Laura Ambrose and Martin Andrews in A Midsummer Night's DreamIt's mid-June, and love is in the air... particularly for the actors in Riverside Theatre's Shakespeare Festival who are performing A Midsummer Night's Dream. This Iowa City show boasts stellar performers and a beautiful outdoor stage in City Park - the perfect combination for a magical evening of great theatre. Under Ron Clark's direction, Midsummer lives up to its reputation as Shakespeare's sexiest play, bawdy jokes and all.

Monta Ponsetto, Gary Koos, and Jeff Adamson in Murder at the Howard Johnson'sFew things are tougher, or more pointless, to explain than the reasoning behind why a joke is funny. I think I've got a topper, though: The reasoning for why a joke isn't funny - at least to you - even though a hundred-plus people are roaring at it.