Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

Look, it's tough out there for actors. If we have to betray the whole human race for a gig, do we really deserve punishment? What about kudos for making the most of an ill-timed alien invasion? It's a bug-eat-human world out there, we gotta push the pavement.

An absolutely hysterical horror comedy one-act filled with some juicy twists and turns. Unrelated and for no apparent reason, I am now hungry. Hmmm.

What happens when sociopaths are taught to hate gay people?

Sickles' epic cycle is chilling, sobering, and succinct. There's a literal underworld to unpack in Luke's motivations. Is he simply someone capable of such depravity, does he genuinely believe his justifications for doing what he does to "little abominations," or does the hate preached by some organized religion simply provide an excellent excuse when tasked to explain yourself? Do they conflate? In Basyl's journey, too, there's also a moving arc about dealing with childhood trauma, and how we can come dangerously close to the monsters we despise. Terrific horror.

Watching a cringey date is like watching a car crash. Oh god you want to look away but you just can't. It's too fascinating. Niall puts his foot in his mouth more times than anyone I've ever seen, and the results are hilarious. What you don't expect is the tender and genuine places the conversation finally leads. Poor Niall has a lot to learn, but at least his heart's in the right place.

Amid the horrors of a political dispute slowly descending into all out apocalyptic armageddon, Gill finds satire so biting that it almost makes you forget the world as you know it is ending just outside the window. Deeply hilarious (you have to laugh, if you don't...), these four characters put one another through more and more absurdity until you think something has to finally break. And then it keeps breaking. Gill's world building is always top notch, and "The Mimosa War" is no different. It's all too plausible. Thankfully, it's also brilliant.

The shows are always the same. The performances. The protagonists.

Usually. Soltero-Brown's play, however, pulses with an enthralling, caustic energy. Lies and secrets can certainly push a marriage to the brink of extinction, but less is mentioned how they morph the participants. They change us over time, rob us of the people we were or might've been, to the point where nothing feels real except the exasperation. How do you save that? Can you? There's echoes of George and Martha in Otto and Casey's strained relationship. And it's delicious fun. I would love to see (and hear) this live.

Goddamn. Flynn's voice is one of the most powerful I've encountered. The rage and fury of this piece is so palpable, but there's a structure and a build here that does not become lost in the fire. Loss hits different when it's not caused by death. Physical death, at least. A colossal short play, immensely urgent, and full of wrath, both stylistic (theatre, baybee) and genuine.

A brisk, nigh irreverent dive deep into modern gender norms and how recent generations are shattering conceptions of the past. The pacing deftly provokes questions without offering particular solutions. Are there even solutions? On the inside, we all "suffer" the plight of being human, so is the energy some spend on freaking out about how others identify better spent towards anything else? People are people. And perhaps just as racist as rats.

How would you do any particular thing if you knew it was the last time you would ever do it?

A fascinating, somber thought experiment provoked by Levine's beautiful and simply heart-wrenching short play. A reminder to make the most of each moment we get, it hits like a ton of bricks. And it's no wonder it's had a long life of productions. It'll be hard to reduce future ones to sheer numbers, for it ain't slowing down any time soon. Just excellent.

A uniquely American story (despite the accents, & boy what fun when that needle drops). I've long been in awe of Gatton's ability to create religious characters that feel real, earnest, and not caricatures, and he's yet again knocked it out of the park. Must science and religion disprove one another? How does the money fit in? How do you survive a plane crash? At the center of a story filled w/cosmic questions is the beautifully realized and moving relationship between Denys and Bronwen. Maybe it all starts there. Internally. In the DNA. Can't wait to see how this grows.

Onstage horror at its finest. Family curses, dark forces behind the curtain, delectable twists in power, I couldn't ask for anything more. This is a powerhouse of a scene for actors, succinct, chilling, and perfectly paced. I hazard many will find themselves drawn to it as the human mind is tempted by immortality. This would smash at any horror festival.