The short plays that make up The Bully Plays have all the subtlety of a punch to the gut. In the Theatre Cedar Rapids Grandon Studio under the direction of Amanda Mayfield, a cast of 10 young people and five adults present 12 of the 24 texts compiled and edited by Linda Habjan.
Rob Cline
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Film based on Merritt’s play ‘The Summerland Project’ to premiere in CR on August 4
Rob Merritt, well known throughout the region’s arts, journalism and nonprofit sectors, established himself as a playwright in 2011 when The Summerland Project premiered as part of Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Underground New Play Festival. The play, about a woman whose consciousness is transferred to a robotic replica of her body, was so well received that […]
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Review: Orchestra Iowa brings gusto and grace to John Williams’ beloved film scores
When I spoke with Maestro Timothy Hankewich a few days ahead of Orchestra Iowa’s presentation “John Williams: A Night at the Movies,” he was insistent about one thing. The audience should come to the Paramount Theatre in costume. So Saturday night, I donned a Superman t-shirt and grabbed my reviewing notebook and a pen. With […]
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Czech Village Blues will bring two nonprofits together for concert, fundraising
Area blues fans have had the blues since the final Bluesmore event in 2015. The Linn County Blues Society had a two decade run with their annual daylong event on the lawn of the Brucemore mansion in Cedar Rapids, but for the last couple of years the enthusiastic fans of the music have had to do without. A new collaboration between the Linn County Blues Society and the Friends of Czech Village will give the event new life in a new home under a new name.
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SHEL satisfies with strong sets at CSPS
No one needs to encourage the members of SHEL to come out of their shells. Legion Arts presented the band at CSPS in Cedar Rapids’ New Bo District on Saturday night (May 13), and SHEL pleased the crowd with two sets of music and funny, if sometimes awkward, banter.
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‘Word to Your Mother’ – Giving Tree Theater offers storytime to celebrate moms this weekend
Sunday is Mother’s Day, and this weekend you can catch two events devoted to stories about moms and motherhood.
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Lindwall, Stewart take flight as Peter and Wendy in Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Peter Pan
The fairy dust does its job in the Theatre Cedar Rapids production of the musical version of ‘Peter Pan.’ Under the direction of Leslie Charipar, with musical direction by Benjamin Lee Schmidt, and choreography by Alvon Reed, the cast takes flight for a fun-filled romp in Neverland. My soon-to-be 12-year-old daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed the May 6 performance.
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Colorblind Comics: Award-winning Yang makes art of ‘outsiders’
Gene Luen Yang remembers the first comic he ever bought: DC Comics Presents #57 Superman & the Atomic Knights. “That comic book blew my mind,” Yang said in a phone interview. “Pretty soon after buying that comic, I was making comics of my own.” [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Yang was in fifth grade at the time, and he […]
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The convenient comics of Thomas Hotka
Thomas Hotka didn’t have a grand plan in mind when he began publishing Nextuus: The Search for the Ocean Shard as a web comic. “I just got the idea to do it that way,” Hotka said. “And it’s free to post online.” That makes the whole endeavor sound rather casual, but the truth is Hotka […]
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Hiawatha artist Blair Gauntt returns to visual roots with new book ‘George Orwell and His Magic Penguin’
Blair Gauntt and his longtime friend and collaborator Rich Dana were leading a hands-on zine making workshop at the 2015 edition of ICON — the long-running Iowa science fiction convention — when Gauntt picked up a ballpoint pen and started drawing. “I realized at that point I hadn’t drawn — I hadn’t made lines with […]
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Colorblind Comics: Violet Austerlitz reflects on early influences of ‘The Satanic Mechanic’
The world of Violet Austerlitz’s self-published comic The Satanic Mechanic first appeared in a short story. “The very, very early origins came from a little piece I wrote that was published in Little Village,” Austerlitz said in an interview in an Iowa City coffee shop. The piece, “What Happened to Violet Kubicek,” was published in […]
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Colorblind comics: Iowa’s Phil Hester takes on science, mythology, and world religion in ‘Mythic’
Phil Hester is arguably the most prominent Iowan in comics. Hester has written and drawn a wide array of titles since breaking into comics while still a student at the University of Iowa. His credits include acclaimed runs as the artist for Green Arrow with writers Kevin Smith and Brad Meltzer. Hester’s current project is […]
