Recommended by David Hansen

A charming exploration of the effects of fame on the psyche of "ordinary" people who work in their orbit, and the sometimes terrifying challenges of self-scrutiny and doubt. A hopeful reminder that judgement cuts both ways, and that we are all human, after all. Recommended!

Brilliantly aggressive, transgressive, dangerously hilarious, biting, aching, and outrageously spot-on, Dratwa’s play must be produced tomorrow, everywhere.

Saw this in performance at Cleveland Public Theatre, and it is simply hilarious. Busser tweaks the collective nose of his fellow playwrights with this witty, crafty account of staging a new work and how we bravely push through it, no matter what. (In the spirit of full disclosure I have myself held a reading of a new work and provided the wrong draft ... twice.)

Schilling is a brilliant satirist, and this brief sketch is a surreal-yet-all-too-real vaudeville. Read it, it's funny! But then it leaves you outraged. And I love that.

A deeply pleasurable contemplation on the nature of the human, and what makes us so, Cross in this play also playfully tweaks the myths surrounding Shakespeare and the suggestion that did not write his own work. Elements of many of the Bard’s work, entwined with homages to Frankenstein, Pinocchio, and all stories of a child or creation in conflict with their parent or creator. Elegiac and inspiring, a must-read!

An important and timely script that haunts the reader/audience member long after the closing image. Bublitz has expertly crafted a #MeToo narrative which robs anyone of the option of rushing too quickly to judgement. Highly recommended not only for production but to foster deep discussion on rape culture, communication, empathy, consent, and culpability.

Set in La Doña, a botanica or shop for alternative medicine and practices, this script is an elegant story of modern America with deep, multicultural roots. "You cannot pretend to know all the answers," says the mother to the daughter, and it is an important lesson. As DuPrey's brief play reminds us, we cannot ultimately hold back change, but that we have each other to guide us through difficult times. Highly recommended.

An hilarious and intentionally politically-incorrect burlesque, Barnes has created a dysfunctional family satire about the abdication of personal responsibility, and how easy it is become a complete sociopath when there is someone there to reassure you that it is all right. The social contract is flimsy and fragile, and also flammable. Love it!

Dawes' striking and effective play questions the very nature of race, and the madness that inflicts our nation as a result of our original sin -- not just slavery, but the self-hypnosis under which we put ourselves to create an artificial concept called "race" by which others are held apart. A taut prison drama set in the months before 9/11, it was a startling reminder of a time when it was unthinkable that a white supremacist could ever become President again. Highly recommended!

Swanson's Gothic investigation of this near-forgotten mother of forensic investigation is rich with gallows humor, presenting an unreliable narrator whose live was dedicated to making the unseen seen. Highly presentational and also gripping weaving the true and imagined stories we tell, used for controlling women, to mold their behavior, which is true of our folk tales, as well as our modern television procedural dramas. A very intelligent narrative of gender, class, race, and violence, compelling and very timely.