Riverside Theatre Blog - Thursday Theatre Talk

BLACKBIRD Thursday Theatre Talk
 at Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert St, Iowa City
  March 28, 5:30 - 6:30PM
 Hosted by Miriam Gilbert. With special guests Meg Eginton, director and Chris Okiishi, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
  FREEand open to the public. No reservations required.  Questions? Call: 319-338-7672

More show info at www.riversidetheatre.org

GET TO KNOW THE BOLDEST SHOW OF THIS GILBERT STREET SEASON.    

When David Harrower’s Blackbird opened in 2005 to enthusiastic reviews, first at the Edinburgh Festival, and then in London, critics praised both play and actors while acknowledging the challenges
presented by the material.   
          How can Una and Ray move beyond the scars of their sexual
relationship, when she was 12 and he was 40 years old? What can they learn about their past, and their future 15 years later?
       The Thursday Theatre Talk on March 28, 2013, 5:30-6:30PM at Riverside Theatre will explore these questions as Miriam Gilbert, Department of English talks with Chris Okiishi, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, and Meg Eginton, director of Riverside Theatre’s production of Blackbird.

BLACKBIRD runs April 5 - 21.  Tickets in person at the box office, Monday - Friday, noon - 4p, 213 N Gilbert Street, by phone, 319-338-7672 or online HERE.

Please join us for the Thursday Theatre Talk, January 17 from 5:30PM – 6:30PM at Riverside Theatre, 213 N Gilbert Street, Iowa City.  You'll get a sneak peek of the set and insider details about William Missouri Downs' new play, The Exit Interview.

The talk discusses how The Exit Interview confronts many timeless issues like "the meaning of life", as well as touching on a central issue in contemporary culture: random gun violence.  Topics will also include discussion about the script’s variety of subjects, ranging from the possibility of meaningful faith, to the influence of a media-saturated culture.

Miriam Gilbert, Department of English hosts the Thursday Theatre Talk with guests, Rev. Rob Dotzel, Pastor at Lutheran Campus Ministry and Gloria Dei, and Ron Clark, co-founder of Riverside Theatre and director of the production.

 All are welcome to attend this free event. Questions? Call: 319-338-7672

Riverside Theatre will host a Thursday Theatre Talk for its upcoming production of True West by Sam Shepard, on Thursday, August 30, from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. The talk will take place at Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert Street, Iowa City.

The event is free and open to the public.

In Shepard’s True West, dualities abound. There are two brothers, one a city guy, the other coming out of the desert; one is an upwardly mobile screenwriter in Hollywood, the other a drifter and thief. But gradually they switch roles, and indeed, in a number of well-known productions, the leading actors have alternated as Austin and Lee.

Is there a “truth” in True West,  or is that title part of the ironic fantasies that Shepard depicts with surrealist humor?

Join Miriam Gilbert and Harry Stecopoulos, University of Iowa Department of English, as they discuss Shepard’s play and its vision of America.

Join us on Thursday, May 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Riverside Theatre, for a Thursday Theatre Talk about this summer's Riverside Theatre in the Park productions.

Discuss Shakespeare's As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice with directors Theodore Swetz and Kristin Horton, and your host, Shakespearen scholar Miriam Gilbert. This event is free and open to the public.

For more infomation on these events call 319-338-7672.

There will be an open reading of The Merchant of Venice on Wednesday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at Riverside Theatre.

Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at an early phase of the production's artistic development: the company's first read-through of the paly with the director. Afterwards, audience members will be invited to repsond--and your feedback will help shape the production. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. This is a free a event; no tickets are required.

Then, on Thursday, May 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Riverside Theatre, join us for a Thursday Theatre Talk about this summer's Riverside Theatre in the Park productions.

Discuss Shakespeare's As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice with directors Theodore Swetz and Kristin Horton, and your host, Shakespearen scholar Miriam Gilbert. This event is free and open to the public.

For more infomation on these events call 319-338-7672.

Last night's Thursday Theatre Talk, "South Africa, Then and Now" was featured in March 25 edition of the Daily Iowan.

Click here to read the article.

 

Riverside Theatre will host a Thursday Theatre Talk in collaboration with the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC) on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m., “South Africa, Then and Now,” to complement its upcoming production of The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien. The talk will take place at Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert Street, Iowa City. The event is free and open to the public.

 

What did the tumultuous events in South Africa during the apartheid-era look like to a young girl?

 

Pamela Gien’s The Syringa Tree is based on the playwright’s experience growing up in Johannesburg .  The play explores many perspectives—of young Elizabeth, her parents, and neighbors, all of whom are performed by a single actor, Saffron Henke.

 

Join Miriam Gilbert, Department of English, actor Saffron Henke, and Professor Leo Eko, Co-Director of the African Studies Program, and Associate Professor of Media Law, Comparative and International Communication for this Theatre Talk on Thursday, March 24^th at 5:30 p.m.   

 

The Syringa Tree, directed by Sean Christopher Lewis and performed by Saffron Henke, opens at Riverside Theatre on April 1 and runs through April 17.

 

For more information, call the Riverside Theatre box office at 319-338-7672.

 

THURSDAY THEATRE TALK: All My Sons

 AT RIVERSIDE THEATRE 1/20 at 5:30 p.m.

Riverside Theatre will host a Thursday Theatre Talk on Thursday, January 20 at 5:30 p.m. to complement their upcoming production of All My Sons, by Arthur Miller. The talk will take place at Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert Street, Iowa City. The event is free and open to the public.

 

This show is the centerpiece of the Riverside’s 30^th anniversary season.

 

All My Sons, writes Arthur Miller, “was conceived in wartime and begun in wartime; the spectacle of human sacrifice in contrast with aggrandizement is a sharp and heartbreaking one. At a time when all public voices were announcing the arrival of that great day when industry and labor were one, my personal experience was daily demonstrating that beneath the slogans very little had changed.”

 

Now, more than 60 years after Miller’s play first appeared, what, if anything, has changed? How do we understand the relationships between success in business and personal responsibility? How do we answer Joe Keller’s anguished question, “What should I want to do?”

 

Join Miriam Gilbert, Department of English, and Nancy Hauserman, Professor of Management and Organizations, for this Theatre Talk on Thursday, January 20^th at 5:30 p.m.

 

All My Sons opens at Riverside Theatre on January 28 and runs through February 20.

 

For more information, call the Riverside Theatre box office at 319-338-7672.