Performing Art

Summer theater is upon us and there’s quite an exciting list of possibilities for area theater-goers over the next three months. Theatre in the Park at New Salem outside Petersburg opens its season June 3 with Romeo and Juliet (in a co-production with Over the Moon Productions), running June 3-5 and 9-11.  The production features […]

What do an Olympic figure skater, your favorite musicals and the greatest family entertainment in the area have in common? If you’re thinking of the Ice Capades then you’re in for a seasonal, local treat. For all you figure skating lovers and skater wannabes, it’s that time of year again. Every spring Springfield’s own skating […]

Playwright Charlayne Woodard has something in common with her characters. Like Oh Beah, Mercy, Ezra, Alma, and Nate – the five slaves in Flight’s ensemble – Woodard is compelled to tell a story. To do so, she had to dig through her own life…twice. Woodard, who trained at Chicago’s Goodman School of Drama, is a […]

The new year has begun with some new titles on area stages and several more are coming up in the coming weeks. Seeing the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee recently (a Springfield Theatre Centre production at the Hoogland Center for the Arts) was such a lift from the winter blahs. This organization […]

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that members of The Mature Mob – Springfield’s over 50 singing and dancing troupe – are a little more “hip” than average senior citizens. The unpaid group whose annual production benefits Senior Services of Central Illinois (SSOCI) is now in its 19th year. Randy Roller, who co-directs this year’s […]

When Springfield resident Tom Jones reads about or meets a young veteran returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, something deep within him stirs. Jones remembers well the difficulties of adjusting to life inside the comfort of America after reality within the hell of a war zone. The days he spent in the jungles of Vietnam might […]

When Horton Foote died last year at the age of 92, America lost one of its most prolific and endearing dramatists. Foote, who was still writing until his last days, completed more than 60 plays and scripts during a career that spanned parts of seven decades. His many accolades include the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, […]

Only through the lens of the late Theodor Seuss Geisle, better known as Dr. Seuss, can a chaotic menagerie of made-up creatures bring order and wisdom from whimsy and fun. Filled with comedies such as that of the emerald eggs and ham, and tragedies such as a too-short tail and the battle for bread bit […]

In a city largely absent of activities and events related to African American culture, Springfield’s black residents have long suffered from the “there’s-nothing-to-do syndrome.” To cure their thirst for culture, many have adopted the habit of traveling to St. Louis, Chicago and Indianapolis for concerts, plays and comedy shows. But in recent years some are […]

Five thousand years of Chinese performing arts and culture will take the stage Feb. 9 at Sangamon Auditorium in a multimillion-dollar touring production called Shen Yun (“divine character”) that usually plays in much larger venues such as Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center. “It’s unusual for Shen Yun to play in a community […]

Ringing in the new year doesn’t need to be an adults-only party. Instead, welcome 2010 with a celebration of family-friendly arts, music and theater at the 23rd annual First Night. This year’s schedule, a mix of yearly favorites and all new acts, features an eclectic – to say the least – group of performers such […]

Statistics are often hard to remember. We might forget that 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS or that the global total is more than 30 million. We might not know that 25 percent of them don’t know they have a disease. We might not recall that there are 44,000 new HIV cases each year, […]