Let your Spidey sense tingle

6/3/2026

Iowa Stage Theatre Company has a penchant for bringing unique programming through its play selections, and this thoughtfully developed niche of theirs gives Iowa audiences a deep dive into wonderful theatre. Samantha Hurley’s undeniably dark, comedic, brilliant script, “I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire,” is their next journey into great live theatre. 

Marvel at a deeper glimpse into this show.

CS: What made “I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire” such an appealing show for central Iowa audiences?

ISTC: We wanted to stay true to our commitment to provide audiences with relevant stories that enlighten, entertain and inspire. This play fit the bill. It is written by Samantha Hurley, a new playwright making her name in the comedy world who originally wrote this show as a one-act and committed to its potential. Since its first production in 2023, it has been making a direct appeal to those who lived in and through the Y2K years. We are committed to classic and contemporary productions. This is one of our contemporary plays this season, which we believe will appeal to the weirder, riskier and more adventurous theater goer. This production is unlike any other this city has seen. 

CS: What is synopsis? 

ISTC: To cope with the absence of her father, neglect from her mother and ridicule by her classmates, eighth-grader Shelby Hinkley has put all of her time and energy into the only thing that matters in 2004: Spiderman. When leading a devout online fan club proves insufficient to her needs, Shelby decides to risk it all for love, kidnap famous actor Tobey Maguire, and marry him in her basement. Her fantasies of happily ever after start to crumble as she realizes Tobey may not be the charismatic heartthrob she thinks she knows. A Y2K farce, this is a full-throttle explosion of our para-social relationships and the obsessions that detonate them.

CS: What themes does the story share?

ISTC: It touches on that time in our lives where we start to fall out of adolescence and into the unknown nature of adulthood. Masked beneath the nostalgia and poking between the lines of the script, we are met with themes of para-social relationships, obsession and the ways in which we cope with hard times.

CS: Talk about presenting this show in the intimate Stoner Theater space.

ISTC: Author Samantha Hurley writes: “This is for the girlies who were writing One Direction fan fiction and also for One Direction, hiding in the back of restaurants, sprinting to the car to avoid the aforementioned girlies. This is for anyone who has ever kissed a glossy Tiger Beat poster in their room — and also for Zac Efron, who undoubtedly has to put up with many people saying that they used to kiss posters of him.”

Farce and music abound

Tallgrass Theatre Company’s Summer Concert Musical at the bucolic Jamie Hurd Amphitheater has become a summer staple for central Iowa performing arts’ scene. This year presents a rare opportunity to experience a seldom-produced gem, “Side Show.” Based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, who become stars during the Depression, this musical has the Des Moines Community Orchestra underscoring the performance with a full 20-piece orchestra. Tallgrass has developed a vibrant producing entity, built on an all-volunteer, mission focused talent base. “Side Show” is sponsored by The West Des Moines Community Foundation, a reflection of their unofficial status as West Des Moines’ community theatre. 

“Noise Off!” promises to rock the John Viars Theatre at the Des Moines Playhouse with uproarious laughter. “It’s a funny, funny show. It’s very physical,” Catie Miller, the Dotty Otley of the show, said.

Joe Smith (who portrays Selsdon Mowbray), adds, “It’s a two-story set that has to have a little movement. It’s not something every company can produce. It’s what I call the err-farce, the farce by which all other farces in the world are measured. It keeps throwing things at the audience through all three of its acts. It’s just so funny.

“An early play, ‘The Two of Us,’ (veteran UK playwright Michae Frayn) was watching them backstage and was watching them go through all the machinations backstage and he thought, ‘This is more fun than the actual play.’ He wrote a short draft in 1977 of this called ‘Exits,’ and his partner said that he should make this into a full play, which happened in 1982.”

We get to see this brilliant script in the hands of one of America’s best community theaters, and it should be a marvelous experience. ♦

John Busbee produces The Culture Buzz, a weekly arts and culture radio show on www.kfmg.org, covering Iowa’s arts scene with an inclusive sweep of the cultural brush. He received the Iowa Governor’s Arts Award for Collaboration and Partnership in the Arts. He has performed in more than 100 musicals, including many leading roles.