Performing Art

Halloween is here, and it seems that theater practitioners have decided to produce more than the usual haunted-house fare this year. First, the Roxy Group has created an original show of its own, a musical revue titled Halloween Dreams that plays Friday-Sunday, Oct. 29-31, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The show, directed by […]

The community has lost another champion of the arts with the passing of Martha Jackson of Petersburg. Jackson and her partner, Linda Nordeman, owned the City Arts Venue art gallery, a space dedicated to new artists and their work, downtown on South Sixth Street. The first time I met Marty, she asked, “Why don’t you […]

The Springfield Theatre Centre’s current production Sunday in the Park with George is a show not to be missed — in fact, I recommend that you see it more than once. I have never witnessed such a prolonged audience ovation at the end of a first act as I saw last week. When the auditorium […]

One can take the pulse of a community’s theater scene by counting the number of new or little-known shows that are produced. It’s always a risk to stage something new because, more than likely, the audiences will be small. But theater patrons who are willing to try something new are also an appreciative lot, and […]

The fall theater season is fast approaching, and many new and exciting shows are scheduled in the Springfield area. Let’s start with a brand new show. Jacksonville Theatre Guild and Allegro Productions present 63, an original musical, at the Sophie Leschin Theatre (Sept. 10-12, 17-19). Mike Savage’s show centers around the lives of two best […]

It’s always good news when a theater introduces a new show, especially during the summertime when a typical line-up consists of the tried-and-true. And it looks like Theatre in the Park’s decision to stage a little-known show like The Spitfire Grill has not deterred audiences from making the short trek to New Salem. The Spitfire […]

Opening this weekend at Theatre in the Park, New Salem’s outdoor amphitheater, is the drama Your Obedient Servant, A. Lincoln. The return of the John Ahart play, which ran for many summers at New Salem, has been a long time coming. Ahart gave producers Pat and Kari Anderson and Dave and Shelly Flickinger the rights […]

Springfield stages are busy these days, with more new and experimental works being staged here than in most communities of comparable size. Here are just a few of the new shows being hatched locally: This weekend, Springfield Theatre Centre’s production of Holes continues, with a large-cast production headed by young Sam Germann and a near-professional-quality […]

The new Center for the Arts is showcasing the talents of its tenants with a gala on Saturday, May 1. Titled “Beyond Our Dream,” the fundraiser and celebration features performances running simultaneously on all three floors of the building, including two hour-long concert performances of Les Misérables on the Mainstage at 8 and 10 p.m. […]