Englert Theatre Announces First Batch of 2012 Events 2/3-3/8

The Englert Theatre has announced the first batch of shows for the Spring Season.

Febuary 3 & 4: The Second City
February 13: Zoe Keating
February 16: Gaelic Storm
February 17: The Capitol Steps
March 8: Hot Tuna - featuring Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane

The Spring Season schedule features both new acts and those familiar to Iowa City. The season kicks off with America's famed comedy troupe, The Second City, returning for two nights of hilarious sketch comedy February 3rd and 4th. On February 13th, avant cellist Zoë Keating uses technology to create intricate, haunting, and compelling music. The always ruckus Gaelic Storm return to Iowa City on February 16th for a signature high-energy, foot-stomping performance. Just in time for the political season, satirists The Capitol Steps take on our favorite political issues live February 17th. Finally, seminal folk-rock band Hot Tuna - featuring bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane - will perform at the Englert on March 8th.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Wednesday, November 2 at noon. Friends of the Englert may purchase advance tickets starting Wednesday, October 26.

The Second City
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8pm and Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 8pm
Tickets: $27 Reserved / $22 Students & Seniors

America's famed comedy troupe, The Second City, is coming to town with its one of a kind Laugh Out Loud Tour. From the company that launched the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and more, comes the next generation of the comedy world's best and brightest in an evening of hilarious sketch comedy and Second City's trademark improvisation.

This presentation is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from Iowa Arts Council, General Mills Foundation, and Land O'Lakes Foundation.

Zoë Keating
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 8pm
Tickets: $18 Reserved Seating / $15 Students & Seniors

Zoë Keating is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music. Zoë is known for both her use of technology - which she uses to sample her cello onstage - and for her DIY ethic which has resulted in the sale of over 40,000 copies of her self-released albums and a devoted social media following.

Born in Canada and classically trained from the age of eight, Zoë spent her 20's working at software startups while moonlighting as a cellist in rock bands. Inevitably, she combined the two and developed her now signature style while improvising for late night crowds at her San Francisco warehouse. Zoë's grassroots, label-less approach has garnered her much public attention and press. She has been profiled on NPR's All Things Considered and awarded a performing arts grant from the Creative Capital Foundation. Zoë is also a governor of the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy, sits on the board of CASH Music and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Zoë has spent much of 2011 touring across North America, young baby in tow, to support her latest album, Into the Trees, which has spent 49 weeks on the Billboard classical charts.

Gaelic Storm
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 8pm
Tickets: Tier 1 $35 / Tier 2 $25

Gaelic Storm are a "whirlwind ruckus" (Village Voice) who tour worldwide for at least two hundred days out of every year. The band interlaces high-energy, foot-stomping performances of original interpretations of Celtic classics and well-crafted originals with endearing stage banter and story-telling that have earned them life-long fans. Gaelic Storm has released 7 albums, all of which have charted on the Billboard World Music Charts including their most recent album, Cabbage which earned the band a #1 hit on both the Billboard and iTunes World Album charts.

The Capitol Steps
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 8pm
Tickets: $30 Reserved Seating / $25 Students & Seniors

Experience political satire at its funniest - and most musical! - with the singing troupe that puts the "mock" in Democracy. Selecting from a repertoire of albums developed over the past thirty years, The Capitol Steps offer a hilarious evening of parody that plays no favorites as they scrutinize our favorite political issues and the scandal of the day.

The Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them. In the years that followed, many of the Steps ignored the conventional wisdom ("Don't quit your day job!"), and although not all of the current members of the Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.

The Capitol Steps have been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS, and can be heard four times a year on National Public Radio stations nationwide during their "Politics Takes a Holiday" radio specials.

Hot Tuna (Special Acoustic Show)
Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 8pm
Tickets: $30 Reserved Seating / $32 Day of Show / $50 Meet & Greet Tickets (limited)

Hot Tuna is a blues-rock band featuring bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane. The pair started as teenagers playing acoustic and electric blues in their hometown of Washington D.C. As Jefferson Airplane was putting together the soundtrack of the 60s, the pair remained loyal to their blues, jazz, bluegrass, and folk influences. While in San Francisco and even in hotel rooms on the road, they would play together and worked up a set of songs that they would often play at clubs in the Bay Area and while on the road. This led to a record contract, and they launched on a musical odyssey which has itself continued for more than 35 years.

In an era in which old bands reunite for one last tour, Hot Tuna can't because Hot Tuna never broke up. They are touring in support of their first studio album in 20 years, Steady As She Goes. The album celebrates the over fifty years Casady and Kaukonen have played together.

Des Moines Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. SPONGEBOB THE MUSICAL (Des Moines Young Artists' Theatre)

23.6% of votes

2. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Des Moines Community Playhouse)

17.8% of votes

3. WAITRESS (Des Moines Playhouse)

17.7% of votes

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