Recommended by Daniel Prillaman

Martin’s one-act is tight, expertly paced, and gets more and more heart-wrenching with every page. A realistic depiction of not only the distance the penal system instills in a marriage, but its role in the fracturing of a family in the face of tragedy. Is it actually a chance to start over? Or is it the best excuse you might ever have to get out of what you’ve convinced yourself is a mistake? Wonderful and daring work.

"Glint" is everything. Scary, funny, touching, sad, and hopeful, it is the best of horror and genre fiction, using nightmares and demons to cleverly reveal our deepest yearnings and our humanity. Moreover, Charu is a costumer's/makeup artist's dream!! Check this short out now because it is utterly brilliant.

I love this play so much I almost don’t know where to begin. It is a ruthlessly truthful and pitch-perfect story about living with worry and fear. It NAILS anxiety. It nails how our minds gaslight themselves. It nails how much it means to have others gain an understanding. It nails that you can’t erase struggles, but knowing you’re not alone means everything. Barsanti’s writing is tight, her characters (which are all funny women, btw) are full, and the story is distinctly now, but also timeless. You could produce this play forever, and we should.

HA! Gill has such a way of allowing his characters to indulge in the most ridiculous of absurdities with the utmost commitment. It is the best comedy, dry and deadly serious, and this play satirically rips through Hollywood execs, tyrannical dictators, government agents, action heroes, and “lowly” writers alike without breaking a sweat. Fast-paced, chock-full of parts for physical comedians (as well as some much appreciated movie history), and just plain funny, come for the laughs, stay for the commentary, and leave with smiles covering up the terror of finally knowing that Hollywood truly runs everything.

Hilder gives us a chilling, absurdist world that is so fantastical, but really doesn’t at all actually feel too different from our own. The visual images, both on stage and in our mind, are disturbing and appalling. Worse, they prove perversely comforting, seeing classism portrayed so simply and honestly. For fear of spoilers, I’ll say no more, other than that everyone should give this a read. There is a delicious (if you’ll pardon the pun) darkness to this piece, both alluring as an artist, and terrifying as a member of existence.

I’m still new to Malakhow’s work, but I can easily say his gift for creation is nothing short of astounding. His characters leap effortlessly off the page, fully formed before the first line. Here, his tale of young men searching and grasping for perseverance and purpose amidst traumas both personal and unexpectedly global is simply beautiful, and crests to moments that are moving, vulnerable, and so so earned. If you read only one thing set in the backdrop of this crazy time, let it be this piece. My eye will be on it for years to come.

Breathtaking. A poetic, evocative meditation on ambition and mortality, Pazniokas’ short piece is a mountain to scale in its own right, offering the audience a chance to take the climb, and looming in our minds long after we step away from the page. Yuki and Silas’ manner is conversational and stream-of-consciousness, and the simplicity of it all does so much with so little. Terrific work. I would love to experience this live.

Horror Comedy is one of the toughest balances to strike that’s out there. Lean too far in either direction and the entire piece suffers. Not only does Meyer nail it, but she’s kind enough to offer us a free masterclass in the process. With loads of organic (and occasionally corny in the best way) dialogue, this script is chock-full of frights and laughs in equal measure, and 100% made up of fun, funny, furious roles for women to show off their physical comedy and stage combat prowess. Plenty of room for designers to go crazy here, too. Produce this!

Koivisto gives us a delightfully disturbing and thought-provoking slice of absurdism. With brisk dialogue almost more fitted for a situational comedy, it invokes the feeling of a Python-esque sketch, but a peek behind the curtain reveals a sinister, uncaring world that runs deep with layers of some indefinable malignance. So well done and with so many pieces to interpret, I loved reading this piece, and I would love to see it live.

Holy cow, this is a chilling and delicious horror short! Miles' play is full of dread, giving us just enough info to become concerned for the characters, but tantalizingly leaving the true nature of why to our imaginations, which proceed to run wild. Constantly shifting and brutal with its scares, this piece would be so much fun to perform, design, and see. Any horror fan will find plenty to love here, and honestly, even if you're not, check it out. It's that good.