Experience the fears, joys, and day-to-day existence of a Jewish girl who comes of age while hiding with her family in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. 
Looking for some behind the scenes information about our season opener, A Dog's Life? Enjoy this mini-interview with the playwright, Sean Grennan. 
Jack Grennan, the inspiration for the musical.
Jack and Sean enjoying a day at the beach.
Shakespeare loves the Fourth of July! If you want to sound smart at your Fourth of July party and impress your friends, commit a couple of these quotes to memory and break them out at propitious moments...
According to Rob Cline's review in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, "the entire audience was under enchantment throughout the lovely evening" that he attended A Midsummer Night's Dream. Read more of his review by clicking here.
Meet Jacob Perkins: Roles in RTSF '09: Edward Plantagenet/Murderer 2 - Richard III
How did you get involved with acting?: I did my first production playing John Henry in Carson McCullers' Member of the Wedding and never looked back. I was five years old.
Favorite role/play?: Angels in America by Tony Kushner. Harper Pitt is one of my favorite characters ever written.
Who is your favorite Shakespeare character?: Tie between Juliet, Paulina from The Winter's Tale, and Goneril from King Lear.
Why does performing Shakespeare interest/challenge you?: Shakespeare asks his actors to go to extraordinary and imaginative places. His characters are fully three dimensional and they allow you to pour all of your heart into them.
What should the audience know about Murderer 2?: I'm playing a murderer that kills Clarence. Clarence is played by my real life teacher, Steve Cardamone. Revenge for all of those homework assignments!
Meet Margo Chervony: 
The 2009 Festival Intern Acting Company
The 10th Annual Shakespeare Festival is here... are you ready?
Happy Birthday to us!
Interested in a little behind the scenes information on the upcoming Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival? Then make plans to attend the Thursday Theatre Talk on May 14th at 5:30 pm at the Gilbert Street Theatre. It's free, open to the public, and I guarantee you'll learn something.
Installment #1 / April 1 '09 – 32 hours from SHOW TIME!
Join us next week for a play reading for Sirius Rising, a play by Cedar Falls playwright Gwendolyn Schwinke on Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30 pm. You're also invited to stay after the reading for a talkback with the playwright.
First things first! I am Jaclyn Johnson and I have the distinct pleasure of acting in Raising Medusa which opens on April 2nd. I play multiple roles in this production but I am predominately known as Chorus Member Three. Voice 3 is what they call me for short. I like being a Three. Three is an influential number; things (good or bad) come in threes, the "rule of three in comedy," there are three Fates, three Graeae, three Gorgon sisters (no apologies here, I'm on a Greek kick). I think threes are special. So I will begin with a three... Three weeks ago I climbed into my trusty Toyota Camry and began driving south. Four and a half hours later I arrived in the fair
So here we are, over three weeks in, new scripts in bag, and there are new lines to learn, old lines to unlearn, blocking that doesn't work any more and moments that need clarity. It always makes for exciting rehearsals. I wasn't going to acknowledge, mostly for my own benefit, that while we are over three weeks into rehearsals, we are also less than a week away from opening. I've done productions that had a week to complete everything from first read-thru to opening night, and I know it will be plenty of time. Yet, at the end of each rehearsal, once I am headed home to think about the scenes we worked today and the issues we will face tomorrow, I know I have a lot of work to do.
With a group of such bright, fun and inspiring colleagues, this rehearsal process has been crazy good fun (and good pretzels). I am having a blast contributing to this production. Since this is a new play, there are constantly more and more questions popping up. While that can be frustrating at times, with all this constant discovery, a metamorphosis is occurring right before my eyes. I'm certain even Ovid would be impressed. *wink* And thank Zeus it evolved so much. Even though I like my nice clean script, I don't really want to show it off. I would much rather share the play with you. I've always been better at acting than I am at highlighting and penmanship.
This is my third (wow! Those magical threes!) premiere production I've done with Riverside Theatre. First I was
- Jaclyn Johnson
Looking for more information about Raising Medusa? Check out an MP3 of today's interview with playwright Barbara Lau on KCCK's Culture Crawl. Barbara talks about the process of taking her play from poems to a full blown theatre production.
Then make plans to attend next week's Thursday Theatre Talk - March 26th at 5:30 pm!
Join host Miriam Gilbert, University of Iowa Department of English and Robert Ketterer, UI Department of Classics, for a FREE discussion of the classical myth, as well as the larger question of why dramatists and composers turn so often to the classics for inspiration and adaptation. This "TTT" starts at 5:30 pm at the Gilbert Street Theatre.
Want more information about the show? Visit our website!
Tickets are on sale now - for more information, call the box office at 319-338-7672.
