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

Playcrafters Barn Theatre’s first production in 15 months, the new drama “Princeton’s Rage,” is deeply personal for both its Quad-Cities playwright and director. In the Don Faust play (rated R for language and adult content), Princeton Yale left his hometown of Chicago over 30 years ago, turning his back on an abusive past at the hands of his high school classmates and never looking back. But through a series of happenstances, Princeton’s past comes to pay him a visit, in the form of one of his former tormentors, Reece “Rage” Johnson, and more than just talk about “the... Read More

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

Are you a local performer, theatrical actor, theater, or arts organization? We’re looking to provide you a virtual stage on the QuadCities.com site and social media! With covid rampaging, we know it’s a crazy time and we want to showcase your organization. No one can come to you but that doesn’t mean you can’t come to them. Along those lines, we’re producing a Virtual Cabaret called The Show Must Go On(line) and we want you to be part of it! The “live” event will air on our Facebook page on Friday, August 14 at 7 p.m. Submissions are due Friday, August 7 by 7 p.m. Use WeTransfer... 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

Relatively few Quad-Cities artists and arts organizations have received Covid-19 relief funding from Iowa or Illinois, and both states are proceeding in their next round of grant awards. Illinois Humanities recently gave out 24 emergency relief grants (of $2,500 each) – including the Rock Island-based Midwest Writing Center and Bishop Hill Heritage Association. These general operating (non-project) grants aim to help smaller humanities organizations throughout Illinois to weather the current pandemic. “Especially in this moment of duress, Illinois Humanities is proud to support not-for-profit... Read More

There’s a moment in Richmond Hill’s “Dearly Beloved” where you get Heidi Pedersen, Valeree Pieper AND Diane Greenwood on stage sparring and spewing some southern “hospitality” and for a moment you forget you are watching three local theatre icons and instead feel as if you are accidentally witnessing a real family feud.  Ultimately, that’s the goal of theatre: “to pretend with authority,” as actor Willem Dafoe says, and in most productions – amateur and professional – that is fleeting and is not a notion played on repeat. Lucky for Richmond Hill and Director John VanDeWoestyne,... Read More

Whenever a Saturday Night Live cast sketch gets adapted into a full length movie, seldom is it the case where a critic doesn’t make the remark “what was a successful fifteen minute sketch ran thin in this 2 hour movie.” In-Laws, Outlaws, and Other People That Should Be Shot played like a fifteen minute Saturday Night Live sketch that got stretched into a two hour play. And it worked. It was brilliant. The premise; the Douglas family is celebrating Christmas. The dad, Tom (Don Faust) has to run around finishing the whole meal while awaiting his wife’s return from Vermont. His feisty emo... Read More