Geneva welcomes Playhouse 38 to a larger venue

We still don't like the thought that the live theater productions of Fox Valley Repertory have gone dark at Pheasant Run Resort. We attended numerous shows there and found all to be delightful entertainment, while also helping to avoid a long commute into downtown Chicago to see a musical or a play.

But there are other places to see talented people on stage locally, such as Batavia Fine Arts Centre, Steel Beam Theatre and, on occasion, the Norris Cultural Arts Center or Arcada Theatre will offer something along these lines. Small theater venues in Batavia and St. Charles also put on various productions.

Still, it will certainly be nice to welcome an expanded Playhouse 38 in Geneva into this mix. It's a Geneva Park District theater that was previously in the basement of the Urban Grille restaurant, which is now Hache Moderne Brasserie.

We attended a couple of shows in those tight quarters when it was known as the Geneva Underground Playhouse. Much like Steel Beam in St. Charles, the Underground Playhouse put you right on top of the action. But it simply didn't hold enough paying customers or provide proper dressing or prep rooms.

This theater will take on a new meaning in the community when it reopens with about 100 seats at 321 Stevens St. later this summer.

If Pheasant Run doesn't resurface as a theater option, we're glad to see Playhouse 38 making a bolder move.

The wonders of writing: One can really get an appreciation for the written word, and what we've essentially lost through social media and texting, by taking a look at that art when it really meant something.

More so than at most other times in our history, letters from young men serving their countries written to mothers, wives or girlfriends back home really tug at the heart.

One such letter, available at a museum from a Civil War soldier who surely sensed he wasn't going to live see the next day, really stuck with me. He told his wife not to worry, that if she never saw him again he would always be with her.

It had a line or two about anytime his wife was outside on a pleasant day, that he "would be the cool breeze brushing against your face, or the prairie flower blooming near you to spread joy."

It was just great prose, made even more so when considering there was no other way to communicate back then.

In that spirit, it was good to see the Batavia Public Library, Depot Museum and Historical Society complete a project to digitally recreate Civil War letters and diaries written by Batavia soldiers.

Those letters chronicle the experiences of these young men from 1861 to 1865. They may not all be letters written to express love. Some can be straightforward information about what battle was pending or what life in the camps was all about. Still, they are interesting and important.

Numerous letters come from the pen of Cpt. Don Carlos Newton, who was involved in the Battle of Shiloh, and his wife Mary M. Newton. Interested residents can read these and much more at BataviaHistory.org under Batavia's Civil War History.

With a fried egg: After all of these years of sharing with readers - at least on occasion - information about a new restaurant or a good meal I have encountered in the Tri-Cities area, you may find this column note hard to believe. Or, maybe not, depending on your penchant for trying new things on top of an old standby - such as a fried egg on a cheeseburger.

Yes, folks, after our waiter "Nick" at Burger Local in Geneva convinced me that a fried egg was quite good on a burger, I went ahead and put in the order to officially try this for the first time in my life.

In the meantime, I sent a text to our son and asked if he had ever tried this combo, figuring I could always throw Nick a curveball and change the order. Of course, my son had tried it before and said it was great. But he suggested extra napkins.

Anyone who has been to Burger Local in its Third Street location next to the Geneva Metra station parking garage probably understands this next revelation: It seems you can put anything on these burgers and it will taste great.

The fried egg?

It made for a tasty dinner, that's for sure. I wouldn't make a habit of it, but for a first try, my tastebuds felt things turned out just fine.

Pleasant stroll: A community center is an active, somewhat noisy place where kids and adults spend time in various activities, right?

Pottawatomie Community Center offers an alternative with a nice, quiet spot to enjoy. It's a place you forget has been part of this center since shortly after the park district opened it in 1991.

It's the Native Plant Garden that sits behind the building, an area that park district staff takes care of and is designed for a short, pleasant walk.

Kids and games: School is out, right?

Then why has it been so quiet in the neighborhood? Aren't kids supposed to be running around, playing games that don't call for adult supervision, rules or leagues? Or am I stuck in a 1950s time warp and the neighborhoods have been quieter for years?

This may sound crazy in this day and age of video games, large-screen TVs, smartphones and other stuff that simply keep kids inside, but I'll give it a shot.

Would it be so bad if kids played outdoor games that were handed down for generations? You know the games. Pom-Pom Pullaway, Ghost in the Graveyard, Kick the Can, Freezer Tag, Red Rover and others?

Or, maybe not enough people know about these games anymore. Could be we've let these great ways for kids to pass the time - and exercise while doing so - get away from us after all of these years. Sure, our community pools have plenty of kids swimming and having fun. So not all of them are stuck inside.

And who wants to listen to a baby boomer drone on about "when we were kids," in lamenting how things have changed?

Don't get me wrong. A quiet neighborhood is a wonderful thing. I saw a neighbor deeply asleep on his deck for hours the other day.

Such a luxury would have been rare in yesteryear. Screaming kids who found the ghost in the graveyard, or were bellowing, "Red Rover, Red Rover, let Jimmy come over!" would surely have interrupted that pleasant slumber.

dheun@sbcglobal.net