Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

A gloriously filthy monument to rage and grief? Horrific magical realism at its most delightfully ugly? Bugs? Yes. Woof. I can't imagine three actors taking on these characters and not having fun. And I CAN imagine all the ways designers will drive themselves mad (compliment) bringing these fantastic effects to life. Very much captures the exhausted fury of dealing with timeless human traumas in our current time. If you’ll excuse me now, I need to go scream curses at the sky. And the bugs.

My favorite horrors don't just elegantly escalate perfect marriages of dread and terror, they leave me inflicted with a wicked mood. In the case of this timely, superb, and scary piece of theatre, I'm also left with a lament (and a fury) for the times in which we've found ourselves. I'll not spoil the brilliance of this short, but know it's going to hit you hard. And it should. A stand-out piece of holiday horror that is all too real.

In a world where far too many WWII-set dramedies fail to delight, where characters fall into flat archetypes, where the trenches of tired tropes are trod, the wunderkind Brent Alles comes to our rescue! TPATP is a fun, progressive (without flinching away from the realities of the era), and moving romance filled with characters that are just infectious. Costume designers, too, will have the best time creating the comic strip characters that populate the scenes. Full of charm, with heart to match.

There’s a line in this play that foreshadows (hilariously so) the final twist perfectly. I’ll spoil neither, but instead say you’ll walk away from this play with your pre-conceived notions of cryptids completely changed (or unchanged). Bolduc takes what could simply be a one-line joke and builds a fun, noir-esque short that would kill at any festival, horror-based or no. Who are the real monsters, indeed.

Vampires can be a symbol for nigh limitless things, but an oft one is power. If you're without it, life can be, as Kaminski's character so eloquently puts it, "unkind." If you've the opportunity to escape someone causing that unkindness? I must say...I understand the allure. A delicious short horror, evocative of the classiest corners of the genre.

Feriend's gift for nonstop, gut-busting dialogue is on full display here, but she's perhaps outdone herself. This is the kind of play that makes people theatre nerds for life. I cannot overstate the joyful mix of comic horror, timely lessons for teens, and outright bonkers fun that this one-act is. Every single character is brilliant and loaded with opportunities for young actors to show their comedy chops. Reanimation has never been so delightfully uncomfortable. Highly recommend this.

Move over Doctor Sleep, because Danny's working for Geek Squad. Byham's "Shining" sequel...well, shines. Already a delightfully fun IT help desk comedy, the supernatural elements and iconic characters place the universe's ghostly spin into the scene, resulting in a slice of humorous horror that would "slay" at any festival. Cue the synthesizers.

One of the best tools in the horror box is isolation. Isolation, through very little provocation, leads to paranoia. With the amount of provocation Walker plays with here? This is a juicy, tense, and thrilling cosmic horror which does some things you most certainly haven't seen before. Those I will not spoil, suffice to say this is a lovely little pressure cooker of terror that will bring down the house.

I cannot overstate the number of times reading this that I simply went, "WOW." Lefevre poetically and masterfully presents a playground for thoughtful, messy, taboo-breaking exploration of masculinity and the emotions men are allowed to feel. A powerful adventure through gender and intimacy, filled with the perfect balance of hilarity and shock. God, to see this performed (or to be on the team making it happen) would be the theatrical memory of a lifetime.

Oh, hell yes absurdist/thriller riff on the Binding of Isaac! Mannix’s script irrefutably puts to rest the idea that old stories have nothing left to mine. Rife with tension, rich horror imagery, and surprising twists and turns, I loved reading this masterclass in dread. Instantly upon finish I had to dive back in and unpack the motifs and callbacks. This is a tour de force for three actors (and director) to really let loose and have some fun.