On Friday, Feb. 5, the Geneseo-based Richmond Hill Players announced it will temporarily suspend the 2021 season due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “We will continue to monitor the situation, and when it is safe to return to our theater, we will make a final determination on the 2021 season,” RHP president Jonathan Grafft posted on the theater’s Facebook page and website,  www.rhplayers.com. The theater – which began in 1968 in the top level of an old dairy barn – had scheduled “Becky’s New Car” for the first 2020 show that April, and canceled its entire 2020 season due to the... Read More

Richmond Hill Barn Theater has canceled the rest of their shows for the remainder of 2020. The Geneseo theater released the following statement just minutes ago: After careful deliberation, Richmond Hill Players regretfully announce the cancellation of the remaining shows of our 2020 season. With the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent upsurge in cases in many parts of the country, our board has chosen to exercise caution, since nothing is more important than the health and safety of our patrons, our volunteers, our performers, and, indeed, our community as a whole. Please... Read More

During this unprecedented, scary time of Covid-19, it seems apropos that the first indoor live theater in the Quad-Cities since the shutdown will be the spooky ghost story, “The Turn of the Screw,” next month at Moline’s Black Box Theatre. The 60-seat theater (1623 5th Ave.) will open at half capacity on July 16 and close the 19th. “It is a short run,” said director Lora Adams, “but the set was almost completed and the actors’ schedules have changed since March, so we are only able to do the four-day weekend.” Actor Matt Walsh and Kayla Jo Pulliam will bring the creepy tale to life... Read More

Richmond Hill Players auditions originally set for this weekend have been canceled due to covid-19 concerns, as previously reported on QuadCities.com. The theater put out a reminder post on Facebook Friday evening: Just to repeat: auditions originally scheduled this weekend (May 30 & 31) are canceled, along with our June, July, and August shows. A determination will be made in July with regard to October and November productions. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page or Richmond Hill Players website for updates. Meanwhile, stay safe and stay healthy!  Read More

T.S. Eliot had it all wrong. In “The Waste Land,” the poet wrote “April is the cruelest month.” Well, five days before we can kick it into the dustbin of history, it’s safe to say that dishonor now belongs to March. At least March 2020, which has seen one bone-crushing loss after another for many around the world, me especially. Just one of the latest is from our beloved Quad-Cities theater community – of which I’ve been honored to share as longtime arts reporter for the Dispatch/Argus (and later Quad City Times), as well as piano accompanist and occasional stage performer. The singular... Read More

Richmond Hill is throwing out a rogues gallery of oddballs to trim its tree in its latest show, “In Laws, Outlaws and Other People Who Should Be Shot,” which runs at the Barn Theater in Geneseo Dec. 1-11, with Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 and Sunday gigs  at 3 p.m. at 600 HK Robinson Drive, Geneseo. As for the plot, it’s 6:00 pm Christmas Eve and Tom Douglas and his daughter Beth are preparing for Christmas Eve Dinner at their home. A blizzard has detained Janet Douglas in Vermont. Family members begin to arrive and just as the family is getting ready to sit down to dinner they... Read More

I thought of The Notebook, Away From Her, and Still Alice while watching Flowers for Algernon at Richmond Hill Theatre. Directed by Dana Moss-Peterson, this production evoked memories of those three movies, all Directed by Dana Moss-Peterson, this production evoked memories of those three movies, all about Alzheimer’s patients and their respective spouses making the slow goodbye. Jonathan Grafft plays Charlie Gordon, a mentally challenged man of about 42 years age. He gets bullied at his job, in a bakery kitchen. But the meanness of the remarks sails over his head. He takes night classes. His... Read More

The classic show “The Fantasticks” will be performed Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Richmond Hill Barn Theater, Geneseo, Illinois. For tickets call (309) 944-2244 or click here to reserve online! “The Fantasticks” is a funny and romantic musical about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. The narrator, El Gallo, asks the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. The boy and the girl fall in love, grow apart, and finally find their way back to each other after realizing the truth in El Gallo’s... Read More