For his portrayal of George W. Bush, Justin Braden doesn’t want to take the usual approach. “Everyone’s seen the Will Farrell version, and you want to stay as far away from that as possible, I think,”...

Poet Carl Phillips can often be found dancing to loud “club music” and attempting to combine the voices of Madonna and Sade to create his own. “Most people probably think I stay home, read Greek...

Nate Staniforth has an impressive résumé. Since the magician began practicing the craft at the age of 10, he has performed illusions at bars and parties throughout his time as a student the University...

Whether touring the vast Midwestern countryside or breathtaking European cities, Canadian folk band Elliott BROOD has one interest at heart: antique shopping. In the past, the trio has gathered vintage...

March 25, 1911. In a New York City factory near Washington Square, poor immigrant workers, mostly young Jewish and Italian women, laboriously stitched garments. The wages were miniscule, the hours were...

Alan MacVey is the director of the Division of Performing Arts and the head of the Theater Department, and he teaches Art of Theatre and Directing I at the University of Iowa. We spoke with him about his...

Halfway through watching the play Ameriville, a play about Hurricane Katrina, people in a New Orleans audience walked out of the theater, only to return a few minutes later. The audience members didn’t...

Local band Blizzard at Sea will perform for the first time at Mission Creek this week. We spoke with band member Steven Douglas Ross to learn what to expect at one of the group’s performances and what...

Thrust into a world of artistic change, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore narrowly escaped the tumultuous downtown New York City arts scene of the early ’80s. But out of the chaos, they created a jewel,...

A combination of hanging and standing heavy antique doors surrounds a group of 15 dancers. Throughout the piece, the dancers build and tear down the structures. “[The doors] are all really old and have...

John Waters is not a typical filmmaker. In his 47 years in directing, he has cast porn stars, taught in prisons, pushed Johnny Depp out of his teen-idol image, and brought the pencil-thin mustache worldwide...

While passing through Baltimore last week, DeVotchKa’s frontman Nick Urata visited poet Edgar Allan Poe’s home. As a child, he was terrified by Poe’s short story “The Black Cat,” in which a man...