QC Theatroscope

ARCHIVE

[NOTE: This will be in reverse chronological order — as shows come to an end, the information / links connected to their runs will be transferred to this page; the shows that have closed most recently will thus appear at the top of this page, with older shows sinking lower on the page as time goes on.]

2025

White Christmas

Santa Claus: The Musical

Cheaper by the Dozen

Who’s Holiday

  • December 4-19 (Circa ’21 Speakeasy)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Mrs. Doubtfire

  • December 17 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol

  • December 7 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Lion in Winter (Goldman)

A Sherlock Carol (Mark Shanahan)

The Sound of Music

Eurydice (Sarah Ruhl)

Proceed to Checkout (Meyerson)

  • November 20-23 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Mousetrap (Christie)

Blithe Spirit (Coward)

Edges (Pasek-Paul)

Come from Away

The Thanksgiving Play (FastHorse)

The Rocky Horror Show

The Addams Family

  • October 16 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Working

  • October 10-12 (New Era Dinner Theater [Muscatine])
  • Preview article: RCReader

Young Frankenstein

The Woman in Black (Mallatratt)

The Half-Life of Marie Curie (Gunderson)

Haus of Ruckus Live!

  • September 27 (Galvin Auditorium, St. Ambrose University)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Video feature: Living Local

Murder on the Nile (Christie)

Mary Poppins

Ro (Elissa Dynes)

Rag Doll on a Bomb Site (Shelley Cooper)

Gypsy

The Play That Goes Wrong

Ordinary Days

Marjorie Prime (Jordan Harrison)

The Diary of Anne Frank (Kesselman, adapting Goodrich and Hackett)

Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver

  • July 31-August 10 (Clinton Showboat)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Hairspray

Peace (Aristophanes)

Bright Star (Steve Martin & Edie Brickell)

Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare)

The Fox on the Fairway (Ken Ludwig)

The Prom

To Leer at Lear (Alexander Richardson)

Sister Act

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Chicago

The Half (Curtis B. Lewis, Jr.)

Much Ado about Nothing (Shakespeare)

Miss Nelson Is Missing! (Hatcher)

The Addams Family

Bring It On: The Musical

Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Fun Home

Marry Me a Little (Sondheim)

Steel Magnolias

Proof

  • May 8-11 (Augustana College Main Stage)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Girls’ Weekend (Schaeffer)

Zooted Suits (Haus of Ruckus)

The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan)

  • April 25-May 4 (St. Ambrose)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Heartbreak Hotel

Never the Sinner (Logan)

  • April 24-27 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

How I Became a Pirate

Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella

  • April 19 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

  • April 10-13 (Augustana College Black Box)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Escape to Margaritaville

Titanic: The Musical

The Tell-Tale Farce

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

The Stranger (Agatha Christie)

The Prom

  • March 13-17 (Augustana College Main Stage)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Reviews: RCReader

Mean Girls

  • March 13 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Ken Ludwig)

Misery (Goldman adapting King)

  • February 21-28 (Circa ’21 Speakeasy)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Groundhog Day: The Musical

Pretty Woman: The Musical

  • February 12 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Vagina Monologues (Ensler)

  • February 6-9 (Playcrafters)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Penguin Project: “All Shook Up”

  • January 24-26, January 31-February 2 (Augustana Main Stage)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Hadestown

  • January 15 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

2024

Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical

All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914

Annie

Five of Ives (David Ives)

  • December 6-8 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Christmas with C. S. Lewis

  • December 1 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

My Son Is Crazy, But Promising (Tim Kelly)

Dojo To-Go

  • November 15, 16, 21-24 (Haus of Ruckus at St. Ambrose)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

Life Sucks (Posner, adapting Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya)

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas

  • November 20 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare)

The Philanderer (Shaw)

  • October 31-November 3
  • Preview article: RCReader

Dial M for Murder (Hatcher)

The Addams Family

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

  • October 30 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Rocky Horror Show

  • October 18-27 (Circa ’21 Speakeasy)
  • Preview article: RCReader

The Sunshine Boys (Simon)

The Tapes (Richardson / Gougeon)

Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)

Evita (Lloyd Webber / Rice)

Shrek: The Musical

  • October 10 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella

  • October 4-6 (New Era Dinner Theatre, Muscatine)
  • Preview article: RCReader

An All-American Riot (Richardson)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams)

The Truth (Zeller)

The Money in Uncle George’s Suitcase (Cook)

The Bikinis

Squatters on Red Earth (Swander)

  • August 24 (St. Ambrose)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Fiddler on the Roof

