The University of Iowa Division of Performing Arts is preparing to kick off another exciting season with hundreds of live performances in theatre, dance, and music.

Tickets for the 2015-16 season handled through the Hancher Box Office are on sale now, including:

• Mainstage productions of UI Theatre
• ​The School of Music’s Opera and Band Extravaganza
• Numerous productions by the Department of Dance, including Dance Gala and Dancers in Company 

The Hancher Box Office is located in the University Capitol Centre (Old Capitol Mall) in downtown Iowa City. Tickets are available for purchase by phone (319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER) or walk-up between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets are also available online at www.hancher.uiowa.edu/tickets.

Additional detailed event and ticketing information for all Division of Performing Arts events is available online at arts.uiowa.edu.

Department of Theatre Arts

American Idiot
Oct. 16-25
Music by Green Day
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer

The raucous, award-winning, rock and roll spectacular, American Idiot, is coming to the Mabie stage at the University of Iowa! The punk musical chronicles the journey of three young men as they search for meaning in a hypocritical world. A compelling story, unforgettable music, and thrilling movement fill this anthem for a new generation.

Arcadia
Nov. 13-21
By Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard's masterpiece Arcadia unfolds on an English country estate, alternating between the early 19th century and the present day. Love affairs bloom and scandals erupt while Thomasina and her tutor Septimus casually stumble onto the secrets of the universe. Two hundred years later, ambitious scholars Hannah and Bernard search through journals and records that have been collecting dust, racing each other to uncover the estate’s mysterious history. Gradually the veil that separates these two realities disappears, and in a waltz between passion and reason, order and chaos, and life and death, time finally stands still.

Food and Fadwa
Feb. 4-14
By Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader

Having multiple generations of a family under one roof can be challenging, especially when dealing with a delayed wedding, a visit from an annoying expatriate cousin, the arrival of a former love, and a government-imposed five-day house arrest. This is what life in the occupied West Bank is like for the Faranesh family. Food and Fadwa offers a glimpse into the struggles of everyday life under a military occupation. Will the Faranesh family be able to endure as they have in the past? Or will the relentless pressure lead to their disintegration?

Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable)
March 3-12
By Caridad Svich

​Welcome to the future, a 21st-century Brechtian rave. Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable) unleashes a netherworld of trance-steady poetry and ecstasy. In this reincarnation of the classic Greek tale, a ruthless Latin American general plots to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in order to gain the sympathy vote to remain in power. Life is given to Iphigenia through music, movement, songs, multimedia projections, and the women of Juárez. Director and multimedia artist, Mario El Caponi Mendoza, proposes the universal question in the context of this rapid-growing 21st-century techno culture: Is man’s purpose in life to be a sacrificial object?

Lady from the Sea
April 15-24
By Henrik Ibsen
Translated by Rolf Fjelde

Lady from the Sea explores the imprisonment of women by their society, the nature of obsession, and the meaning of freedom through the story of Ellida, a young woman who grew up in a lighthouse. Ellida’s marriage to an older widowed doctor has confined her to a remote town on a fjord in northern Norway where she finds herself longing for the sea while being haunted by visions of her former lover, a sailor. She is confined geographically and psychologically in a stagnant state until her lover returns, and she must fight to make her own choice about her future.

Department of Dance

Dance Gala 2015
Dec. 8-13

UI’s Dance Gala showcases some of the best choreography and dance from one of the most acclaimed dance programs in the country. Come experience the best in dance and choreography—powerful energy, graceful flight, and electrifying performances, including those led by our internationally-acclaimed faculty choreographers.

Dancers in Company Home Concert
Feb. 25-27

The UI’s premier touring dance company, Dancers in Company, bursts onto campus with its hugely popular home concert. Now in its 32nd year, the company presents works by nationally and internationally active faculty and guest choreographers created around this year’s theme of “water.” Using dance to investigate personal, local, and global issues underlying the beauty, vitality, and necessity of water, UI Dance students will perform a thrilling and diverse concert.

UI School of Music

Band Extravaganza
Nov. 9

Get ready for the biggest band event in Iowa! The Hawkeye Marching Band, alongside the UI Golden Girl and Drum Major, perform highlights from the 2015 football halftime shows. Rounding out the evening are powerful performances from the UI Symphony Band and the big band sounds of Johnson County Landmark. Your family will love the music and you’ll love being a part of this Hawkeye tradition.

UI Opera

Sondheim on Sondheim​
Nov. 6-8

Hailed as a “revelatory revue full of wonderful moments” and a “funny, affectionate and revealing tribute to musical theater’s greatest living composer and lyricist,” Sondheim on Sondheim is an intimate portrait of the famed songwriter in his own words…and music.

Puccini One Acts: Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi
April 8-10

Gianni Schicchi is a comedy of a greedy and conniving family who embark on an elaborate scheme to change the will of a wealthy man in order to pursue their own desires. Suor Angelica tells the heartbreaking tale of a nun who is shunned by her family, leading her to a tragic choice. Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica promise a night of deep emotion and uproarious laughter.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the Department of Theatre Arts at 319-335-2700, the Department of Dance at 319-335-2228, or the School of Music at 319-335-1603.