Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

Without delving too much into my own past, as someone who's also used their college degree to tell fortunes for entertainment purposes, Tina's plight struck a "sudden and unexpected" chord with me. Tarot is still seen as taboo, perhaps even blasphemous by far too many, but Murphy does a stellar job through her characters of revealing it for what it is. A tool. One you use during a time of reflection. In the right head space, we're never so much looking for direction, as permission to feel what we might already know deep down. And time to work through it.

Samantha Marchant consistently creates some of the most arresting, fascinating images I've seen on the page. They are such delights for actors, directors, designers, and audiences alike. In "dr(ELLA)...", a search for the right pair of undergarments turns into...well, a lot of things. I will be digesting this powerful play for some time, as it touches on loss, yearning, connection, hope, and everything in-between. Seriously. Read this. Then do it. Now.

Do I pretend to know what "ontological" means? Yes, I do. Did I look it up? Yes, I did. Do I pretend to know about more "Dawson's Creek" and Scientology than I do? No. I know nothing. I know woefully little. James Van Der Beek. What I do know is that Gatton never fails, and his short play of Russian nesting doll dreams is hilarious. And yes, pretty privilege is real.

My hair got longer as I read it.

And I'm smiling now.

You know, only a little.

Somebody said once that "teenagers scare the living shit out of me." They've clearly had run-ins with the eclectic and ambitious metalheads of Plummer's "Cäterwäul," who've, in turn, clearly never had run-ins with umlauts. This is glorious chaos. But be warned, it's so infectious that you might stärt using umlauts yourself. You cän never have too many umläuts, right? If you're täking the band seriöusly, if yöu cäre aboüt the bänd, then yöü shöüld be üsing äs mäny äs yöü cän.

Ümläüts!

Soucy has laid down the gauntlet for any theatre-makers looking for a challenge. The steampunk world of "Cassandra" is absolutely insane in the best of ways, activating every part of the brain in determining how one might stage the beautiful, complex, immense pictures at play. Beneath the grandeur, a moving (and surprisingly evil, also in the best of ways), epic story that calls to mind the best of fantasy and declarations of love. This will truly blow you away.

Leave it to Steve Martin to write a beautiful ode to neurodivergent and unconventional thought patterns in the guise of a play about procrastination. We all do it, but no one makes it look as easy or as completely controlled. Seriously, no one. How does Ginny fucking do it? I don't understand it. I don't understand anything. What is Steve Martin? Is he a man? A playwright? A state of being? If we know only one thing, it's that this play is a TIMELY delight, and absolutely wonderful in every way.

War changes people. It's why Alli and I work at hotels during Christmas. There's less space to decorate a large tree, which means there's less opportunity to suddenly instigate a multi-generational war of dastardly, cutting barbs that irrevocably destroy the soul. Fights are quiet in the annals of history. But wars? They are studied. In academia. Forever. There was a time that I did not e'en know of tinsel or what it was. How I long for that time! But the innocent cannot stay so forever, and sides must be chosen. This is a hilarious play.

Thank god for the "Judys" of the world, doing the mental gymnastics to keep absolutely everything as...worldly as possible. The satire Williams provides is pitch-perfect, making one laugh uproariously, cry in despair, before finally returning to laughter. Brilliant and sweet little short.

While not a cheese and crackers enthusiast, I have certainly been around charcuterie before. But I can wholeheartedly say that my future smorgasbords while never quite be the same. At once mournful and celebratory, Jonte's rich, poetic dialogue will find its way directly into your soul. A beautiful testament to life, love, loss, and hope. And food. Such delicious food.

I think if we haven't been Lee or Shawn, we at least know them. It makes Heyman's layered memory play almost more relatable than we would like. It hits close to home because it makes us recall our own experiences, which lead us to wonder how we'd approach them differently in hindsight, and most importantly, how we recollect them in the first place. Soft and gentle, but filled with passion and heart, this is a story of love (in every way), and it is absolutely fantastic.