Recommended by David Hansen

Rodriguez's tale is a memory play of the Dominican Republic, centering on one man who has betrayed as much as he has been betrayed. Caught between nations, abandoning his home and not yet embracing America, he burdens his sons with his shame, disappointment, and sadness. This script is rich and layered, a tension of regret and fear from the old country haunting the otherwise everyday setting of an apartment in Washington Heights. The final moments, of honesty, confession and acceptance, are a welcome release and promise hope for the future. Highly recommended!

Two women at cross-purposes meet in a library, and the reluctant search for a rare book is on. Wilder's crackling dialogue is positively Beckettian, expressing frustration and futility with knowing wit and absurdity. This is a magical tale about the things we keep, the tasks left undone, and the fear of making connection with those best-suited to take the journey with us. An outstanding four-person piece and highly recommended!

Van Der Horn-Gibson's play delves into complicated issues which trouble children and which they may not entirely understand, issues of bullying, or the illness or death of a parent. The playwright tells this story, however, with playfulness, color and humor, seeing the world through the eyes of a six year-old girl as she explores her backyard with a troupe of unique and diverse imaginary animal friends. The best children's plays are those which are smart and open-hearted, appealing to an audience of all ages, and this is one of those.

Femia's play is very funny, and a tremendous performance challenge; a monodrama through which one actor performs all of those attending a support group for "the undead." Through their monologues, memoirs and confessions, they share their fears, disappointments and anger at having been separated from humanity. These lost and lonely monsters eloquently describe their situation with wit and passion, each a unique example for the denial and acceptance of illness, addiction, difference in its many forms.

We all strive for acceptance, and some come by it best through solidarity. "Undead Anonymous" is a lovely elegy of hope.

A teenage girl is waiting outside her school in the cold after dark, and as in that old pop song about the pedophile teacher, "his car is warm and dry." The men who teach at Seaview High need to learn a thing or two about gossip in the break room but they are not alone, as every character from the administration on down has an opportunity to make a bad situation worse. Lovitch creates a gripping test-case in how not to handle an allegation. A highly compelling read!

Hoffman's script is sweetly smart romantic comedy (should I say "rom-com"?) about what movies mean to people, and why some folks obsess about discussing and debating them. It's about symbolism and sentiment, how we talk about movies to share secret knowledge and express secret feelings. With two complex and interesting leads, it deceptively explores and explodes storytelling tropes with wit and wisdom. Check it out!

To state this play is a metaphor for women's power and the extent to which men will go to control that power is almost entirely beside the point, because "The Space Between Your Legs" is outrageous and hysterical, with the best worst date monologue I have ever read (ladies, here's your next audition piece.) Antone has a knack for hip, intelligent dialogue and a brilliant sense of comic timing. Highly recommended!

"You are on some self-loathing shit," comments a nurse, which could be said about almost any one of the family members in this outstanding deathbed drama. They bounce off each other like satellites, their pain played out in the open, bitterness graced with tremendous humor, with love and the need for acceptance and forgiveness riding just beneath the surface.

When the moment arrives, the release can't be called happiness, and even relief doesn't sound right. But it is a familiar feeling and through his words and characters Christopher communicates this experience of exhalation with rightness and compassion.

A trio of sisters whose mother perished in one of the towers. Each copes with the trauma of their mother's death in different ways; fetishization, obsession, denial. The question on the table is how long must we grieve? What is appropriate? Spending time with these women, even as they wrestle with the point of their self-made holiday, I was happy for them because whatever disagreements these unique and engaging characters might have, this day has continued to bring them together under one roof. Haas creates a touching, witty and memorable drama of ritual, remembrance, and acceptance.

Cabrera creates a family in a sympathetic hierarchy -- the younger sister, straining to be responsible, the older brother, who desperately wishes to abdicate his responsibility, the careworn mother, who has no choice but to be overbearing and firm -- all in the service of Andrew, unknowable, even perhaps to himself. Powerfully symbolic with graceful monologues on the indelible yet inconstant effects of memory, this is a truly affecting work on the enduring strength of familial commitment and love.