The Iowa premiere of Fierce marks a major moment in Hancher’s current season. Students from the School of Music, the Department of Dance and Department of Theatre Arts are coming together to produce this empowering new opera that celebrates young women.
Fierce is a 21st-century opera that follows four teenage girls—Vesta, Nyomi, Morgan, and Rumer—on their journey toward identity and purpose as they write their college essays in a high school writers’ workshop. The young women face an array of concerns including popularity, social media, parental expectations, self-determination, and personal loss. But these girls are fierce! They are determined, tenacious, and strong. Together they find community, self-empowerment, and the confidence to embrace the next chapter of their life.
“I love the story,” says Meenakshi Chinmai, a second-year Theatre Arts MFA candidate in stage management and international student from India who is the assistant stage manager for Fierce. “It’s great to work so closely with four young women who are close to my age, on a story that is so relatable and fun.”
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University of Iowa - Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Growing up as a child of musicians, William Menefield was exposed to a wide range of music, from Beethoven and Mozart to John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Stevie Wonder. He started formal music training at 5, wrote his first song at 8, became a professional jazz pianist at 12, and released his first album just after high school graduation.
Hancher Auditorium - Monday, April 15, 2024
36 University of Iowa dancers trained to perform "Panorama" on the Hancher stage during the Martha Graham Dance Company's performance on March 29, 2024.
Press-Citizen - Friday, April 5, 2024
Basketball was seemingly on everyone's mind in Iowa City, even on the opening night of the 19th annual Mission Creek Festival Thursday, April 5, which started with Hanif Abdurraqib in a Caitlin Clark jersey, reading a poem from his latest book release and New York Times Best Seller, "There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension."
Abdurraqib's book is structured like a basketball game, with four sections capturing the passing of time likened to the four quarters of a game. Abdurraqib chronicles the sport, exploring the intersection of basketball and the human experience from themes of hope and growth.
Little Village - Friday, April 5, 2024
In my mind, Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival (which just kicked off its 19th year) has always fundamentally been about two things: creative place-making and wild moments of synchronicity. As such, it could have had no better opening than Thursday night’s reading by author and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib.
The Daily Iowan - Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Musicians, authors, and artists will flood into Iowa City this weekend as Mission Creek Festival gears up.
Celebrating its 19th year, the Mission Creek Festival has been an Iowa City staple event since 2006. The festival is modeled after the original Mission Creek Festival based in San Francisco, California.
The festival prides itself on uniting literature and music enthusiasts alike. It started in 2005 when Andre Perry, the University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium’s executive director, moved to Iowa City. Perry worked on the original California Mission Creek as a producer and wanted to bring something similar to Iowa when he moved.
Press-Citizen - Monday, April 1, 2024
The Bay Area's experimental rock and the South's rhythmic beats are coming to Iowa City. Mission Creek Festival returns on Thursday, April 4, and runs until Saturday, April 6.
The three-day festival promises an immersive experience, boasting more than 30 talented musical and literary minds from across the globe.
Passes and single-day tickets are still available for purchase. Basic three-day passes are available for $120, single-day tickets for Thursday cost $55, and single-day tickets for Friday and Saturday cost $65 each day.
University of Iowa Department of Dance - Friday, March 22, 2024
In Spring 2023, rumors began bubbling up in the Department of Dance. It was exciting news just to hear that the Martha Graham Dance Company was coming to Hancher Auditorium—but even more thrilling was the news that some selected students would have the opportunity to perform Panorama, a large ensemble dance originally choreographed by Martha Graham in 1935.
“I was already interested in working with undergraduates on a project,” explains Katelyn Perez, a talented graduate student who stepped into the role of rehearsal director for Panorama. “When our department chair, Rebekah Kowal, reached out to me about the collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company, it just seemed like the perfect fit.”
The Gazette - Thursday, March 21, 2024
A century of Martha Graham Dance Company’s artistry is coming to the Hancher stage March 29 in “GRAHAM100,” with University of Iowa dance students in the opening spotlight. As the legendary late Martha Graham intended.
“Having the students on the program and (doing) some residency activities, it just makes a world of difference,” Janet Eilber, the company’s artistic director since 2005, said by phone from her office in Manhattan’s West Village.
Little Village - Thursday, March 21, 2024
At just 40 years old, poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib has covered a hell of a lot of ground in his career. A 2021 MacArthur fellow, his work has earned him an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence (for A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance) as well as landed him on the National Book Award longlist (for Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest). He’s the subject of a mural in his hometown of Columbus, commissioned by Cbus Libraries, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the library system in central Ohio. He’s been a visiting professor at institutions including Butler University and the University of Iowa, and he holds an honorary degree in the field of human ecology from the College of the Atlantic.