So far as melodramas go, The Curse of an Aching Heart: Or, Trapped in the Spider's Web is, for me, one of the more tolerable and entertaining works in its genre. Not being a fan of this brand of comedy, I still laughed quite a bit during Thursday's performance at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, as playwright Herbert Swayne's clever wit and director Tom Morrow's pleasingly on-the-verge-of-over-dramatic tone made for an amusing night of comedy.

Playwright Aaron Randolph III has, so far as I know, effectively captured the mental workings of a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in his new drama A Green River. A representation of the chaotic, haunting thoughts likely experienced by some soldiers with PTSD, his play takes us through the memories of a single soldier - from childhood to falling in love to combat to his return home - while the young man revisits his favorite quiet place along a river. And as if the proceedings in Randolph's story weren't enough, he also includes a stunningly moving finale that packs such an emotional punch that I'd be surprised if most, if not all, of Saturday's audience members for the QC Theatre Workshop production aren't still reeling from it.

Euripides' Alcestis marks the first Genesius Guild production of a Greek tragedy I've seen without doing advance research on the play's plot, which I usually do out of fear of being lost. I'm happy to say, though, that I did not get lost in the slightest during Saturday's performance, thanks to the production's clear plot points and dialogue, ample projection from the actors speaking from behind sound-inhibiting masks, and the comfortable flow of Dori Foster's direction. The play is interesting in its exploration of fate, and also entertaining by way of costumer Ellen Dixon's simple yet elegant designs (particularly for the women in the chorus), Earl Strupp's aesthetically pleasing masks (with their glittery colors and wisps of escaped locks of hair), and the cast's earnest characterizations.

Quad City Music Guild's Cabaret is at its most entertaining whenever Bryan Tank's Emcee graces the stage - "graces" being a somewhat incorrect term, as it's the actor's unflinching commitment to his character's blatantly sexual nature that's so engaging. With his impressive German accent and convincing characterization of unabashed debauchery, Tank punctuates the beguilement of his Emcee by way of sexual gestures that seemed to titillate Thursday's preview-performance audience, at least judging by the large amounts of laughter mixed with amused shock. (This was most notable during the threesome pelvic thrusts and other dance steps in Cabaret's "Two Ladies" number, one of several deliciously bawdy pieces choreographed by Emma Williams.)