The Mockingbird on Main and Max Moline present the Quad Cities premiere of Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree. Directed by Mr. Moline and starring Ben Gougeon, a veteran actor of stage and screen who has recently relocated to the Quad Cities, An Oak Tree will be performed at The Mockingbird on Main in Davenport from November 26 – December 5, Inspired by Michael Craig-Martin’s 1974 conceptual work of art of the same name, An Oak Tree was first performed by author Tim Crouch at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival, where it took home the Herald Angel Award. It has subsequently played at theatres and festivals... Read More

The Rock Island Speakeasy’s latest incarnation of “Rocky Horror” to slink out of the lascivious basement of ill repute is an absolute must-see, a tongue in cheek, tongues in cheeks, ribald riot. Driven in particular by the wonderfully smarmy performance of narrator Doug “Dougie” Kutzli, the powerful and sexy belt of Kira Rangel as Janet, and the marvelously campy Anthony Hendricks as Frank N Furter, it’s an absolute blast, one of the most fun and funny “Rocky’s” I’ve ever seen — and I’ve seen quite a few. I’ve probably... Read More

For the second fully staged production at Mockingbird on Main, 320 N. Main St., Davenport, Q-C playwright Alexander Richardson has taken a sprawling 19th-century play by Henrik Ibsen, slimmed it down and modernized it. The 27-year-old East Moliner – who’s been writing plays for almost a decade – slashed the 1882 “An Enemy of the People” from five acts and 30 characters (stretched across three hours), to just five characters and one act, across about 80 minutes. In the story, a doctor realizes that the new expansion for his town’s factory is releasing toxins into the town’s... Read More

Downtown Davenport’s The Mockingbird On Main will continue their critically-acclaimed inaugural production – Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” tonight through August 7. What happened inside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis the night before the assassination of Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, JR. is a mystery. In “The Mountaintop,” Hall imagines what may have transpired in the overnight hours between the legendary civil rights leader and a seemingly inconsequential motel maid. Hours after King’s famed final speech, punctuated by the immortal line “I’ve been to... Read More

One of the absolute thrilling joys of theater is not only how it brings fictional characters to life, but illuminates the intimately human struggles and triumphs of well-known, real-life icons. The Quad-Cities premiere of “The Mountaintop” – an emotional, haunting reimagining of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last night on earth – is an extraordinary example. The 90-minute, two-person Katori Hall play debuted Thursday night at the new Mockingbird on Main, a beautiful, 40-seat cabaret at 320 N. Main St., Davenport, created by Tristan Tapscott and Savannah Bay Strandin. The mood before... 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! I close my eyes and I can see The world that’s waiting up for me That I call my own Through the dark, through the door Through where no one’s been before But it feels like home They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind I don’t care, I don’t care, so call me crazy We can live in a world that we... Read More