Described by the Chicago Tribune as “sincere, rich, heartfelt, and an ideal gift for anybody who loves these numbers and the women who made them linger,” the bio-musical Always … Patsy Cline enjoys a June 3 through 13 run as the first new Clinton Area Showboat Theatre production since 2019 – a loving salute to the beloved performer and her collection of iconic hits that includes “Crazy,” “I Fall to Pieces,” Back in Baby's Arms,” “Walkin' After Midnight,” and “Sweet Dreams.”

Staging its first full Broadway musical in more than a year, Moline's Spotlight Theatre will house a can't-miss crowd-pleaser from June 4 through 13 in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the Tony Award-winning reunion for Charles M. Schulz's beloved Peanuts characters that the New York Times called “a miracle,” adding that “almost everything works, because almost everything is effortless.”

Returning to the presentation of live theatre for the first time since March of 2020, Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre is proud to host the world premiere of a new drama in the organization's popular Barn Owl Series: Princeton's Rage, which, during its June 4 through 13 run, will address the lingering damage of sexual assault through a script by local playwright and area performer Don Faust.

If life is making you lonely, you can always go downtown to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse and experience their latest offering Beehive: The '60s Musical. Director/choreographer Shelley Cooper and her gang of six ladies will take you on a musical journey through the decade that is chock-full of your classic favorites. This fun night of familiar tunes is exactly the answer – it’s a gas!

Described by Broadway World as “a musical so jam-packed with hits that it's almost overwhelming,” the toe-tapping, soul-lifting revue Beehive: The '60s Musical enjoys a late-spring/early-summer run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this infectiously entertaining salute to female pop, rock, and soul singers lauded by DC Metro Theater Arts as “a big-hearted, well-accomplished, utterly tuneful joy.”

Some of the most memorable and beloved tunes from the worlds of theatre and movies will receive delightful virtual interpretations from May 21 through May 23, with the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts presenting the original musical revue The Show Must Go Online, a student-performed collection of hits from students of the venue's theatre program Young Footliters.

Winner of the Obie Award for Best Play and named “The Best of Theatre in 1996” by Time magazine, the darkly comic historical drama One Flea Spare will enjoy live public performances at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center May 6 through 9, author Naomi Wallace's critically acclaimed work described by The Guardian as “a tough and transcendent piece of proper grown-up theatre.”

One of William Shakespeare's most delightful yet biting romantic comedies enjoys a springtime outdoor production when students of Carl Sandburg College, from May 7 through 9, present the Bard's Love's Labour's Lost, a much-adored stage work that has also been adapted as an opera, a radio play, and a Kenneth Branagh movie musical.

A series of short stage pieces that, according to Dramatists Play Service, “taps in to the delights and frustrations of staying connected,” Scott Community College's springtime production Technical Difficulties: Plays for Online Theatre will be available for streaming May 7 through 9, delivering a sextet of captivating works on the pleasures and perils of communication in the 21st century.

In the longstanding tradition of “show, don't tell,” a story needs a setting or theme to carry it. Star Trek wasn't really about space; Field of Dreams wasn't really about baseball. Stories are about people, memories, and emotions. And although the actors now performing at the Black Box Theatre talk for 90 minutes about pantsuits, gowns, and boots, Love, Loss, & What I Wore isn't really about clothing.

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