born  (Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni) — 3:15 p.m. — in Rock Falls, Ill., July 6, 1924. “This event will allow fans of his from around the world the chance to help celebrate... Read More

On Friday, July 9th from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Whiskey Stop (726 15th Ave., East Moline), area bands and artists will take the stage to raise funds for Family Resources to support victims of sexual violence in the Quad-Cities. A new collaboration among River Music Experience, WVIK, Family Resources and the Whiskey Stop will host live music with performances by Murnau, Ross Clowser Trio, Mirabilia, Yung Flvy, BN WhoIam (featuring Crealot and K1ng Supr3m3), and Alyx Rush. “This is a partnership that will help create a community vision where we are all able to thrive in mutual respect, protection,... Read More

Carrie McGuire of Rock Island and her husband have two adult children (ages 26 and 24), but for the past three years, she’s spent many hours training and volunteering to help two foster families, serving six young children. McGuire is one of 19 Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a program coordinated by the Child Abuse Council, serving Rock Island County. CASA is a national organization that trains community volunteers to be a voice and advocate for children in foster care. Before four new volunteers recently started, the local CASA had 15 advocates serving 30 children, but there are... Read More

I’ve heard it said That people come into our lives for a reason Bringing something we must learn And we are led To those who help us most to grow If we let them And we help them in return Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true But I know I’m who I am today Because I knew you (“For Good,” from “Wicked,” by Stephen Schwartz) The relentless, long Covid pandemic was difficult enough for most people to endure, but it hit Geneseo’s Judy VanDeWoestyne especially hard. She lost the love of her life – her 66-year-old husband John – early on, March 25, 2020. Her... Read More

Saturday in the Arts is a weekly feature covering a trend, subject, event or personality of local interest. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for the best entertainment and arts coverage in the area, QuadCities.com! Celebrating the Fourth of July is more than barbecues, fireworks, flags and parades. It’s about honoring where America came from, where we are now, and how we can continue to form a more perfect union – together as one nation. That’s part of the invigorating, animating force of the first Civic Season – a national effort about expanding the lens, making space for more... Read More