A brand-new, Quad-Cities-based theatre company will make its debut this summer at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre.
The first inaugural summer season kicks off Friday, July 7.
The Mississippi Bend Players' will perform three shows for six straight weekends in a row. Professional and student performers work together in an immersive experience to put on the shows and gain skills in theatre from building sets, staging, making costumes, acting, and public relations.
The Mississippi Bend Players' mission is to provide excellence in Quad-Cities theatre by producing both commercially proven works and original musical and dramatic material.
Mississippi Bend Players' will give both students and community members the opportunity to work together on professional stage productions in Augustana’s multi-million dollar Brunner Theatre, which opened last fall.
Augustana alumnus, Philip Wm. McKinley and Broadway veteran is the artistic producing director this season. McKinley brings years of experience in theatrical productions ranging from the Tony Award-winning Hugh Jackman musical “The Boy from Oz” to Augustana's staging of the locally written drama “A Green River.”
Shows:
Zombie Prom – July 7 & 8, 7:30 p.m.; July 9 at 4 p.m., July 14 & 15, 7:30 p.m.; July 16 at 4 p.m.
A 1950s horror comic book is brought to life as a musical comedy by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe. This campy, rollicking romp takes the audience through America's Atomic Age and the Golden Age of horror comic books.
Wait Until Dark – July 21 & 22, 7:30 p.m.; July 23, 4 p.m.; July 28 & 29, 7:30 p.m.; July 30, 4 p.m.
A blind Greenwich Village housewife becomes the target of three con men searching for heroin hidden inside a doll. This masterfully constructed thriller by Frederick Knott builds toward an electrifying, breath-stopping final scene.
Brighton Beach Memoirs – August 4 & 5, 7:30 p.m.; August 6, 4 p.m.; August 11, 7:30 p.m.; August 12, 7:30 p.m.; August 13, 4 p.m.
Neil Simon's hilarious semi-autobiographical portrait shows an American family in post-depression, pre-war Brooklyn, through the eyes of a 15-year-old boy. The play has wit, warmth and Simon's signature laughs.
All performances will take place at the Brunner Main Stage inside the Brunner Theatre Center (3750 7th Avenue, Rock Island) across from Centennial Hall off 7th street.
Tickets are available through the Augustana Ticket Office online or at the ticket office on the lower level of Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts (3703 7th Avenue) Monday-Friday 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Tickets also are available beginning an hour prior to each performance at the Brunner Theatre Center ticket booth.
For more information, visit www.mississippibendplayers.com.