With freshly painted arches and some ghostly trees on the furthest front flats, set designer Miranda Callahan’s work on Medea was interesting enough to generally distract me from the gnats that were apparently immune to insect repellent.

A Tony Award-winning classic that, according to the New York Telegram, "ranks with Dracula and sometimes sets your spine to as much tingling," author Maxwell Anderson's legendary stage chiller Bad Seed enjoys a June 14 through 23 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this powerfully creepy entertainment the inspiration for an Oscar-nominated movie and a work shortlisted for the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It took time for some of the performers in director John Donald O'Shea's production at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre to fully inhabit their roles; consequently, I was slow to warm up to the show. But I did. The compelling mystery aspects enter the script late, too, but are ultimately engrossing.

Praised by USA Today as a Broadway hit of "uncynical warmth and charm," the Tony-nominated Tarzan: The Musical swings into Moline's Spotlight Theatre for an area-debut run from June 7 through 16, this theatrical adaptation of Disney's Oscar-winning animated film boasting magical stagecraft and delightful tunes including "Two Worlds," "Strangers Like Me," and 1999's Academy Award champion ""You'll Be In My Heart."