Ripcord

Pinkalicious: The Musical

The Little Mermaid

Susan Glaspell and Friends [reader’s theater]

Plutus (Aristophanes)

Charlotte’s Web

84 Charing Cross Road (Evans & Hanff)

Songs for a New World

Sounds & Sweet Airs (from Shakespeare)

  • July 6-7, 13-14 (Genesius Guild)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: WVIK

Disney’s Newsies

In the Heights

Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)

Bad Seed (Anderson)

Eurydice (Ruhl)

A Little Night Music (Sondheim)

Tarzan: The Musical

Medea (Euripides)

Laura (Caspery & Sklar)

Jersey Boys

The House of Blue Leaves (Guare)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Sergel)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical

Chicago

  • May 15 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Our Country’s Good

The Queen of Greeks

  • May 3-4 (Augustana College Black Box)

Murder in the Studio

Church Basement Ladies

Private Lives (Coward)

  • April 25-28 (Augustana College: Black Box)
  • Preview: RCReader

Come from Away

The Real Inspector Hound (Stoppard)

  • April 18-21 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview: RCReader

The Secret in the WIngs (Zimmerman)

Anastasia

Exit Laughing (Paul Elliott)

Kinky Boots

Churchill (Payne)

  • April 9 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Book of Mormon

Jane Eyre: A Musical Drama

Paint Night (Crim)

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live!

  • March 7 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Spaceworms (Haus of Ruckus)

  • February 24-25, 29; Mar. 1-3 (Haus of Ruckus at Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: RCReader

The Stacks (Gougeon)

Murder on the Orient Express (Christie)

Legally Blonde: The Musical

Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story: A Musical

Harvey (Chase)

Love / Hurts Cabaret

  • February 14 (Playcrafters)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Jesus Christ Superstar

  • February 14 (Adler)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Punk Rock Lobster (Haus of Ruckus)

  • January 19-28 (HoR at the Black Box)
  • Preview article: RCReader

2023

A Christmas Story: The Musical

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Ludwig)

A Christmas Carol: The Musical

Almost, Maine (John Cariani)

Middletown (Eno)

  • November 30-December 3 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

A Charlie Brown Christmas

  • Nov. 24-26 (Countryside at Davenport’s Lincoln Community Center)
  • Preview: RCReader

Nine

  • November 16-19 (Augustana Main Stage)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: WVIK

Unnecessary Farce (Paul Slade Smith)

Sweeney Todd

[title of show]

The Vanishing (Aaron Randolph III)

  • November 2-4 (Blackhawk State Park)
  • Feature video: Living Local

The Outsider

Rocky Horror Show

  • October 20-29 (Speakeasy)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Betrayal (Pinter)

  • Oct. 26-28 (Augustana College Black Box)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Suddenly, Last Summer (Williams)

The Skokie Detective Charter School

The Seafarer (Conor McPherson)

Skeleton Crew (Dominique Morisseau)

Dracula: a feminist revenge fantasy (Hamill)

School of Rock: The Musical

  • September 29-Oct. 1, October 6-8 (Spotlight)

Jimmy Buffet’s “Escape to Margaritaville”

Witness for the Prosecution (Agatha Christie)

Jacques-alope (remastered for the Elgin Fringe Festival)

Over the River and Through the Woods (Joe DiPietro)

Circle Mirror Transformation (Annie Baker)

Jenny Lind Presents P. T. Barnum (Shelley Cooper)

Puffs

Pippin

Murder for Two

  • August 3-13 (Clinton Area Showboat)
  • Review: RCReader

Big Rock Candy Mountain: A Bluegrass Musical

The 86th Annual Salt Lick Middle School Talent Show

Into the Woods (Sondheim)

Much Ado about Nothing (Shakespeare) AS RESCHEDULED

Penny for Your Thoughts (Scott Haan)

The Wasps (Aristophanes / House of Ruckus)

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott / Marisha Chamberlain)

Peppa Pig Live! Peppa Pig’s Adventure

  • July 20 (Vibrant Arena)
  • Preview article: RCReader

[title of show]

The Wizard of Oz

Othello (Shakespeare)

The Glass Menagerie (Williams)

Mamma Mia!

