After being established more than three and a half years ago, the Quad Cities Film Office has been working quietly behind the scenes to help attract more film and TV production to the region. “Over the past months, our focus has been on strengthening marketing and infrastructure, increasing visibility for the Quad Cities, building relationships […]
If you build it, will they come? That famous catchphrase from the classic 1989 Iowa film “Field of Dreams” applies to the planned $12-million film production facility to be built on Rock Island’s 5th Avenue, between 20th and 22nd streets, called Rock Line Studios. That project – including two soundstages totaling 35,000 square feet of […]
You are pretty much guaranteed of a good time with the winning new production of “9 to 5: The Musical,” at Spotlight Theatre, 1800 7th Ave., Moline. Directed by Becca Casad and starring Katie Griswold in the role immortalized by Dolly Parton in the 1980 film of the same name, we are in very capable […]
Katie Griswold and Becca Casad have seen their theatrical careers gleefully intertwine since their days at Rock Island’s Augustana College, which included performing together in the colorful, exuberant “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” on campus in 2019. They have succeeded in QC theater by really trying, including an Augie reunion at Black […]
The Putnam Museum and Science Center (1717 W. 12th St., Davenport) will hold the grand opening of the Family Discovery Center, a brand-new early‑learning environment designed especially for young explorers and the families and educators who support them, on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, from 1 to 3 p.m., in an afternoon of exploration, connection, and […]
It was extremely gratifying to see a nearly sold-out crowd Saturday, Jan. 31 in the 60-seat Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline for an exciting event – the world premiere of “What Might Have Been,” a trio of brand-new, emotional, engrossing one-act plays by prolific local playwright Alexander Richardson. These heart-wrenching stories explore the roads […]
It’s hard not to like “Lucky Stiff,” the fun, fizzy musical farce now playing at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island, in its Quad Cities premiere. In dark, depressing, heavy times like this (in an Arctic winter), this 1988 show by acclaimed Broadway veterans Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” “Anastasia,” “Once on This Island” […]
Barely There Theatre invites audiences to step into a world of possibility with “What Might Have Been,” a trio of brand-new one-act plays making their world premiere in the Quad Cities. Written by prolific local playwright Alexander Richardson, these stories explore the roads not taken: the choices, chances, and curiosities that shape our lives. The […]
“Lucky Stiff,” the show opening this weekend and running through March 7 at Rock Island’s Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, is new to area stages, but it’s not new to one cast member. Megan Mistretta did the show in summer 2024 (in a different part) at the Maples Repertory Theatre in Macon, Mo. “It’s really a […]
The list of comic musical murder mysteries is not long, and Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island, features one in its latest production, a Quad Cities premiere. Friday night is the opening of what’s billed as the “delightful song-and-dance slapstick,” “Lucky Stiff,” playing through March 7. Penned by acclaimed Broadway veterans Lynn Ahrens and Stephen […]
