Best of the CRANDIC 2021: Arts & Entertainment

““The genius of the Purdies, expressed throughout their career, is their unflinching commitment to beauty through collaboration. They achieve greatness by inviting others to share in it. … The album is resolutely uplifting. There are songs of empowered celebration, and the joy of being alive erupts and sparkles consistently throughout the whole. To hear this album and to really listen gives a lesson in how to be a better human in each facet of life.”

(From “Album Review: Awful Purdies —‘The Great Unraveling’” by Daniel Boscaljon, published Jan. 22)

““As a longtime volunteer usher, I regularly witness the thrill of anticipation on the face of ticket holders as they enter the theater.”

— John B.

““Have you seen that marquee?”

— Mac C.

““He is always an amazing performer, but to see his first performance since the pandemic (and the first of a monster country-wide tour) was truly inspirational.”

— Paula M.

““Minari sets the stage for the first arc of FilmScene’s summer programming: critical darlings with cultural weight, somewhat headier than the usual late-night outdoor summer fare. … It’s the FilmScene “art house” experience, with only the location shifted — a testament to the way the pandemic has caused us to rethink our cultural institutions and how we engage with both art and entertainment.”

(From the article “FilmScene kicks off new outdoor movie series on April 24 with ‘Minari’” by Genevieve Trainor, published April 7)

““I heard a book reading of We Heard it When We Were Young and I was struck by the authenticity of Chuy’s voice. An Iowan giving a voice to so many other ‘invisible’ Iowans.”

—Sonatina F.

““For a Latina woman who grew up in a town being a minority, his stories are relatable.”

—Elsa D.

““Have you read his stuff? It’s great! He tells a tale like a true storyteller, but it’s based on real experiences. Chuy’s sentences are filled with the most beguiling adjectives and adverbs to create a setting that just opens a door to an entirely different perspective of small-town Iowa!”

—Deborah W.

““No one is more homegrown than Chuy. Not only is he a fantastic up-and-coming author, he is deeply invested in our community and the community he grew up in, West Liberty.”

—Steph C.

““They have swag.”

—John G.

““Wonderful array of programs including the classic and the new. Free Shakespeare is wonderful.”

—Weijing W.

““Their new location is really nice, but their commitment to safety during the pandemic by moving certain showings to Zoom was really important to making things feel a little more normal.”

—Noah S.

““Not only is his work amazing, he is always helping young artists find their way into the world of poetry.”

—Travis J.

““Default station on the car radio. A perfect soundtrack to whatever Iowa City has to offer on those mean streets.”

—Paula M.

““Production designer S. Benjamin Farrar created an astounding virtual waste for the characters to inhabit. It is not an attempt at verisimilitude; it is instead a masterful use of video to recreate the tension and imperfection of stage design. … [Director Adam] Knight has pulled off a coup in reframing the way we all will conceive of theater in our community going forward. There is hope for the future in Sonnets for an Old Century, and there is hope for our future in Riverside’s production of it. This is the work of a company on the cusp of something new.”

(From the article “Riverside dives deep and resurfaces with ‘Sonnets for an Old Century’” by Genevieve Trainor, published April 20)