Some 'must dos' or some 'to strongly considers:' a list of 'I was there!' events for the near-term

A season in eastern Iowa always presents a rich banquet of cultural offerings.  The next few months offer no exception.  Here are a few events that may fall slightly under many people's radars but are happenings you may not want to miss.

August 24.  Paul Farmer.  The laureate for the Fourth Annual kickoff Cassandra S. Foens, M.D.  Lecture at the University of Iowa, Paul Farmer will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union. His topic will be “Haiti: An Unnatural Disaster.” A physician and anthropologist and professor at Harvard, who lives mostly in Rwanda, Farmer is a founder of Partners in Health, a global social justice organization.  He was the subject of Tracy Kidder's book “Mountains Beyond Mountains.”  The lecture is sponsored by the University Lecture Committee and the Center for Student Involvement & Leadership.  This event is free.

August 26.  Back from Rehab.  Susan Werner will perform a public concert at CSPS on sunday, August 28.  The organization that runs CSPS, Legion Arts, is back from the 2008 flood with a sumptuously renovated buildings and small campus.  Susan Werner will perform in a more intimate affair of a gala grand re-opening on Friday, August 26 at 7 p.m.  With refreshments catered by Braise, enthusiasts will not only enjoy Werner's concert but will get to see new paintings by Vaclav Hasek, animation by New Yorker Marina Zurkow, and the juried ceramics collection, River 2 River, that is part of the first-ever Iowa Clay Conference.  For this memorable evening, tickets are $100 and going fast.  Tickets for the sunday 7 p.m. concert are $17 advanced/ $21 door.  Welcome back, Legion Arts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Is that enough exclamation points?)  Both tickets and more information are available at www.legionarts.org.

September 1.  Camera Chabra in Protovin.  The Czech Heritage Partnership (CHP) of the Spillville area continues to infuse a vibrant cultural scene into northeast Iowa.  Along with the Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic, CHP will present the vocal group Camera Chabra of Prague.  They have a repertoire of Czech national, classical and spiritual songs.  The concert is at 7 p.m. in Holy Trinity Church in Protivin.  A free-will offering is encouraged.  For more information, please call Steven Klimesh (563.562.3594), Michael Klimesh (563.562.3410) or Eileen Tlusty (563.569.8744.)

September 4.  Hubbard on the Hancher Green.  If you can't afford flights to New York, you can always head to Chicago for a weekend of great dance and/or theatre.  In dance alone, there is River North Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.  To remember that great performing house – the crown jewel in an Iowa Center for the Arts campus that will not be somewhat dispersed, where Jim Wockenfuss, Wally Chappell, Chuck Swanson, Judith Hurtig and Jacob Yarrow have worked their magic to stage and premiere some of the best performing arts in the USA, even before these performances hit Los Angeles or New York – and to say good-bye to it, Hubbard Street Dance will perform a free concert on the Hancher lawn.

Physically, Hancher – in a new costume – will soon move a little west and a little north.

Hubbard Street.  Free.  On the Hancher Green.  By the river.  On a crisp late summer evening.

And you can see Hubbard Street 2 (not free concerts) at Space / Place on September 22 and 23

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What more could you want?

Well, even more Hancher performances spread out across the community.  Joey DeFrancesco Trio for Club Hancher at the Mill.  Paul Hillier and the National Chamber Choir of Ireland at St. Mary's.  An ensemble of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at City.  The Paul Taylor Dance Company at West.  Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra along with Rockapella at Carver-Hawkeye.  American Beauty Project at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort.  The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet at the brand-spanking-new Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.  Working Group Theatre at Riverside Theatre.  Enso String Quartet at Zion Lutheran.  And more.

September 8.  @ the Studio.  The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is inaugurating a new series at the Grant Wood Studio at 7p.m.  For this first meeting, the topic will be “Book Discussion of R. Tripp Evans' Grant Wood: A Life.”  The lively discussion is free and will be led by Executive Director, Terry Pitts, and Curator, Sean Ulmer.

September 23.  "Farmscape."  Whose insightful mind could be expected to gift us with an insightful literary and dramatic read on the changing socioeconomic Iowa landscape better than Mary Swander's?  We would be hard-pressed to think of such a person.  Swander's recent play, “Farmscape: Documenting the Changing Rural Environment” will delight Cedar Rapids onstage at Mount Mercy University.

"The main character is a farmer who's lost his farm, so the context for the play is an auction as he sells off his property," Swander said. "And the Mayor of Gilbert took on that role when it was performed at an arts festival in Gilbert. He did a wonderful job and at the end he said, 'You know, that really hit home because I did lose my farm personally and then I went into public service.' So it can't help but touch chords if you've been living in this state for any amount of time."

Premiered at Iowa State University in February and is headed for Denver, Colorado in November.  The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. in McAuley Theatre.  Mary Swander will be present as part of Mount Mercy's Visiting Writer Series.  I cannot yet find ticket information available.

October 6.  Red Cedar in Ainsworth.  You able to catch concerts from Red Cedar Chamber Music's new season in such wonderful venues as Marengo, Vinton, First Presbyterian in Cedar Rapids and at the stunning Lowe Center in Marion.  And you ought to see Red Cedar perform in any or all of those places.  But you should treat yourself to seeing the ensemble perform at the Opera House in Ainsworth.  Though not an opera ever proper, the facility has been lovingly restored and serves as a treasured community center with monthly buffet breakfasts, likely the largest nativity collection in the world, and an annual film fest of historic and pioneering films.

The Ainsworth event will start at 7 p.m. and feature the concert “Circle the Wagons,” with music by Dubuque native and Julliard alumnus Michael Gilbertson.

A $20 ticket to see Red Cedar perform at the Ainsworth Opera House also gets you a homespun meal.  Red Cedar at the Ainsworth Opera House.  World-class art, so up close, wrapped in community and comfort food.  Can't beat that with a stick.

For tickets, call 319 653-6250.

And Red Cedar will perform a fantastic event the very next day at noon.  Called “Production Floor Performance,” Red Cedar will perform music “for workers in the workplace.”

October 22.  “Spectral Scriabin.”  The Marquis Series at Coe College has a wonderful event at 7:30 in Sinclair Auditorium.  Republic of Georgia pianist Eteri Paridze and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton have teamed up for a work premiered recently at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City.  The pianist plays works by Alexander Scriabin which intersects with Tipton's color and lighting.  This will definitely be a cosmic evening at Coe.  Tickets are $10 for 18 and below and for those 55 and over.  For those of us in the middle, tickets are $15.  Info at Coe College Box Office: 319.399.8600.

Mark your calendar.