“History repeats itself — that’s one of the things wrong with history,” Clarence Darrow once said. Darrow, who died in 1938 at age 80, understood history, or at least how to make it. The most famous trial lawyer of his era, he mounted eloquent and ingenious defenses for the accused in some of the biggest […]
theater
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Review: The Des Moines Playhouse serves ‘Waitress’ with the right mix of sweet and savory
Waitress at the Des Moines Playhouse tells you exactly what’s inside the show in its first 15 seconds: “Sugar … Butter … Flour.” A delicious pie will typically have the same base ingredients as a so-so slice — the difference comes down to additions, assembly and the aptitude of the chef. Similarly, Waitress, on paper, […]
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Review: A fence between neighbors sparks polite, passive aggressive chaos in Riverside’s timely ‘Native Gardens’
Native Gardens opens to the strains of “Las Casitas del Barrio Alto” by Victor Jara. Keen-eared listeners will recognize the melody of Malvina Reynolds’ “Little Boxes” and while the Spanish iteration was written to critique socioeconomic disparities in Chile, it contains the same critique of upper middle class posturing as it’s sister song.
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Review: A fading celebrity challenges a criminal president in ICCT’s finely tuned ‘Frost/Nixon’
Iowa City Community Theater (ICCT) premiered its production of Frost/Nixon on Friday night at The James Theater. The play by Peter Morgan – a British playwright probably best-known to Americans as the creator of The Crown – was first staged in London in 2006.
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Form follows function: Creating new theater works in COVID-times
The theater community in eastern Iowa is antsy. In the five months since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered stages across the country, theater artists here — a region that boasts multiple professional theaters, countless community theaters and new eager startups laying claim to their own vibe at a rate of at least one or two a […]
