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! What if you got a call one day from a stranger saying that you won half a million dollars? Not from a lottery, but in honor of your amazing career, and the money (paid out over five years) carried no strings in how it could be spent? Since 1981, 942 people (ranging in age from 18 to 82) have been named MacArthur Fellows – with so-called “genius grants” from the John... Read More

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 is among legions of theater fans mourning Luker’s death Dec. 23 at 59 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. “She was always a professional, a loving and compassionate woman. Such a talent, such a voice,” Schutter... Read More

(Editor’s note: QuadCities.com is proud to publish this guest editorial by Tony-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl, whose parents grew up in Davenport. Ahead of the Nov. 3 election, former vice president Joe Biden will visit Iowa Friday, though further details were not yet available. According to his campaign, he plans to discuss “bringing Americans together to address the crises facing the country and win the battle for the soul of the nation.” It will be his first in-person trip to Iowa during the general election. He last campaigned here ahead of Iowa’s Democratic caucuses in... Read More