Recommended by Andrew Martineau

The dramatic tension in this short play is high from the get-go, but Taube manages to keep building upon the conflict in unexpected ways. The academic politics are combined with racial prejudice to create a tense yet fascinating take on two teachers with the same job and very different experiences. A great acting challenge and probing questions for the audience. Excellent work!

This play “closes in” page by page with astonishing dialogue that keeps you guessing about the sanity of this man whose paranoia about conspiracy theories has reached a breaking point. Davis had me feeling a wide range of emotions, primarily disgust for Ben’s bigoted rants, and by the end I realized this play could have one only possible ending, and it is perfect. So good!

"Grand Dragon in Power" would make an amazing companion piece with Baker's "Trade with Klan" for an ambitious repertory theatre to produce on separate nights. Both pieces evoke a time and place from long ago in the Midwest that is eerily relevant to today, and not just in one region of the country. Creative non-fiction is a challenge to dramatize, but Baker does it so well and makes it seem so effortless. These plays need audiences to shed light on how one man's thirst for power and unchecked privilege make him increasingly monstrous with each scene. Exceptional on many levels.

This bold play confronts its audience with humor that dares to make us laugh and asks us if it is ever okay to make off-color, generally offensive jokes in the workplace if the coworkers are okay with them. This “if a tree falls in the woods on the wrong ears, do we pretend not to hear it” question is bound to spark a lively discussion about racial and cultural sensitivities when office dynamics change. So very intriguing!

This is a very funny play about death and coming to terms with it and the transition to the next stage. It has some interesting things to say about the value of customer service work and their daily grind, as well as the desire to resist mortality when we still have a full schedule here on Earth. I would love to see the little Zoom image of someone wearing a dinosaur onesie. Inspired comic writing!

I love the rhythm of this play. It deals with two women who followed societal expectations and have lost sight of their aspirations to write. As they lament their choices, the dialogue takes a fascinating rhythmic turn as though they are writing to young girls to inspire them to follow their dreams. A wonderful play that uses form to say something profound about the power of writing, especially for women who realize they can be whatever they want to be and can use the power of language to say it.

This play is an awesome example of how to write a play that is only a few minutes long. Nora Louise Syrian expertly captures the anguish and myriad emotions that writers go through when a critic hits a nerve. The reader offers great counterpoints to the writer’s impulsive behavior and how to be more positive with one’s words, particularly with the written word. Nice work!

This is truly a play for our times. The frightening manipulations of those who may or may not be deluding themselves with the false information they were taught to believe and to accept with blind faith are examined here in a riveting drama by John Minigan. There are no easy answers here, but I see this as a wake-up call for us all. Powerful and highly compelling.

There is beauty in the simplicity of being there for a terminally ill loved one and sharing memories or a rerun on TV together. Scott Cantrell has given us some simple moments in a highly dramatic, heartbreaking scenario that shows what love is and can be when the unimaginable becomes a reality. Very touching piece.

I love how completely original this play is. While it is grounded in realism, a spark of absurdity shines through. I love the very serious idea that it is when we accept the possibility of death, not by choice but by circumstances, we can make peace with it and live life again, recharged. Beautifully done and funny, too!