Recommended by Andrew Martineau

What makes this short play so spellbindingly unique is that it challenges our assumptions of what candy is and what it is used for. I for one have always thought of confections as one symbol of what makes life worth living. Hannah Lee DeFrates takes that treasured feeling of blissful indulgence and turns it upside and offers a mysterious, surreal feeling of grief and distorted reality (if we even believe that reality to be distorted). This is the kind of theatre I love—so theatrical, so visceral and so unabashedly absurd. Delicious!

Few events in life are as life-changing and life-affirming as the birth of a child. Marj O’Neill Butler showcases the fears, the joys, and the regrets leading up the big moment. I loved the unusual, unexpected friendship that evolves in a few minutes in the waiting room between a jittery new dad and a grandma feeling left out of her own grandchild’s delivery. Wonderful dialogue and heartwarming ending!

Joe and I share a love of ghost stories, so I was very intrigued by this premise. I love that it has no easy, simplified answers to what lies beyond, or gives us a reassuring sense that transitions after life will automatically bring us closure. What is breathtaking in this play is how we as humans crave connection, love and peace, and how grief comes to us in complicated and confusing stages. The stakes are high, the dialogue is beautifully written, and so much is expressed in a brief moment in time. Beautiful!

Christopher Soucy’s hilarious take on a story that has frustrated middle school kids for decades is perfect for today’s audiences. It expands the original, famously ambiguous tale to reflect contemporary worries of maintaining trust in committed relationships and game show-style buffoonery. I would love to see what some talented comic actors would do with this, but the comedy is all there in the writing. I loved it!

It is easy to forget how far we have come in the past sixty years or so when it comes to issues such as adoption and interracial families, but Alli Hartley-Kong presents a tense yet captivating short play with a couple who cannot conceive a child and a racist father who cannot conceive of the idea of having a grandchild from another race. Paul is struggling with many issues of his own in his attempt to be, as he says, “normal.” Fascinating conflict that is well written and still very topical. Well done!

As a special education teacher, I was moved by the genuinely loving but splintered relationship between this father and son on the autistic son’s twentieth birthday. The dialogue is very believable and the dramatic revelation is touchingly poignant. This will surely spark important discussions in post-performance talkbacks about how children, all children need honesty, security, and, most of all, love.

Nobody likes to think about traffic tickets, much less the ordeal of paying the fines, or worse, having to appear in court. So much better to laugh about it, and John Busser writes some hilarious dialogue to help us forget about those sirens going off after we roll past the stop sign. I would love to see this onstage!

This is a very topical play that has a clear message about acceptance and respect in our educational system. There is a dramatic narrative that is suspenseful and engaging, and it was satisfying to see one of the characters get a shock to THEIR close-minded way of thinking. Well done!

Release. It is such a loaded word. Does it mean we can exhale, or are we pulling a trigger? Could it be both? Sagar Hemphill's short play of a life-changing moment in a BFF relationship offers incredible subtlety and contrast. I love the idea of a ritual involving wine and hummus, of decompressing with a friend, being altered forever over one friend's admission. I would love to see this play onstage with strong actors.

Grief causes unexpected ways of thinking and feeling. Joe Swenson was written a dramatic play that honors fallen soldiers and shows the strength, courage and uncompromising fatigue of the family members who endure the loss. Highly original, thought-provoking, and moving.