Hosted by the Midwest Writing Center, the latest presentation in the Brown Bag Luncheon Discussion series finds area filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films speaking on “Writing for the Screen,” delivering a March 15 overview on writing for their documentary film projects and new narrative film Sons & Daughters of Thunder, based on a play by Earlene Hawley.

With their 2016 Little Seeds described by The Guardian as “reflective and exhuberant” and “an outstanding album,” married singer/songwriters Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst perform a March 17 Moeller Nights concert at Davenport's The Stardust, sharing the indie-folk talents that led Rolling Stone to praise the duo's “inimitable vocal harmonies” and combined ability “to find joy in unexpected places.”

After years of presenting theatrical productions only in the summer months, Eldridge's Countryside Community Theatre opens its 2018 season with a show for spring, with Tony-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz's biblical-musical smash Godspell enjoying a March 16 through 25 run at Princeton's Boll's Community Center.

Singer/songwriter Tinsley Ellis' January release Winning Hand was lauded by NoDepression.com for “combining soulful vocals with with an aggressive guitar attack acquired from a variety of raucous bluesmen and rockers,” and in the Restone Room's March 16 concert, audiences will sense why, according to Billboard, “nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta's Tinsley Ellis.”

Two of the most successful and enduring acts in the history of rock will share a local stage on the evening of St. Patrick Day, as Moline's TaxSlayer Center hosts a March 17 concert featuring co-headliners REO Speedwagon and Styx – rock-'n'-roll legends who will be joined by guitarist Don Felder of the equally iconic band The Eagles.

With their 2016 album Down in Heaven described by Pitchfork.com as “a casual, charmingly low-key set of kitchen-table blues, slow-dance serenades, and unplugged power pop,” the Chicago-based rockers of Twin Peaks perform a March 16 Moeller Nights concert at the Village Theatre, demonstrating why music site TheLineOfBestFit.com raved, “Twin Peaks have become not just one of the most exciting young bands in the Chicago music scene, but in the entire rock landscape.”

One of the most significant forces in gospel, pop, and Christian rock takes the Adler Theatre stage on March 16 when Michael W. Smith appears locally in his “Surrounded by a Million Lights World Tour,” sharing the talents that have made the artist an international sensation and recipient of an incredible 45 Dove Awards.

Described by RogerEbert.com as “a unique documentary spectacle” and the New York Times as “cooling to the mind and soothing to the spirit,” directors Marc J. Francis' and Max Pugh's Walk with Me will enjoy special Figge Art Museum screenings on March 15 and 24, giving viewers unique insight into the legacy of Buddhish monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanha man nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

An area jazz great and instructor at the University of Iowa will be the gifted headliner in the latest Polyrhythms Third Sunday Jazz Series concert at Davenport's Redstone Room – a March 18 evening with the Steve Grismore Trio featuring vocalist Grismore on guitar, Danny Oline on bass, Fabio Augustinis on drums, and standards and originals played in the styles of Keith Jarrett, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, and George Benson.

In the first exhibition by Augustana College faculty since 2014, Material Conversations – on display at the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art from March 10 through April 7 – will showcase works produced in a multitude of media and spanning various topics including life, identity, and the universe, perfectly underscoring the falsehood behind the phrase “those who can't do, teach.”

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