Footloose: The Musical

Iphigenia in Aulis (Euripides)

Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude (Davis, Bobbitt, Cornelius)

Stop Kiss (Diana Son)

Singin’ in the Rain

Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare)

  • June 10-18 (Genesius Guild)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Reviews: WVIK

Funkyology (Haus of Ruckus)

The Spongebob Musical

Hello, Dolly! (Herman)

Misery (William Goldman / Stephen King)

The Memo (Havel)

Sense & Sensibility (Jane Austen / Kate Hamill)

Annie (Meehan, Strouse & Charnin)

Grumpy Old Men: The Musical

Drinking Habits 2: Caught in the Act (Tom Smith)

Marvel Spotlight: Squirrel Girl Goes to College

  • April 22-30 (Davenport Junior Theatre)
  • Preview article: RCReader
  • Review: WVIK

Oliver! (Bart)

The Mystery of Irma Vep (Ludlum)

Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School

Very Still & Hard to See (A Short Play Cycle) (Yockey)

  • April 13-16 (Scott Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Mr. U.S. Grant: A Man and a Patriot (Haughey) — CANCELLED

Rent (Larson)

  • March 24-26, March 31-April 2 (Music Guild)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Anywhere But Here (Jensen)

Witness for the Prosecution (Agatha Christie)

Down by the Riverside: A Gospel Musical

  • March 5, 12, 19, 26 (Mockingbird)

Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare) POSTPONED [Story: OurQuadCities.com]

Small Mouth Sounds (Wohl)

Are We There Yeti? (Haus of Ruckus)

We Will Rock You: The Musical (Queen and Ben Elton)

My Fair Lady (Lerner & Loewe)

Spotlight on Susan Glaspell

Driving Miss Daisy (Uhry)

All Shook Up: The Music of Elvis Presley

Barefoot in the Park (Neil Simon)

Broken Box Mime Theater

  • Feb. 7-9 (various venues)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Hairspray

Apples in Winter (Fawcett)

Asexuality! The Solo Musical (McGlynn)

2022

A Very Ruckus Holiday Special

  • December 30 (Haus of Ruckus at Mockingbird)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical

Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh

  • December 17 (Breath of Encouragement: Adler Theatre)
  • Preview article: RCReader

All Is Calm (Rothstein, Lichte, Takach)

A Christmas Carol (Abridged)

Santa Claus: The Musical [children’s show]

A Christmas Story: The Musical (Pasek & Paul, Robinette)

Black Nativity (Langston Hughes)

Elf: The Musical (Meehan & Martin, Sklar & Beguelin)

Rent (Larson)

  • November 18-19 (MCC Black Box)

Legally Blonde: The Musical

Cabaret (Kander, Ebb, & Masteroff)

Greater Tuna

  • November 18-20 (Scott County Community College)
  • Preview article: RCReader

All My Sons (Miller)

Spooky Pete (Haus of Ruckus)

Motherhood: The Musical (Fabisch)

12 Angry Jurors (Rose & Sergel)

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (musical)

Clue: The Musical

The Pitchfork Disney (Ridley)

The Rocky Horror Show

Whose Live Anyway? (improv)

Tartuffe (Moliere)

An Evening with C. S. Lewis

Spring Awakening (Sheik & Sater)

  • September 30-October 2, October 7-9 (Center for Living Arts)
  • Feature article: OurQuadCities.com

Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play (Landry)

Sylvia (Gurney)

The Producers (Brooks & Meehan)

Church Basement Ladies

  • October 7-9 (New Era Dinner Theater / New Era Lutheran Church, Muscatine)
  • Preview article: RCReader

Anastasia (McNally, Flaherty, & Ahrens)

Their Town (Richardson)

GiT Improv

  • September 25 (Black Box)

La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas (Shelley Cooper)

  • September 26 (Village Theatre)

My Brother’s Gift (Haas)

Random Access Morons (Haus Of Ruckus)

Disaster! (The Musical) (Rudetzky & Plotnick)

The Christmas Letter Writing Club (Akers)

Leaving Iowa (Clue & Manton)

Ride the Cyclone! (Richmond & Maxwell)

Holy Smokes Bogarts It! (improv)

The World Goes Round (revue, Kander & Ebb)

Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical (Briousse & Wildhorn)

Grant Wood: Prairie Rebel (Tom Milligan)

  • August 14 (German American Heritage Center & Museum)
  • Preview article: OurQuadCities.com

The Frogs (Aristophanes)

Little Shop of Horrors (Menken & Ashman)

The Wedding Singer (Sklar, Beguelin, & Herlihy)

Rent: School Edition (8th-12th Grades)

Carrie: The Musical (Gore, Pitchford, & Cohen) (7th-12th Grades)

Shakespeared! (G.I.T. Improv)

Iowa Nice & Funny (Well Done Phoenix improv)

Silent Sky (Gunderson)

A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare)

Disney’s Descendants: The Musical (7th-12th Grade: Summer Arts)

Toby (or) We Were Just Playing (Baker) — staged reading

[Note that this website was launched on July 17, 2022: No information is included here on shows that closed on or before that date.]