Marquis Series
The Coe College Marquis Series has a long tradition of bringing high-quality entertainment and outstanding lecturers to the Cedar Rapids community — the kinds of performances that you would typically have to travel to major metropolitan areas to experience and enjoy.
The Marquis Series brings intellectually and culturally enriching performances and presentations to the Coe campus for the benefit of the entire community. Over the decades, the series has hosted nationally renowned speakers, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, theater and comedy troupes, and more on Coe’s campus. The series was created by a gift from the estate of Sarah Marquis in honor of her father, Dr. John A. Marquis, who was president of Coe College from 1909-1920.
Individual tickets to each Marquis Series event are available at no charge to Coe students, faculty and staff. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for senior citizens (55 and older) and non-Coe students (18 and under). Tickets for Marquis Series events may be obtained by clicking here or by visiting or calling the Coe College Box Office at 319.399.8600 (Monday - Friday, 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM). Tickets are also available at the door in Sinclair Auditorium on the night of each event.
Inquiries about the series may be directed to marquisseries@coe.edu
UPCOMING EVENTS
Izumi Ashizawa presenting: Kurogo Me!
Friday, October 18, 2024 | 7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium Stage
Izumi Ashizawa is a Japanese-
born-raised-trained performance art practitioner and visual artist. Specialized in cross-cultural trans-media performance art, she reinterprets Japanese traditional codes and places them in a different context to give a new meaning through physical story-telling, unconventional puppetry and object animation. Izumi returns to the Coe College for the Marquis Series with Kurogo Me! where she will invite the audience into an intimate immersive experience. The theme of the performance is an “invisible” woman character dressed in Kurogo costume. She will utilize the Japanese traditional code, questioning the meaning of being “invisible” in racial, social, gender and colonial perspectives.
Izumi’s collaborative projects and original performances span internationally. She has performed in the U.S.A., Japan, the U.K., Canada, the First Nation in Quebec, Turkey, Iran, Norway, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Russia, Estonia, Australia, the Cayman Islands, Greece, Cyprus, Peru and Greenland. Izumi has won numerous awards including the Medal of Honor for Cultural Excellence from the City of Piura in Peru, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Faculty Achievement Award Excellence in Directing and Technology, Capital Fringe Director’s Award, UNESCO-Aschberg Award, IIFUT Best Performance Award, Tehran Municipality Culture and Arts Organization Award, Australian Government Fund for the Arts and Norwegian Cultural Fund. Izumi serves as a faculty at the State University of New York Stony Brook. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
PAST EVENTS
Huntertones
Friday, March 1, 2024 | 7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Huntertones brings people together around the globe with fun,
imaginative and fearless music. Their high energy, horn-driven sound features genre bending composition and unconventional covers, all celebrating the joy of music. Now in their 10th year together, their latest release, Engine Co. is six live songs, serving as a reminder both to Huntertones and their listeners that the best way to get to the heart of any song is simply in the moment.
For more information on this act please visit: www.huntertones.com
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Thursday, September 28, 2023 | 7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
After transforming himself from an incarcerated teenager into
a critically acclaimed writer, graduate of Yale Law School and a
MacArthur Fellow (also known as a genius grant), Reginald Dwayne Betts is bringing his experiences to Coe College. He will relay his story and the role that grit, perseverance and literature has played in his success through his one-man performance, “Felon: An American Washi Tale,” directed by Elise Thoron.
For more information on this speaker please visit:
www.simonspeakers.com/author/betts-reginald-dwayne
Co-Sponsors for this event:
Prison Learning Initiative
African American Studies program
Frank Warren: Post Secret Live
Friday, February 17, 2023
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Post Secret creator Frank Warren introduced the world to a collection of highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world. What started as a community arts project exploded in popularity; since Post Secret’s inception in 2004, Warren has received over one million anonymous secrets on homemade postcards. Warren’s project has raised over $1,000,000 for suicide prevention, earning him the Mental Health Advocacy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Post Secret postcards have been exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Warren engages audiences with inspiring and funny stories behind the secrets, discusses the Post Secret blog and how it led him to make suicide awareness part of his life’s work, and demonstrates that through our secret struggles and adversity, we can help others.
