Recommended by Conor McShane

A lovely short play that touches on some deep emotions in only a few pages, giving us just enough but leaving just as much unsaid. Chelsea's desire to save the feral cat strikes me as a yearning for some sense of comfort and stability in her life, a sense of hope to cling to.

A carefully observed coming out story that eschews melodrama for something much more subtly and believably rendered, with four sympathetic, complex characters. The play beautifully reminds us that acceptance might not be easy, but with love it's always possible.

A nicely understated, surprisingly tender ten minutes that gets at some big questions - what is justice, who gets to enact it, and what does it do to our souls? The play doesn't present any of these characters as being "right," but allows them all to have their own, equally understandable points of view.

The plays of Francesca Pazniokas have been one of my favorite recent discoveries on NPX. Her work is macabre, grotesque, funny, and always moving in unexpected directions. I loved the sort of dark fairytale vibe of this play, and I appreciate how it doesn't prescribe how to pull it off, leaving it completely in the minds of the reader or the company producing it.

As someone who frequently over-analyzes pop culture, I very easily saw myself in this play. They're such well-drawn characters that their choices, however regrettable, feel real and relatable, even as we cringe at their bad judgment.

A consistently compelling and surprising play with some nifty twists and turns. The relationships between Laura Beth, Ethan, and Hope are subtly, believably rendered, making what happens next all the more unsettling. The fact that it feels like there's so much more story to tell speaks to the author's skill at giving us just enough to always keep us wanting more, something the wannabe authors in the slush pile would do well to learn!

Highly clever and funny postmodern supervillain story that could've easily been a one-joke premise, but on the contrary manages to say something poignant about our capacity for good or evil, and the limited choices for the marginalized in society. I'd love to see this brought to life in all its melty, mantis-y glory!

A fascinating, compelling play exploring the intersections of womanhood, creativity, abuse, and conflicting facets of feminism that also works as an effectively eerie horror story. The Welles sisters are so beautifully rendered and sympathetic, even at their darkest moments. A haunting piece that holds you all the way through its chilling ending.

A warm and funny play that takes a premise ripe for broad comedy and turns it into something more thoughtful, moving, and yes, sexy. I love that we're presented with a vision of the future that, while not without its problems, at least seems to be moving in a better direction.

Wow. A wonderfully freaky play that serves as an effective parable of the dangers of religious dogma divorced from reality and a ripping good slice of sci-fi horror to boot. An incredibly effective read that I would absolutely love to see on stage!