Once the Holme’s method of crime solving gets going there is no stopping that process. Beside the goose caper, once Holmes discovers that said goose had a large blue carbuncle jewel belonging to the Countess of Morcar, they mystery is “on.” With the help of the game cast of players and foley artists with sprinkles of Christmas songs, the case is a fun dash of Christmas intrigue.

Ian Barford is terrific as the perplexed stranded Aviator who learns to rekindle his creative instincts through his interactions with The Little Prince. Amelia Hefferon, in her first professional acting debut, give a heartfelt, charming performance as the wise yet innocent little prince. The moral lessons here including challenging our perspective as to what is really matters in life are splendidly presented. Passion, honest, and trust abound throughout. Children and adults can enjoy this amazingly pleasing theatrical event together

Neil LaBute is like a bitter herbal tea, it (and he) is an acquired taste. I generally like and admire his plays. he sure has a glowing in Chicago due to the numerous productions of his work at Profiles Theatre. LaBute’s autobahn was produced there in 2006 and it played as a series of dark comic vignettes. The fledgling Awkward Pause Theatre’s production of autobahn, now playing at The Den, is devoid of much of the dark humor. Rather this play-cycle is composed of seven two character skits.

Playwright Molly Smith Metzler seems to be writing an attack on the rich class Americans in her strange new work Elemeno Pea. It starts as a dark comedy about the obnoxious rich that explodes into a dark tale of psychological abuse. Strange. This show is filled with characters that are not remotely empathetic. We dislike all of them and we hate most of them but don’t care about any of them. That presents a problem for a play.