Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

Riffing on the classics? Posing questions about who's really the monster? Limbs? In a night of shorts, this would be the one I wouldn't shut up about at the bar afterwards. I'll say it, I'm certainly the target audience for this play. But maybe you are too. Maybe you're not. Either way, check it out, because Lang-Bush has built a tremendously fun little Beowulf soup. It feels dangerous, and a team of actors and designers would have a hell of a time cooking this up.

Portraying Lovecraftian insanity runs the same dangerous pitfall of ye old sci-fi aliens. How do you truly create something not biased through the human lens of being alive? Soucy does a damned excellent job of not only crafting a fitting homage to Chambers' iconic work, but building a playground where true madness reigns. There's no sense to be found here, except the rules are actually quite plain. Also, a neat question for our turbulent times. What would you do to keep your theatre open?

As weather forces four women (one couple, one mother & daughter) to take shelter, things get weirder, then so. much. redder? There’s blood in this play. Lots. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. An incredible exploration of female rage in contemporary society, but also what it means to care for your loved ones and aid them w/o succumbing to toxic positivity. Sometimes, shit sucks, and like blood, you can’t just wash it away. Not easily. This is delightful, vibrant horror, and it’s excellent.

What do you do with your rage when the system not only functions via injustices, but thrives on them? Espinosa’s play explores the question at every angle, tossing a firecracker into a pressure cooker. The tension and anger and exasperation and betrayal, every one is palpable in every line and every image. A heart-wrenching look into being a woman of color in America, and the mental anguish inside those trying to do something, anything amidst so much corruption.

When you love someone, you accept them as they are. Right? All of them. Their faults. Their fantasies. Their obsessions. No. Matter. What.

When you realize where Oty’s expertly paced play is taking you? Hot goddamn. This is a delicious dive into murky waters, and the ethical dilemmas and questions raised by Therese’s innocent inquires are a perfect meal for actors and designers willing to bite. A fantastic show for any company looking to add some classy, modern horror to their line-up.

A humorous, yet terrifying snippet of where we’re probably headed. The idea of an A.I assistant or offshoot attempting to warn humanity is delightfully intriguing, giving the piece the paranoia and uncertainty of any “Body Snatchers” or slow invasion story. Not to mention the fun the actors will have in bringing these programs to life, you’ve got a winning little horror at hand here.

Greta von Ghoul is an instant icon. Honestly, this whole cast is, because I could listen to these adventures week after week. LeBlanc’s short caper is pitch-perfect, evoking old-fashioned, yet madcap 1930s adventure. The delightful dash of supernatural horror and the settings are the cherries on top. As Greta would say to Mister Murphy, this audio play “amuses me so.” Excellent work.

Oof. This is gut-punch after gut-punch. Puller's anthology dives into speculative (yet all far too real and relatable) scenes of what young artists (or their parents) encounter in the vast jungle of theatre education. It's something younger generations are only tuning into now, the idea that good art shouldn't have to come from suffering. If anything, are we being taught that our passions are worth abuse and pain, no matter who it comes from? What are we willing to put up with for the show to go on? Amazing, timely, and thought-provoking, no matter the age of the audience.

Breathtaking. This is a poignant monologue of the miraculous trauma that is being alive in a world (a universe) growing growing growing. In these short pages, Syran’s muser remarks on all of social media, the good, the bad, the in-between, as well how everything we encounter changes us (and us them), and makes us into the people we become. Deftly layered and beautiful in every way. And even though it’s a dog in the monologue, it makes me wanna hold my kitty.

There’s something to be said for the NPX headcanon we’re slowly and collectively forming. I eat cats (I do not eat cats), Jacquie Floyd might be a gangster (she is probably not…I won’t take my chances), Chris Plumridge has WAY too much insight into all of us. I adore how humbling this place is, and that so much good-natured frivolity is instrumental in the creation of fun, new plays. RFWs latest crime short is taut and dripping with dread. It’s great stuff, but the meta makes it extra special.