Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

A tour de force of a ten minute play. Mabey tenderfully and masterfully weaves what might have been said with what we know was said during the last conversation between Lau Mazirel and Willem Arondeus. If you have no idea who these people were…well, you will. This is a powerful scene of truth, sacrifice, and identity standing against the arms of unspeakable evil. I, for one, now know. And I generously thank Mabey for crafting (and sharing) these words.

What starts as a delightfully strange encounter quickly spins into a funny, suspenseful, and deeply intriguing character study of those with...let's say special abilities. Baughfman's "heroes?" are layered and gray, and excellently beg the question: "If you had superpowers, what would you do with them?" And perhaps that doesn't even depend on our actions, but who tells our story. This would be a lot of fun for two actors to bring to life.

Gonzo. Just absolutely outrageous. It’s rare to read a play that will make you laugh this hard before punching you right in the gut. Danley’s protagonist is having the mid-life crisis of the century. The satire here bites hard, skewering white male fragility, toxic positivity, unwarranted confidence, all the while striking the perfect balance of hilarious and cringe. Give Nathan Fielder another decade and change, I could see him here. Although I suppose George would insist upon playing himself.

There’s something about Cathro’s short horrors that appear nowhere else I’ve seen. Is it how gentle and innocuous they begin? Is it the frank and matter-of-fact conversations between two parties encountering one another? Whatever it is, it’s glorious. Because when the tables turn, when the twist hits, when you realize what the relationship between these characters really is? Absolute insanity. And pitch-perfect terror. Love it love it love it.

Unrelentingly human. Bolduc’s play immediately submerges the audience into a moving and explorative dreamscape of grief, perseverance, survivor’s guilt, rage, and so much more. The structure is brilliantly messy, perfectly mirroring the chaos of mourning, no matter time nor space. To say much more would be spoiling the journey, but know this script is a tremendous call for life and human existence. This would be immensely powerful to experience live, and I hope I get the opportunity to do so soon.

Where's the line between entertainment and sadism? Whether you're familiar with this particular flavor of "extreme immersive haunt" or not (if you've never heard of McKamey Manor, don't google it), there's a fascinating amount of human nature and psychology to unpack. The dread is palpable from the very start and just gets worse and worse with each page, leading to a finale you will not see coming, but feels inevitable in hindsight. The lesson here is certainly that consent should be revokable during the middle of any experience, but moreover, maybe that humans weren't meant to eat ghost peppers.

The men are not all right. Unfortunately for Wendy (and so many others), the only thing harder than being a man in the age of the internet is being a woman. KBQ's deep dive into the darkest forums of toxic masculinity is explosive, and an important reminder that behind every account (usually), is another human being. Now that's NO excuse for being shitty (or worse), but it shows how far social media has warped our ability to connect, as well as the misogyny that has existed since the beginning of time. A rallying cry in what feels an endless war.

Perhaps you've had a Marie. Someone who just "knows" they can do your job better than you. And who has absolutely no qualms or reservations when it comes to telling you this right to your face. GO AWAY. SHUT UP. DO IT THEN.

This short play is actually pretty good advice. Maybe a little extreme. But certainly something that no one involved will forget. Hilarious. And vindicating.

A delightfully funny and infectious set-up for a farce, the only thing more entertaining in Schoffel's play is how gloriously inept (while still intelligent) her characters are. There are some incredible monologues here, and putting together the timings and mistimings will be sure to keep a producing company on their toes. This is a hit for any audience and setting.

For my own personal experiences, the well-meaning conservatives I’ve encountered aren’t nasty people. But they do lack empathy. The kind of thing where they truly can't (or won't) put themselves into someone else’s shoes until it happens to someone they literally know. Or themselves. Once they get that, that’s when values and opinions start changing.

This play is a perfect example of this and is a gut-punch. It shouldn’t take trauma like this to provoke that emotional work. And we should condemn those who know better and still hurt others regardless.