Outdoor views of Bettendorf will soon be admired and enjoyed in the great indoors of a Bettendorf venue, with the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, from October 2 through 30, housing its new exhibition Paint the River: Fourth-Annual Plein Air Paint Out a collection of works by local artists all created outside, and all executed on subject matter set within the boundaries of Bettendorf.

Held in conjunction with the September 27 through October 3 Banned Books Week – a celebration of our collective freedom to read – the Midwest Writing Center's and Rock Island Public Library's annual Banned Books Reading goes virtual on September 29, with more than a dozen participants gathering online to read from frequently challenged works and unite in the fight against censorship.

Held in conjunction with the forthcoming Figge Art Museum exhibition A Visualization of Hope (on display October 3 through December 13), a special Virtual Artist Celebration will take place on October 1, with three of Living Proof Exhibit's featured artists – Annawan's Kent Broadbent, Chicago's Meg Guttman, and Cedar Rapids' Tara Moorman – discussing their artistic practices and the inspiration for their current works.

An 1882 stage classic that the New York Times, in 2018, called “suddenly as timely as a tweet,” Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People (adapted by Tom Isbell) will be presented in radio-play format – and on radio station KALA 88.5 FM – by the St. Ambrose University theatre department October 2 through 11, its tale of a fight against injustice perhaps even more relevant now than it was in the 19th century.

With the musicians' 2020-21 season a celebration of composer Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra returns to live performance (with a virtual option) in the first Masterworks concert Beethoven Symphony No. 1, a tribute to that classic composition – and some additional works, as well – taking place at Davenport's Adler Theatre October 3 and 4.

Despite the participants meeting through computer screens instead of in person, the Midwest Writing Center's Young Emerging Writers (YEW) Summer Internship Program took place as planned, and the fruits of its interns' labors will be celebrated on October 1 with a virtual release party for their summer-long project The ATLAS.

If Halloween is approaching, it must be time for that annual theatrical command: “Let's do the 'Time Warp' again!” Consequently, the Circa '21 Speakeasy will stage its fifth-annual presentation of the cult-musical smash The Rocky Horror Show from October 3 through 31, treating audiences to live performances of classic songs in this nutty, interactive experience.

Movie Mike chats with Zane Satre about the predictable but fun The Broken Hearts Gallery and the insane yet fasinating I'm Thinking of Ending Things, and the pair also preview the thriller Infidel and Netflix drama The Devil All the Time.

 

One of the Quad Cities' most popular jam bands gets to close out the River Music Experience's 2020 “Live @ Five” series in style, with the rockers of The Dawn performing a free courtyard concert in the Davenport venue on September 25.

Internationally beloved for his memorable appearances in the seven Police Academy comedies, and a veteran of such other cult classics as Spaceballs and Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, standup comedian, actor, and beatboxer Michael Winslow takes the stage at the Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room for two performances on September 24, initiating the Davenport venue's 2020-21 comedy series and demonstrating why he's commonly referred to as “The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects.”

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