The Des Moines Symphony offered classical music enthusiasts an ideal date night on Valentine’s weekend with Love–Romeo & Juliet, the aptly titled fourth installment of their Masterworks Series. The baton was wielded by guest conductor, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who led a nuanced program of European masterpieces. Harth-Bedoya’s rapport with the ensemble was remarkable considering this is […]
Shakespeare
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Riverside serves ‘Romeo & Juliet’ straight up for their 40th Free Summer Shakespeare show
The mini Globe Theatre in Iowa City’s Lower City Park reopened grander than ever on Friday, July 13 for the premiere of Riverside’s 40th Free Shakespeare show and 25th season on the festival stage.
Posted inEastern Iowa
Theater Review: ‘Macbeth’ from Iowa City’s Willow Creek Theatre Company
What brings people back to the work of a 459-year-old playwright? Shakespeare’s legitimacy and relevance make for frequent debate among theater makers and audiences, evidenced by course catalogs and panel titles all over the world. This weekend, Willow Creek Theatre Company’s production of Macbeth, directed by Luke Alexander Brooks, focuses on Shakespeare’s powers as a […]
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‘Twelfth Night'(s): Two Iowa companies stage Shakespeare’s gender-bending rom-com as First Folio turns 400
It’s been 400 years since William Shakespeare’s First Folio was published. Released in 1623, the First Folio collected 36 of Shakespeare’s plays under the title Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies. Because of this collection, upward of a dozen plays that may have been lost to history were able to live on, including Twelfth […]
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The once and future king: Riverside Theatre’s Katy Hahn on embodying Henry V and gender-bending Shakespeare
In Riverside Theatre’s upcoming return to Lower City Park (June 17-July 3, free), I will revisit a role I played first in 2019: Henry Plantagenet, who will have graduated from Prince of Wales (Henry IV Part 1) to King of England (Henry V), a position he held from 1413-1422. Unlike last time, this summer I […]
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Riverside Theatre dives into Shakespeare’s sonnets (all 154 of them) for National Poetry Month
In April, in the month of poetry A theater raises praises to a bard The offering a simple symmetry Disarming to the ardent avant-garde Since 1996, the U.S. has recognized April as National Poetry Month, a celebration organized by the Academy of American Poets. Here in the first U.S. UNESCO City of Literature, that certainly […]
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You should see her in a crown: Katy Hahn leads Riverside Theatre’s ‘Henry IV, Part I’
In Iowa, there is a small, but growing, community of artists who have no “day job.” It’s into this mad amalgam of a gig economy that theater artist Katy Hahn found herself thrust several years ago. “A question that people ask me a lot is, how do I do it? I say, don’t try to take the same path!”
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Victims of war: Riverside’s Theatre in the Park production of ‘Macbeth’
Riverside Theatre in the Park opens its new season with a sparse treatment of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Directed by artistic director Sean Christopher Lewis, Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy is further abridged to give more voice on and focus on the victims of historic and contemporary warfare.
Posted inCommunity/News
Shakespeare’s First Folio to showcase at University of Iowa Main Library this fall
Shakespeare: You’ve probably heard of him. You most likely had to read his work in high school or college. You’ve doubtless seen a film, or live performance, or modern adaptation, of one of his famous plays. If I told you he was the be-all and end-all of English literature, and sent you on a wild […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Centuries-old Shakespeare compilation coming to Iowa City in 2016
Published by Shakespeare’s colleagues in 1623 — seven years after the iconic playwright’s death — First Folio represents the first collected edition…
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Shakespeare with a modern twist: Fourth Room Theatre takes on ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Ever since Joss Whedon’s 2012 film-version of Much Ado About Nothing, theatre groups across the country have jumped at the chance to stage this…
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The Stage: Riverside Theatre in the Park returns to its outdoor festival stage
Riverside Theatre in the Park (RTP) is making a triumphant return to its outdoor festival stage after last year’s flooding forced productions to move to West High …
