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

Artists in Conversation is a weekly column running Wednesdays on QuadCities.com. It features a conversation with a local creator or creators going into their artistic process, projects and more. Get to know your local arts scene and local creators better on QuadCities.com with Artists In Conversation! If you’re a local creator and would like to be featured, please email us at Sean@QuadCities.com or Tristan@QuadCities.com! You’ve no doubt heard the names Christina Myatt and Olivia Lyman and this weekend they are on stage together for the first time in Quad City Music Guild’s MAMMA MIA! Mamma... 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

BEEHIVE The ’60s Musical is buzzing in to Rock Island‘s Circa ’21 through July 10! A fun, frothy flashback to the fabulous females who unmistakably left their mark on ’60s pop music. Matching big voices with big hairdos, Beehive features nonstop hits from early decade bubble gum classics to the explosive late ‘60s soul sound. Paying tribute to performers such as Brenda Lee, The Supremes, Connie Francis, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin, this irresistible revue will fly you back in time to experience firsthand the music that thrilled a generation. Come rock out with “Respect,”... 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

QUAD-CITY MUSIC GUILD PRESENTS Mamma Mia! July 9-10-11 & 15-16-17-18. Shows are Thur-Fri-Sat at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Prospect Park Auditorium, Moline. Tickets are Adult $16 / Child $11; call 309-762-6610 or visit qcmusicguild.com for reservations now! 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. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago.... Read More

The Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline will open the dramedy “I and You” by Laura Gunderson – an area premiere — on Thursday, July 15. The plot: One afternoon, Anthony (Michael Alexander) arrives unexpectedly at classmate Caroline’s (Adrienne Jane) door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, an urgent assignment from their high-school English teacher. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months, but she is as quick and sardonic as Anthony is athletic, sensitive, and popular. As these two let down their guards and share... Read More

Artists in Conversation is a weekly column running Wednesdays on QuadCities.com. It features a conversation with a local creator or creators going into their artistic process, projects and more. Get to know your local arts scene and local creators better on QuadCities.com with Artists In Conversation! If you’re a local creator and would like to be featured, please email us at Sean@QuadCities.com or Tristan@QuadCities.com! Jack Bevans is making audiences laugh nightly in Countryside’s production of The Music Man! Who is this rising star? Let’s find out! Who is Jack Bevans? Hello, I’m Jack... Read More

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, 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... Read More