Chris Hicks

If you’re a fan of Monty Python and a Harry Potter nerd (and I know you’re out there), you’ll want to hurry to The Black Box Theatre to take in the wacky and quirky Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, a 2015 original comedy by playwright Matt Cox directed by Kailey Ackerman. The play is a parody of the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling, but from the perspective of the "Puffs": that is, members of the Hogwarts house, Hufflepuff.

…could I get that in a sentence, please? Um…H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S…hilarious! So describes the Quad Cities Music Guild’s current production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee directed by Quad Cities gem: Mike Turczynski.

This was another marathon theatre weekend with shows opening in three different venues. Playcrafters Barn Theatre’s offering is Murder by Poe by Jeffrey Hatcher and is an adaptation from the works of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Pam Cantrell, a well-known Quad Cities actor, makes her directorial debut with this script and, as a first effort, delivers a show worth watching.

OMG! If you’re looking for a raucous good time to escape the oppressive summer heat, I’ve got just the thing: Mean Girls at Countryside Community Theatre with book by the brilliant Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live fame, and under the incandescent direction, choreography, and costuming of Ashley Mills Becher, whose dazzling talent I’ve seen many times at Circa 21 and she outdoes herself with this show. Husband Bobby Becher takes on the task of Music Director and the result of this team is an explosive, riotous, energetic extravaganza of entertainment that will have you out of your seat for a “Standing O.”

Director Tony Parise and his tech team have created an enchanting production true to the film that includes a huge spiral platform to suggest the funnel cloud that whisks Dorothy to the magical land of Oz along with a gingerbread farmhouse front, dancing apple trees, prancing poppies, and madcap munchkins. What can’t be duplicated onstage is accomplished by projections onto the scrim.

Five shows opened this past weekend in various venues. Of these, only Circa 21’s current production will run beyond next weekend. So, if your circumstances dictate that you can only choose one performance to attend next weekend you should choose The Black Box Theatre’s production of Grandma Gatewood Takes a Walk, Catherine Bush’s stage adaptation of Ben Montgomery’s New York Times best seller, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk here directed by the talented Lora Adams.

This show is a raucous, energetic, colorful romp that will set millennials’ toes to tapping especially during Squidward Q. Tentacles real tap dance number.

July has heated up to be as hot as h-e-double hockey sticks with humidity to match so if you’re looking to get out of the house but skip Gehenna I recommend a short jaunt out to Geneseo to take in Richmond Hill Players current production of Heaven Help Me by Joe Simonelli.

Guys and Dolls is a classic musical comedy based on Damon Runyon’s stories about gamblers and showgirls in mythical 1940s New York. It follows the intertwined love stories of high-roller Sky Masterson and missionary Sarah Brown, and craps game organizer Nathan Detroit and his long-suffering fianceé, Miss Adelaide. It premiered on Broadway in 1950, garnering a Tony Award for Best Musical and spawned a film adaption in 1955 starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Frank Sinatra.

Suit up in your SCUBA gear and dive into The Black Box Theatre’s current production of The Shark is Broken by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and directed by Jeremy Littlejohn which chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama of filming of what would come to be the genesis of the summer blockbuster genre “Jaws.”