Pleasant Valley theater alum Laura Schutter always wanted to be Broadway star Rebecca Luker. After all, they both had clear, shining soprano singing voices, unpretentious warmth and profound decency. Schutter realized her dream over 10 years ago, as she understudied for Luker as Mrs. Banks in her Tony-nominated role in the musical “Mary Poppins,” and […]
One of my favorite Christmas presents was not something you can hold in your hand – but sometimes those are the best kind. It was an online musical revue – Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse’s “Home for the Holidays,” an outstanding, heartwarming and utterly charming one-hour variety show with a cast of more than 30 students […]
Saturday In The Arts is a comprehensive weekly feature looking at a trend, personality, or major subject involving the Quad-Cities arts and entertainment scene. Making it through nearly five months of a paralyzing pandemic was bad enough, but for those of us in Iowa and the Quad-Cities, Aug. 10, 2020 and the days that followed […]
John Taylor of Cambridge, Ill. – a local cultural guru behind Heartland Connections, the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series and the Ca d’Zan concert series – has been a busy Christmas elf the past couple weeks. He has helped produce several holiday videos featuring area musicians. A “Spreading Holiday Cheer” video from Heartland Connections is […]
Melita Tunnicliff opened an e-mail sent by an old friend Wednesday at work, not exactly sure what its attached video contained. When she watched a heartfelt, personalized video from the legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, wishing her family a merry Christmas and happy 2021, she could hardly believe it. Tunnicliff screamed with joy at her […]
Public education and religious freedom have long been big issues, up to the present day. And the latest documentary from Moline-based Fourth Wall Films explores a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case relating to the Amish community. “The Amish Incident: Wisconsin vs. Yoder,” produced by award-winning and Mid-America Emmy-nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle, will be […]
A cool quarter-million dollars sure sounds like a nice Christmas present. Katie Wilson and her team at Davenport-based TapOnIt, a messaging technology company, are certainly celebrating the hard-won gift. The five-and-a-half-year-old firm – which Wilson founded with her sister Sara Castillo — was recently awarded a $250,000 Innovation Acceleration Propel fund award by the Iowa […]
The new Raccoon Motel bar and live-music venue plans to open St. Patrick’s Day 2021 at the old Abernathy’s in downtown Davenport, with live music starting in early summer, one of its partners said Wednesday. John McDermott, a Quad-Cities commercial lender who’s friends with original Raccoon Motel music booker Sean Moeller, is partnering with Moeller […]
Eleven cultural organizations and three artists in the Quad-Cities were among those to receive a share of $7 million in new grants announced Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. A total of 267 cultural organizations and 152 artists serving 118 Iowa communities will get funding, made possible by the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and […]
They say “hindsight is 20/20.” Well, most of us would like to put 2020 in the rear view mirror, but the Figge Art Museum wants you to reflect a bit before you do. The landmark facility at 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport, is highlighting this crazy year in a new exhibition opening on Wednesday, Dec. […]
