Datebook
Saturdays and Sundays at 8:35 a.m. and 9:35 a.m.
Datebook features interviews and behind-the-scenes reports about new art exhibits, music releases and live performances, theater productions, and other community and charity events taking place throughout the listening area.
You can get our best arts and culture reporting, plus a headsup about upcoming concerts and shows, by subscribing to our Weekend Scoop newsletter.
Latest Datebook stories
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More than 100 artist/vendors are participating in this year's juried art fair, which takes over Uptown Normal one weekend a year. -
Mixed-media artist Selina Trepp has her first solo exhibition at University Galleries in Uptown. Running through Oct. 3, 'Unprofessional Practices' features two short films created through stop-motion animation. -
Bloomington-Normal was home to the oldest and longest continuously running underground newspaper in United States history. The paper, called Post Amerikan, ran from 1972-2004 and is now the subject of a feature length documentary screening Friday at the Normal Theater. -
![Real-life Roy Cohn [Peter Kimerling, left] intertwines with fictional characters like Joe Pitt [Matt Elenteny], a Mormon transplant from New York who, in Angels in America's opening scenes, tries to get a word in edgewise.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e51de00/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4496x2505+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa2%2F5a%2F26ce4167434ba228cd994ce4e877%2Fdsc0435.JPG)
The century-old troupe performed golden age musicals the year Tony Kushner wrote his two-part masterpiece set at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Community Players says there's no time like the present for its debut production. -
The North Danvers Mennonite Church is celebrating its 175th birthday, making it only 20 years younger than the county it stands in. The church still operates as usual, hosting Sunday services, celebrating holidays and sending members out for disaster relief. -
The City of Lincoln's biggest event of the year faced a major hurdle, leaving stakeholders scrambling to ensure Balloons Over 66 would indeed have balloons. Mayor Tracy Welch says it just proved how important ballooning is to the community. -
A fictional private school gets a wake-up call when a mumps outbreak challenges its consensus-based model. The play opens Heartland Theatre's 2026-27 season next week. -
Prairie Fire Theatre is collaborating with Music Connections Foundation for their summer production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. -
Armored Medieval Martial Arts combines cage fighting with armored combat. The competitors seem ripped from the Middle Ages, donning gambesons, gauntlets, greaves and helms before stepping into the ring. The blades are dulled. -
A Cincinnati-based Americana duo which once called Bloomington-Normal home is returning to play in the Twin Cities next month — in a venue they helped launch that's been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic.
![Real-life Roy Cohn [Peter Kimerling, left] intertwines with fictional characters like Joe Pitt [Matt Elenteny], a Mormon transplant from New York who, in Angels in America's opening scenes, tries to get a word in edgewise.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/23ab248/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4496x2505+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa2%2F5a%2F26ce4167434ba228cd994ce4e877%2Fdsc0435.JPG)