Nobuntu
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Nobuntu, the female a cappella quintet from Zimbabwe, has drawn international acclaim for its inventive performances that range from traditional Zimbabwean songs to Afro Jazz to Gospel. The ensemble’s concerts are performed with pure voices, augmented by minimalistic percussion, traditional instruments such as the Mbira (thumb piano) and organic authentic dance movements. The word Nobuntu is an African concept that values humbleness, love, unity and family from a woman’s perspective. The ensemble represents a new generation of young African women singers who celebrate and preserve their culture, beauty, and heritage through art. The ensemble’s mission is the belief that music can be an important vehicle for change, one that transcends racial, tribal, religious, gender and economic boundaries.
Winona LaDuke
Native American Activist, Environmentalist, and Former Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Winona LaDuke is a Harvard-educated economist, environmental activist, author, hemp farmer, grandmother and a two-time former Green Party Vice President candidate with Ralph Nader. LaDuke specializes in rural development, economic, food and energy sovereignty and environmental justice. Living and working on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, she leads several organizations including Honor the Earth (co-founded with The Indigo Girls 28 years ago), Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute, Akiing and Winona’s Hemp. These organizations develop and model cultural-based sustainable development strategies utilizing renewable energy and sustainable food systems. She is also an international thought leader and lecturer in climate justice, renewable energy and environmental justice, plus an advocate for protecting Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering. She has written seven books including, Recovering the Sacred, All Our Relations, Last Standing Woman, The Winona LaDuke Chronicles and her newest work, To Be A Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigo Slayers.
Dr. Temple Grandin, “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”
Thursday, September 23, 2021
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Dr. Temple Grandin is a prominent animal behavior scientist and autism advocate. Well-known as a professor and scholar of animal behavior who made important contributions to the livestock industry, Grandin has also spoken widely about her experiences with autism and her ability to “think in pictures.” She notes that while some people are good at art, others at math, and still others at writing, she is an extreme visual thinker for whom words narrate the pictures in her imagination. In this presentation, Grandin will discuss varied types of thinking and why the world needs diverse thinkers. She makes the case that the world needs the thinking of those on the autism spectrum, including visual, pattern, and verbal thinkers. Different kinds of minds have skills that complement each other and the world needs all kinds of minds engaged in solving its complex problems.
Mandy Harvey and her band
Friday, November 5, 2021
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Mandy Harvey is an American jazz singer and songwriter; she is also deaf. While pursuing a vocal music education major at Colorado State University, Harvey lost her residual hearing at age 18 due to a neurological disorder. She left the program and pursued other career options but soon returned to music. Harvey quickly became a regular performer at venues in Fort Collins and Denver, including some of the world’s top jazz venues. Her first album, "Smile," was released to widespread praise in 2009. Since then, she has released additional critically acclaimed albums: "After You’ve Gone" (2010), "All of Me" (2014), "Nice To Meet You "(2019) and "Masterpiece" (2021). She was the winner of a 2015 Inspiration Award from the Invisible Disabilities Association and was a contestant during season 12 of “America’s Got Talent” (2017). Though her hearing loss is profound, Harvey’s timing, pitch and passion are perfect. Join Harvey and her full band in sensing the rhythm during this exciting musical performance.
Mad River Theater Words presents “Freedom Riders”
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
"Freedom Riders" is the latest addition to the series of American history plays created by Mad River Theater Works. Through original songs and music, the play explores the valiant and courageous personalities behind one of the most critical events in the Civil Rights Movement. Set in 1961, 15 years after the United States Supreme Court had outlawed segregation, bus lines and cities throughout the South still enforced a rigid system of separating black and white citizens. The Freedom Riders, a group of black and white Americans from both the North and the South, decided to travel together on buses that crossed state lines, despite the hateful segregation and racism that had a strong hold in so many parts of the United States. "Freedom Riders" depicts the unforgettable heroes behind this event and demonstrates the importance of working together to affect change.
