Recommended by Monica Cross

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (AFTER) is a gorgeous short sequel to Shakespeare's play. This play bathes us in beautiful language and fascinating spectacle! I want to see it staged. I want to be a part of staging it!

Did I mention the absolutely stunning language? Verse. Rhyme. The entire play just sounds good.

THE WONDERFUL OUT THERE is a hard hitting play beautifully executed with love and compassion. Dave Osmundsen gives us a story about a group of kids whose searching and longing is so powerful it transcends life and death. This piece highlights the abuse faced by many neurodivergent children.

This is a captivating story that will make for a heartfelt evening of theatre, but it is also a memorial and a call to action that deserves a spotlight center stage.

This play has so stuck with me that I am shocked I have not recommended it before now! POSTPARTUM threads the line between what is nightmare and what is reality. Jillian Blevins creates a heart stopping horror that would be the talk of any one act festival. With rich work for actors and audio designers, this play is the sort of thing production teams want to sink their teeth into.

The Tragedie of King John Falstaff is an alternate history to Shakespeare Henry V. Michael C. O'Day creates a delightful scenario (Glendower's Revenge Magic), high spectacle (a talking head mounted on a sacrificial alter), and gorgeous language ("I would dam the river Lethe, and divert its natural course, that I might pour it raging down my throat, and become oblivion itself.") Every Shakespeare lover should add this to their reading list!

I want to see this play produced!

Heartburn is a Daniel Prillaman classic! Going to the doctor can be scary and having an unknown pain can be alarming, but this play takes both of those to a whole new level! This goes from unsettling to mind blowing in a matter of heartbeats. What a fantastic scene for actors! This play would also make a great radio drama.

FRESH HELL is one of the most stressful and tense plays I've read in a long time. I could feel my insides twisting to knots as this mother and father stare at their computer. This play would be a riot on stage!

This is such a fun 10-minute play! As I read IN A WORLD..., I could hear Voiceover Guy's voice! John Busser has written (in announcer voiceover voice) "A play that keeps you laughing at ever turn."

This would be the highlight of any 10-minute play festival. I imagine actors would have a delightful time working on this show.

Without going into details, David Hansen clues us in to exactly what has happened! And that laugh out loud ending also serves as a cautionary reminder for us all. A delightful short play! Bravo!

What a powerhouse of a solo show! From the opening set up I was on the edge of my seat all the way until the final shoe drops. LET ME KNOW IF I HURT YOU is a funny coming of age story, but it also packs an emotional punch. Dave Osmundsen masterfully navigates us through all the ins and out of the character's gay autistic experience of his first intimate relationship.

I was struck by Bob's words: "I wanted to get the hell out of childhood. I wish I let myself wait a bit longer."

WHAT A WILD RIDE! I love a good body horror, and Jillian Blevins delivers! (see what I did there?) I heard an informal zoom reading of TOADS!!! (the exclamation points are vital) and absolutely laughed the whole way through it. It is delightful, surprising, and horrifying in equal measures! PLEASE PRODUCE THIS PLAY!