Datebook

A group of musicians called the Invincible Czars tours the country providing a live score for "Nosferatu" screenings, including one next Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Normal Theater.

Nomad Theatre is theater that moves to site-specific locations for performances. And just in time for summer viewing, the Patio Plays are back and making their way around Bloomington-Normal.

Local composer Eddie Breitweiser premieres his latest work on Friday at the McLean County Museum of History — a soundscape called "Six Words," devised from community members’ written responses to the pandemic, and which is part of a statewide initiative called "Viral Silence: Community Portraits in Response to COVID-19."

We don't usually think of the "Sound of Music" as a dark story. But a new production by MIOpera focuses on us-versus-them situations in the classic musical showing June 24-26 at the Astroth Center auditorium at Heartland Community College.

“Grease” is the word, or, at least, that’s the title of the Town of Normal’s high school theater program this year, running weekends through July 2 at the Connie Link Amphitheatre. The program marks a milestone this summer by celebrating its 50th anniversary.

This year's 10-Minute Play Festival at Heartland Theatre Company includes eight plays chosen from submissions from all over the country.

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival opens this weekend and fulfills a long-awaited promise with the return of “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged).” The festival favorite, originally scheduled for 2020, finds ISF veterans Thomas Quinn and David Kortemeier batting the Bard’s witty banter around one last time, this time with ISF newbie Adonis Perez-Escobar as their trusty side kick.

It’s time to pull your bustles and goggles out of the closet. The fifth edition of Cogs & Corsets returns June 3 and 4 in downtown Bloomington. Among steampunk festivals, what makes this steampunk festival special? Co-organizer Cathy Sutliff says that the main difference is that Cogs & Corsets is for everybody—whether you’re Dr. Who himself or just “steam curious.”

An art exhibition by East Peoria painter Shahrbanoo Hamzeh enters its final week at the McLean County Arts Center, a collection of 15 paintings in the Center’s Brandt Gallery. For her first solo show in Bloomington-Normal, Hamzeh draws from multilayered meanings for the word “home.”

A concert at First United Methodist Church reminds art lovers to take a deep breath amid what, for some, remains a chaotic and disorienting time. “Breathing Deeply,” a collaboration between the Normal church and Illinois Symphony Orchestra, takes place this Sunday, with art, music and poetry — plus cookies and fellowship.