With author Steve Yockey's work hailed by LA Weekly as a "series of haunted tales ... strung together with expert eeriness," the creepy vignettes of Very Still & Hard to See enjoy an April 23 through 26 staging at Bettendorf's Scott Community College, Stage Scene LA adding that Yockey's presentation is "the theatrical equivalent of Disneyland’s Space Mountain: i.e. equal parts excitement, terror, and glee."

With the solo show by former Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander described by The News' Cheryl Allen as "an artful mix of both seriousness and fun," Coop, a Story of An Amish Conscientious Objector enjoys a pair of area performances this spring, this little-known story of Mennonite men from Kalona, Iowa enjoying presentations at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on April 19 and Muscatine Community College on April 21.

Boasting unforgettable show tunes including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Rose's Turn," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "If Mama Was Married," and "Let Me Entertain You," the musical classic Gypsy enjoys an April 17 through 19 run at the Coralville Center for the Arts, this production of Iowa City Community Theatre featuring timeless music by Jule Styne, a trenchant book by Arthur Laurents, and wickedly smart lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

It’s no secret why The Secret Garden is beloved in theatre circles. Based on the classic 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the gorgeous 1991 musical has a book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon (late sister of Carly Simon).

With the Richmond Times-Dispatch insisting that while the title "might suggest another church lady play ... the charitable sisters are more like the women of Steel Magnolias, with a few unexpected twists," author Bo Wilson's The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church opens the 2026 season at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre with an area-debut April 16 through 26 run.

One of American theatre's most exciting, acclaimed, and tune-filled entertainments receives a Quad City Music Guild staging in the April 10 through 19 run of Cabaret, the legendary Kander & Ebb musical that earned a combined 12 Tony Awards for Broadway's 1966 original and 1998 revival, and that was adapted into a 1972 film classic that received eight Oscars including Best Actress for Liza Minnelli and Best Director for Bob Fosse.

With Riverside Theatre's producing artistic director Adam Knight raving that “Emily Bohannon’s writing is one of the real pleasures of theatre today,” the playwright's stage piece The Fiancé enjoys a world-premiere April 16 through May 3 run at the Iowa City venue, Knight adding that Bohannon’s work "sheds light on characters seldom seen onstage, driven by a search for meaning in a vastness beyond the confines of New York, or even America.”

Kitty: There’s something magical about experiencing theatre from a child’s perspective. Saturday’s audience was full of very eager young theatregoers who were clearly delighted by the show.

Mischa: It was especially interesting to see which moments they particularly reacted to.

Hailed by Broadway World as "an endearing and humanly sound story that we didn't realize we needed more than ever," playwright Jennifer Haley's Breadcrumbs enjoys an April 9 through 12 run at Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre.

Mischa: Together, these performers were unstoppable. Well … individually they were pretty unstoppable, too!

Kitty: I feel about this show kind of like I felt about Glee. I wasn’t in it for the plot, but I was hooked by the music.

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