I find myself dashing through the thick Iowa corn field, Jody’s words chasing behind me, “Would you like to act in the monologue you wrote?” I burst through the stalks and see Ink Pond just yards away. I collapse by the side of the water and stare deeply at my reflection. “What do I do?” I ask myself. The water shifts and my reflection answers me, “You must look inside yourself.”Ok, so perhaps I am starting this blog a little far fetched. I admit, I never ran through a cornfield nor stared intently at the mossy green waters of Ink Pond seeking answers. But it seems so much more dramatic than me sitting in my dorm room pondering the question in my head. I’m getting to far ahead. Time for a flashback, perhaps?
Why, hello! It’s so nice to meet you for the first time ever! My name is Lindsay Tornquist and I am a Theater Major at Cornell College. I consider myself an actor, but I’ve recently gotten into playwriting. Actually, one of my monologues, "A Piece of Cake", was chosen for Riverside Theater’s show Walking the Wire. I’m very excited!
Enough exposition. So where’s the conflict here? Well, I love theater and have been acting since I was old enough to understand what that is. However when I came to Cornell College, suddenly (in a wonderful coming-of-age type of way), I’ve been trying out other areas of theater, like costuming and directing and…[cue dramatic music]… playwriting. I took my first playwriting class about a year and a half ago with playwright C. Denby Swanson. I haven’t stopped writing since. This year I took a class with Naomi Wallace and fell even deeper into the spiral of writing. My monologue was chosen for Walking the Wire and suddenly I’m stuck in a dilemma- Jody asks me if I want to act in my own play.
GASP! What do I do? I am an actor. So one would assume I would want to act. But I want to see someone else perform my work. Hear someone else say my words. But can I really let that opportunity go? What do I do?
And we’re back to the reflection in the water. “Lindsay,” My water reflection says to me, “what do you want to do?” I dramatically splash the water, but the ripples stop and the reflection is still there. I finally look back and reply, “I don’t want to act in my piece.”
Alright, we’ll consider that the climax of the story. Now for the falling action. So I decided I wanted to fully try on these playwriting shoes I’ve found and let someone else perform my piece. I may consider myself an actor, but I must have the courage to look myself in the face and say, “I am a writer,” also. As a great teacher of mine, Bill Schulz, once told said, “A writer writes. If you write, then you are a writer.”
Resolution! As in all stories there is a happy ending. The actress who was chosen for my piece, Ashley Boots, is not only an amazing actress, but also friend of mine. As soon as Jody told me Ashley would be in my show, I could image it perfectly in my head. I couldn’t be happier. As I get up from the pond, I give one last look at my reflection. My watery self smiles as the real me turns and strides back through the cornfield, the orange sun slowly setting into the brilliant amber horizon ahead.
-Lindsay Tornquist
Lindsay's piece, "A Piece of Cake", will be performed by Ashley Boots during Walking the Wire: Monologues at Riverside - Food! The show runs from March 5 - 8, and tickets are on sale now. To reserve your seats, call the box office at 319-338-7672 or visit http://www.riversidetheatre.org/
For me, and for a lot of other actors I know, the stand alone monologue is among the most daunting of pieces to prepare. Above all, it’s a true test of skill. Public speaking without a net. So, “Walking the Wire” is an apt description of the feat you will witness March 5 – 8.
To be honest, I was hoping to find someone else to perform my piece. Then I saw Megan Gogerty during Riverside Theatre’s production of Megan Gogerty Loves You Very Much, and was inspired. She is adorable; memorizing and performing a wonderful solo show that she’d written. I decided to opt for bravery, facing head on this question: “Does the audience hate me, what I’ve written, or both?”
Looking for a fun night out with your sweetie in February? Then don't miss this year's "Diamonds or Denim" event on February 27, 6:00 pm, at the hotelVetro suites and conference center. Tickets are $45, $35 of which is tax deductible, and all proceeds go directly toward supporting high quality programming at Riverside Theatre! 
Need some summer thoughts on a snowy day?
Think ahead to the 2009 Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival!
We are proud to announce (and feeling warmer just thinking about) the 2009 Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival. This summer’s 10th annual festival will feature Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III. Both shows will run in rotation from June 12 through July 12. Tickets will be on sale in April.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Ron Clark, is one of Shakespeare's most magical comedies. Join us for a delightful romp through an enchanted forest as a quartet of mismatched lovers and a gang of hapless actors cross paths with the king and queen of the fairies.
Watch Richard III wage his own private war as he murders, manipulates, and marries his way to the throne. Kristin Horton directs this story of a self-proclaimed villain battling to obtain and retain the crown in one of Shakespeare’s most diabolical history plays.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III will be performed at the Festival Stage in Lower City Park. (We are thrilled to be back in the park after last summer's flooding!) The space, which seats over 400 people, is based on Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre of 1600. Based on a concept by theatre designer Paul Sannerud, the space was designed by Neumann-Monson Architects.
Looking for more information about Riverside Theatre or the festival? Please visit http://www.riversidetheatre.org/! And keep thinking warm thoughts!
I sat down with Jody at our initial meeting. She told me about the show and what she was looking for in terms of choreography. I had not yet heard the music but was informed that one dance would include the use of snowmobile suits. And I thought to myself, "Well... I'm up for a challenge."
