Katie Wesler, Marcia Sattelberg, and Erica Vlahinos in the Timber Lake Playhouse's The Spitfire GrillOn Thursday, I attended the Timber Lake Playhouse musical The Spitfire Grill, and caught another presentation of the piece - this time at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre - the very next night. I'm actually somewhat disappointed that no additional area venues staged the show over the weekend, because even after two outstanding Spitfire Grills in a row, I would've happily made time for more.

Jim Driscoll, Stephanie Moeller, John Weigandt (foreground), Alec Peterson, and Travis Hedman (background) in Treasure IslandThe Playcrafters Barn Theatre's take on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure novel Treasure Island - adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig - certainly kicks off with a dynamic start. Director, lighting director, and set designer Jennifer Kingry's impressive recreation of a lightning storm is ominous and tense, as is the first scene aboard a pirate ship, and if the play's pirates portray any sense of threat, it is in these opening minutes, as they snarl at and descend upon a perceived traitor and treasure-map thief. The storm ends, however, as does the scene, and the rest of the play lacks the excitement set up at the start.