From left: Sean Christopher Lewis as Lee and Tim Budd as Austin in True West at Riverside Theatre, Sept. 7-30. Photo by Bob Goodfellow.
Each week the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance and Hoopla team up to bring you some hidden gems in terms of arts and culture events happening in Eastern Iowa. Check them out.
Tour one of the most historic Cedar Rapids neighborhoods! The Carl and Mary Koehler History Center invites you to join them for the Cedar Rapids Moundview Neighborhood Walking Tour on Thursday, September 6. Tour starts at 6:00 p.m. at Imago Christi Church (1700 B Ave NE) and will last approximately 75 minutes. Learn about the historic Moundview Neighborhood in this informative and fun tour by Mark Stoffer Hunter. See where Grant Wood lived as a child and where many of the pillars of the Cedar Rapids community called home. For reservations call 319.362.1501 ext. 11.
The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) invites you to party for art at the next First Friday reception on September 7, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at hotelVetro! For $5, indulge in hors d’oeuvres and drink specials from the Formosa bar, enjoy live music by the Steve Grismore Trio, and meet a local artist. Eliezer (Ely) Antonio Sotillo Rodriguez, the mastermind behind “Solidarity,” the new mural adorning the north wall of the Dubuque St. parking ramp (adjacent to hotelVetro), will be informally discussing his work. A special movie documenting the 5-story mural’s progress will also be on display.
Riverside Theatre, Iowa City’s resident professional theatre, opens its 2012-2013 Season on Friday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. with the explosive and acidly comical True West by Sam Shepard, directed by Ron Clark. True West is about two brothers with a score to settle. Austin, an ambitious Hollywood screenwriter working on a potential million-dollar movie project and Lee, a desert drifter and a thief with a compulsion for six-packs and toasters, are reunited at their mother’s home while she is away and a struggle for dominance ensues. True West is considered to be a modern American classic and Shepard is revered as one of the greatest living playwrights of our time. Tickets for shows, September 7 – September 30, are $15-$28 with discounts available for those over 60, those under 30, and youth. $15 students rush tickets are available on a first come first served basis 20 minutes before curtain.
City Circle Acting Company presents Michael Frayn’s sidesplitting farce, Noises Off! The play takes a fond look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure. This comedy-within-a-comedy captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance toward the end of the run. Each performance is portrayed from behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance. Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises Off is a backstage farce of slamming doors, falling trousers and flying sardines! Shows are September 7-9 & 14-16 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $22-27/Adults; $17/Students and Seniors.
The Coralville Lake, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presents the annual Pelican Festival on Sunday, September 9, from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Pelicans are not just found along the ocean shores. Every year, thousands of pelicans make their way through Iowa. The perfect place for these huge birds to catch fish and rest their giant wings is Coralville Lake’s Hawkeye Wildlife Area. The festival is a great opportunity to view and learn more about these amazing birds. This fun, family event is at DNR’s Hawkeye Wildlife Area, 2564 Amana Road, on the NW side of Coralville Lake. Volunteers with spotting scopes will be available at lakeside to help visitors view pelicans and provide pelican facts. At least 18 groups and organizations will have booths or displays, and Boy Scout Troop 218 will be serving food and refreshments. Six presentations will cover topics about pelicans, getting started in birdwatching, the MacBride Raptor Center, bird banding, Purple Martins & Chimney Swifts, and safety for kids. Event is free and open to the public.
