Each time I've attended a show at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, I'm astonished by both the acting and technical brilliance. We had some great performers and techies during my St. Ambrose days, to be sure – but our theatre certainly wasn't equipped like this one. However, my justifiable envy doesn't lessen my enjoyment while at Augustana, including at Tuesday's dress rehearsal for The 39 Steps, directed by theatre professor Jeff Coussens.

I'll admit I was never a hearty fan of the Animaniacs approach, and as such, found it difficult to fully appreciate this production’s comedic offerings. But note: Just because this particular brand of comedy isn’t my personal favorite doesn’t mean that others on Saturday didn’t wholly love it.

Praised by Chicago Theatre Review as an "enthralling" play "that audiences who like their entertainment spiced with controversy and seasoned with today’s headlines will absolutely enjoy," author Eleanor Burgess' The Niceties runs at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre March 11 through 27, the work lauded by the New York Times as “a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States, and it begs to be argued with.”

Winner of two 2008 Tony Awards and the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy of 2007, author Patrick Barlow's slapstick thriller The 39 Steps enjoys a March 10 through 13 run at Rock Island's Augustana College, the show's creative team and its four-person cast sure to demonstrate why the New York Times called this Alfred Hitchcock celebration/spoof an “indomitably funny” comedy of “virtuosic clowning.”