Recommended by David Hansen

“Spoons” is an urgent and intimate two-hander, one with crackling, witty dialogue and compelling, charismatic characters. It walks a careful line down the middle, present issues of trauma, sex work and compassion from male and female perspectives. I would love to see this performed on-stage.

Merilo has created a very timely play, communicating the sense of danger, fear, and dread that those who are defined as others must live with, every day. This is an elegant take on The Merchant of Venice, told from the Jewish characters' point of view which I very much enjoyed reading. Shakespeare is important. Redeeming Shakespeare is also important. It is a marvelous interpretation.

Graff has crafted a brief work of mournful longing, one which includes a strong theme of acceptance. A site-specific piece, I can see and feel the characters moving among a gathered audience near abandoned tracks. Give it a read!

Burbano's script resides in a laboratory, one ostensibly for the study of great apes, specifically one orangutan named Wookie. But we the audience witness a larger experiment in human interaction, between hyper-intelligent folks on the spectrum. between races, human sexuality and illness, the effect of singing Echo & the Bunnymen in a controlled environment. How do our minds work? How much do we yet not know? How can we be aware of death and not go insane? It's a thought-provoking, compassionate work, and I seriously recommend it.

This play might have been titled "Inventing Lesbians," as our Civil War era protagonists discover in themselves something they had never had reason to believe has ever existed before, and create without guidance a language for a desire, a passion, and a lasting devotion. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking love story, and one I highly recommend!

Martin's play starts as a workplace comedy expands into a warm, open-hearted exploration of the human experience, and one man’s adventures attempt to experience life and everything it has to offer. It also has a lot to say about cynicism and doubt, those trolls who surround us and live within us, who work tirelessly to tear down even our most modest ambitious. It's full of wonder, hope and humor, and I highly recommend it.

Hatfield presents a compact historical fiction, an American theater dynasty. The Cabots suffer triumph and tragedy that spans the 20th Century, offers of fame and wider audiences (European tours, the allure of Hollywood, and later TV) elusive and sometimes fraught. It's a charming portrait of "the life" and the sacrifices folks made to live it. How could they not?

MacCarthy's cabaret is a hilarious romp about gender fluidity; butch, douche, femme, fuckboi, a 90s retro dance party with an awful lot of real live making out. As they say on social media, "It's complicated." But it's awesome. And deep. And ultimately open-hearted and moving. I want to see this play at a theater near me.

Escobar has written a lovely Día de Muertos play for children and families is presented in English and Spanish, and also through shadow puppetry, projections and several other magical stage elements to weave a tale of memory, loss and despair, as well as remembrance, determination, and hope, told with delight and clarity. The narrative takes on real world significance, as loss comes in many forms, death being only one of them. A beautiful work for a troubling time.

With this political drama, Jones presents a slate of characters with varying agendas, from the unpaid volunteers to the highly paid operatives, each with distinct, vivid personalities, surrounding that rare politician who will not compromise his ideals in order to win an election. The playwright doesn't traffic in types, providing each sympathetic arguments. It's hard to take sides, even in today's political climate. It's taut, compelling, quite relevant and highly recommended.