James Bleecker, Steve Lasiter, and Cari Dowling in The Rocky Horror ShowMaybe it's because co-founders Tristan Tapscott and Chris Walljasper are finally appearing in one of their venue's shows, or maybe because it's tough not to have fun when watching a dozen people in heavy eyeliner singing and dancing "The Time Warp." But whatever the reason, the Harrison Hilltop Theatre's joyous and fearless production of The Rocky Horror Show feels, to me, like the very first production that's truly the Harrison Hilltop's. Not the author's, not the performers', but the company's as a whole. And it's an inspiring sight to see.

Steven Quartell and Asastasiya Bauswell in La LloronaThe Harrison Hilltop Theatre's latest presentation is playwright Kathleen Anderson-Curado's La Llorona, and you won't be reading the review I originally set out to write, because after more than 1,000 words of trying, I couldn't find a way to finish it.

Chris Walljasper and Jaci Entwisle in Promises Promises Chris Walljasper isn't exactly a new face in area theatre, as the actor (and recent co-founder of Davenport's Harrison Hilltop Theatre) appeared in Genesius Guild's and Opera @ Augustana's Patience last year summer, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story this past winter, and, most memorably, Carousel and A Year with Frog & Toad for Rock Island's The Green Room.

Yet it's entirely conceivable that audiences for the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Promises, Promises will watch his performance and, on the drive home, ask one another, "Who was that guy?", because Walljasper is delivering the sort of terrifically engaging and endearing musical-comedy turn that makes you wonder why you haven't seen even more of him.