Each time I've attended a show at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, I'm astonished by both the acting and technical brilliance. We had some great performers and techies during my St. Ambrose days, to be sure – but our theatre certainly wasn't equipped like this one. However, my justifiable envy doesn't lessen my enjoyment while at Augustana, including at Tuesday's dress rehearsal for The 39 Steps, directed by theatre professor Jeff Coussens.

It was thrilling to walk into the Playcrafters Barn Theatre on Saturday and see a large crowd for Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, as about four-fifths of the seats were occupied. And director Teresa Moore, along with her staff, crew, and cast, put together a smooth-running, well-paced, lively, and all-around-enjoyable production.

Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some) is a 2007 comedy by John K. Alvarez, Michael Carleton, and James FitzGerald, I saw it at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre on Thursday's opening night, and it stars Jonathan Grafft as Jonathan, Nathan Johnson as Nathan, and Mike Kelly as Mike. These could be the parts they were born to play.

I fell hard in love with playwright Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters the first time I saw it at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre in the summer of 2019. We trysted again that fall at Augustana College. I was consequently happy, on Saturday, to enjoy a new rendezvous at St. Ambrose University. Director Daniel Rairdin-Hale and the show's staff, crew, and cast have assembled a singularly beautiful, big-scale-impressive production of Nguyen's play.