“Secrets of My Heart”
Sarah McKenzie Jazz Vocalist
Friday, March 6, 2020
7:00 PM Sinclair Auditorium
Sarah McKenzie is an internationally celebrated jazz vocalist, pianist and composer. Originally from Australia, McKenzie now resides in the U.S. and tours internationally, with recent performances in France, Brazil, Korea and Japan. McKenzie is known for her brilliance interpreting 20th-century jazz standards for 21st-century audiences. Her global following multiplied with the success of her albums “Paris in the Rain'' (2017) and “Secrets of My Heart” (2019). During her performance at Coe, McKenzie will perform selections from "Secrets of My Heart."
Madonna Thunder Hawk and "Warrior Women"
Saturday, February 22, 2020
7:00 PM Sinclair Auditorium
Madonna Thunder Hawk, an Oohenumpa Lakota, is a veteran of every modern Native American occupation from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee in 1973 to the recent NODAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) protest at Standing Rock. An eloquent voice for Native resistance and sovereignty, Thunder Hawk has spoken throughout the United States, Central America, Europe and the Middle East and served as a delegate to the United Nations in Geneva. In the last three decades at home on the Cheyenne River, she has been restoring self-determination to reservation life. The documentary film “Warrior Women” presents the story of Thunder Hawk’s lifelong career fighting for Native liberation and the generations of activists she has inspired. This event will feature a screening of “Warrior Women” as well as remarks by and discussion with Thunder Hawk following the film.
The Second City's Greatest Hits, Vol. 59
Saturday, September 21, 2019
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
When The Second City opened its doors in Chicago in 1959, a comedy revolution began. Some of the biggest names in comedy — from Steve Carell, Keegan-Michael Key and Stephen Colbert to Tina Fey, Chris Farley and Mike Myers — began their careers at The Second City, and its imprint is all over film, television and beyond. The Second City is celebrating 60 years of producing cutting-edge satirical revues with “Greatest Hits, Vol. 59.” In this latest revue, you will see the next generation of comedy superstars put their spin on the legendary comedy company’s greatest hits, rebooted and reimagined for today. Fresh, fast and always spectacularly funny, the sketch comedy, original songs and world-famous improv of The Second City will leave you rolling in the aisles.
Teresa Walters, Pianist
Friday, October 18, 2019
7:00 PM
Sinclair Auditorium
Described by Austrian National Television and The New York Times as “one of the world’s most significant pianists” and “the international first lady of piano,” Teresa Walters’ mesmerizing performances on today’s international stages have earned worldwide praise. She has performed as recitalist and orchestral soloist on six continents and in most of the 50 United States. She is the first American pianist invited to perform at the Franz Liszt Academy and Museum in Budapest. A native of the American Midwest, Walters earned a doctorate from Peabody Conservatory and has lived most of her adult life in the New York City area. This year she is touring internationally with her acclaimed program “Celebrating Our World,” honoring the world’s shared heritage and common humanity.
Cirque Zuma Zuma
Monday, March 11, 2019
7:30 PM Eby Fieldhouse
Performer in an African-style Cirque du Soleil described as an African-style Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Zuma Zuma packs every show with nonstop action and incredible features that keep audiences on the edges of their seats.
Comprised of 120 uniquely talented individuals from across 16 African nations, the nonstop, action-packed Zuma Zuma show features fantastic cirque acrobats who made their North American primetime television debut on America's Got Talent. You'll see African acrobats, jugglers, vocalists and comedy, plus the Limbo and Lion dances.
The cirque spectacle is wrapped in a colorfully costumed troupe of talented artists, including South African vocalists, gumboot dancers and contortionists, Zimbabwean percussionists, Egyptian limbo dancers, Gabonese tumblers, amazing pole acts and many more.