The shows of early summer.

June through mid-July were busy times, in part because Kathy was directly involved in a show and we took a road trip in early July. But that doesn't mean there wasn't time for theater!

I caught the one-night staged reading of "Bleacher Bums" at Theatre Alliance and enjoyed my time with the baseball fans in the bleachers. That was followed by seeing Kathy's show, the upbeat, slightly jingoistic musical "Kilroy Was Here." KLT produced it at the usual school auditorium setting, but used the space nicely and made for the type of show that, if you have the slightest sense of patriotism, was going to bring a few tears to your eyes. I enjoyed it both times.

We also fit in an interesting show, "The Illusion," at Triad Stage, and I went by myself to see the amusing and well-done "Xanadu" at Theatre Alliance. The latter one would not mistake as an intellectual exercise, but a lot of laughs can be fun, too.

While on the road, we had an outdoor-play experience in Chillicothe, Ohio. Our young actor friend, Carson Elizabeth Gregory, is up there this summer as part of the cast of "Tecumseh!". We had no idea until we read the souvenir program that she was one of the leads. Awesome! Even if it was 94 degrees and just a few days after the big storm that blew through Ohio, West Virginia and other places, we had a lot of fun there.

On our way home, we stopped through Shepherdstown, WV to see four of the five plays being offered at the 2012 version of the Contemporary American Theater Festival. I've previously reported on my two earlier visits to this always at-least-interesting event. (I skipped last year.)

Of the four shows, "Barcelona" and "In a Forest, Dark & Deep" (a recent Neil LaBute) were quite good, but not as compelling as the other two. "The Exceptionals" and "Gidion's Knot" were both outstanding in their own way. The first delved into the intriguing issue of children being born to carefully-selected women using sperm-bank donations by male geniuses - and the divide that it would create. "Gidion's Knot" is tough to describe without giving away the story, but it was intense and challenging, the way I often like 'em.

Andy and Sarah were able to join us for two of the shows, and we visited with Kathy's senior-year-of-college roommate, Lissa, who used to work at CATF and still lives in the area.

We moved along through July with two other shows: a nicely-done teenaged cast version of "Into the Woods" done at the new space for Open Space Cafe Theatre in Greensboro, followed by an impressive Triad premiere of the musical "Spring Awakening." Another young friend actor of ours, Mike Shapiro, played the male lead, Melchior, and did a fine, fine job of it!

Then after a fairly long absence, we took off for New York City. And that's my next report. Soon.