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...

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...

As a child, Julie Hanson began her life as a poet by jumping on her grandmother’s bed. Or more precisely, immediately afterwards, when her grandmother, upset about the noise, burst into the room and...

A strong selection of writers will descend on Iowa City this weekend, along with the numerous musical acts, for the annual Mission Creek Festival. Literature has played an important role in each of the...

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...

Once a month, Chris Mortenson and his friends flock to an underground stage for one reason: to hear great stories. Mortenson is the founder of the Seagull Society, a storytelling collective that meets...

A lot has changed since the gospel a cappella group Take 6 first got together more than 30 years ago. But after releasing 15 studio albums, winning 10 Grammys, and collaborating with such artists as Stevie...

Matthew Zapruder and Steve Healey are on tour. Although they’re musicians, they’re not performing in music venues — they’re on the road to promote some of their latest works of poetry. Their...