Kitty: I love this musical. The 1982 movie adaptation was a favorite of mine growing up. But I had forgotten that this show takes place at Christmas! So it’s a nice little holiday treat, as well.

Mischa: True, though you'll most likely leave the theater humming “Tomorrow” or “Hard Knock Life,” not “A New Deal for Christmas.”

Everyone knows that Christmas is a time for peace on Earth and goodwill to men. Unless, of course, you’re an ever-opinionated but lovable first-grader who, in director Kiera Lynn's Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, is brought from page to stage, hilariously, by portrayer Natalie Scheers.

If anyone can parody a parody -- along with its early roots, its subsequent wannabes, plus a bunch of random stuff -- it's Calvin Vo and T Green, founders of the theatrical troupe Haus of Ruckus, and their posse of benign troublemakers. They do so spectacularly in Dojo to Go, now running at St. Ambrose University's Studio Theatre, written by the prodigious pair and directed by Vo.

Shakespeare is the staple of theatre and has been for centuries. Augustana College’s latest production, The Comedy of Errors, presents one of the Bard’s more oft-told tales: that of two twins with identical names who get into increasingly absurd situations. Directed with aplomb by Jeff Coussens, this is a classic story for fans of laughter.