Witching Hour announces schedule, show tickets

Witching Hour festival, presented by the Englert Theatre and Little Village and now in its fourth year, announced schedule details today. With them, tickets to many individual shows on the schedule go on sale. As always, all events at the Iowa City Public Library will be free and open to the public.

One exciting new feature is that shows and events that don’t have a set ticket price will no longer be exclusive to pass holders. A boon to those with limited time, if there’s an event you want to attend that is not available for pre-sale, $10 at the door will get you in (presuming there’s space).

Friday night highlights include Puddles Pity Party, the Englert show on the festival’s first night. The performance from the Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox favorite and America’s Got Talent semi-finalist starts at 8:30 p.m.; tickets are $25 in advance/$30 at the door.

Also on Friday, Witching Hour collaborates with SCOPE productions to present Buffalo, New York singer-songwriter Julie Byrne at The Mill. Byrne’s 2017 sophomore album, Not Even Happiness, a sweet modern folk delight that showcases her dreamspun voice, landed on numerous Best of 2017 lists, ranking highest at 9, on Spin’s. Tickets for that 9:30 p.m. show are $10 in advance/$12 at the door.

Here Lies Man plays Gabe’s on Friday night, with a show starting at 9 p.m. and featuring local openers Commanders and Younger. Tickets are $10 in advance/$12 at the door. And late night Friday, an after-hours jazz jam hosted by University of Iowa professor and saxophonist Damani Phillips kicks off at 11 p.m. at The Mill (no advance tickets, but if that’s the one show you want to catch, $10 gets you in!).

Saturday kicks off with a string of workshops and presentations. Tickets can be purchased in advance for just one: Existing in This Economy, a workshop with Shawn Sebastian, co-director of the Fed Up Campaign and an attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy. Advance tickets are $10, or you can pay what you will at the door, for this workshop only.

New York-based comedian Liza Treyger will perform at the Englert on Saturday night. The 9:30 p.m. show is $15 in advance/$20 at the door. Treyger’s album, Glittercheese, came out in 2015, and she’s appeared on Comedy Central, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Chelsea Lately and other shows. Opening for Treyger will be Janelle James, a crowd favorite at The Mill for her set during Mission Creek 2017.

Jazz trumpeter Jaimie Branch closes out the festival on Saturday night, with an 11:30 p.m. show at The Mill. Tickets for the Brooklyn-based composer and performer are $10 in advance/$12 at the door.

A full schedule listing and links for purchasing both individual tickets and festival passes ($55 two-day, $20 student two-day and $20 single day) are available at the Witching Hour website.