Arts Features

Bullets Over Broadway The show is lively if not timely THEATER | Jamila Wicks The production of Bullets Over Broadway at The Legacy Theatre has a few enjoyable moments. However, it does not fully meet expectations in terms of providing “the best medicine for the times,” as the musical’s director, Chaz Wolcott, hopes. In his […]

Ahhh, the 80s. That transcendent, evolutionary time in our cultural history that ushered in mullets, mall bangs, day-glo, Lycra and Memorex. Sure, there were way more important things happening in the world at the time, but for those of us who were teenagers and too young to understand or care about anything else, we would […]

Terrence and Rebecca Powers Cranert recently relocated to Springfield from California, where they had raised a family and enjoyed successful careers. Terrence Cranert was chief trial attorney for Zurich Insurance in Los Angeles. And Rebecca Cranert held leadership positions in theater, education and business. Their shared dream was to create and produce their own musical […]

Welcome to summer outdoor theater. We always ask ourselves why we perform outdoors (with challenges of mosquitos, heat, rain). We all admit, though, there is a kind of extra magic that goes with it. Summer outdoor theater has always been a festive addition and has been around for decades. For years, the major summer fare […]

The Springfield Theatre Centre’s production of The Color Purple is an absolute musical delight. The cast and crew put their hearts and souls into bringing the story to life, and their passion and energy are contagious. You might even find yourself tapping your foot to the music. Nevertheless, The Color Purple puts generational trauma experienced […]

Stich ‘n Go is “a way to do what we love, have a purpose and bless so many other people,” says Marty Dahlquist who co-founded this Laurel United Methodist Church mission group with Barb Needham in 2017. What began as an informal gathering of eight women who love to sew has blossomed into a group […]

The Illinois State Museum is a fitting place to gather in honor of Earth Day with its displays of human and environmental history, its stories of habitat evolution and more recent, rapid disturbances. On April 20, the museum will open its doors and auditorium to representatives of the Illinois Audubon Society, Lincoln Memorial Garden, Springfield […]

A bit of personal history: A very long time ago, when I was an art major, one of my favorite painters (like so many others…art major or not) was Vincent van Gogh. He still is. His bombastic painting style, his poetic letters to his brother, his death at an early age, spoke to my young, […]

The Christians, the 2015 play by Lucas Hnath, opened at the Hoogland Center for the Arts March 24 and will be presented again this weekend. The play is suitable for all audiences and runs about 90 minutes with no intermission. Performances are in the Peggy Ryder Theatre on the third floor of the Hoogland. It […]

Phil Funkenbusch will be directing The Christians by Lucas Hnath at the Hoogland Center for the Arts starting Friday, March 24, and running two weekends: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The 2014 play by the Tony and Outer Critics Circle award-nominated playwright takes place in a modern megachurch and […]