Recommended by Bill Triplett

Art imitates life and life sometimes imitates art. And there are times when you're not sure which is which. This short play has a lot of fun with that confusion, and in the process made me smile and laugh. Where does the real drama lie -- in the play these people are performing within Andrew Martineau's fictional script, or in their "real" lives within Andrew Martineau's fictional script? The layers kept me intrigued and amused, not to mention trying to figure out what's real and what isn't. With great roles and a simple set to boot!

A poignant look at a family that may be falling apart, laced with humor, and theatrically orchestrated. The people here are so entwined they know what the other will say, and yet still manage to surprise each other -- not always pleasantly. A lovely short drama that shows how families struggle with their pain.

A sweet, sad ghost story about loss, grief, and the triumph of love. Michael's tricks were all just that -- tricks. But his one truly magical feat is one we're all capable of doing, one that requires no suspension of disbelief -- just faith in the human spirit. Great roles for actors, and easy to stage. Really well done!

Looking for smart, wounded women -- one with so many scars she can't count, the other just feeling the first welts on her heart? Wondering what havoc fame and pan-sexuality can wreak on a marriage? Above all, interested in seeing how people rationalize the pain? Oh, yeah, let's not forget -- wanna laugh as much as you wince? Check out this fast-paced tale that starts with the accelerator floored and just gets faster. Try to keep up with the barbed wit, and try to avoid the psychic blood on the floor. A small masterpiece with great roles for women.

This warm-hearted tale, alternately funny and moving, quickly drew me into its fraught world of aging parents and their adult children who aren’t sure at times what’s happening with mom and dad and whether to be concerned, stoic, or flat-out terrified. Anyone who has witnessed a parent forgetting things more than usual or repeating themselves a little too often will immediately respond to this well-plotted play, which, among other things, reminds you – thankfully! – that dreams do not have to fade with age. All that, plus great roles for young, middle-aged, and older actors!

This action-packed satire had me from jump, taking me on a thrill-ride through the darkest heart of darkness, the place otherwise known as Hollywood. Max Gill knows his movie history and the movie biz, which is much like the drug trade, only not as moral. Sly, witty dialogue, a whirligig plot, and vivid characters combine into a spoof of more things than you can count. The bar scene in Bukastan alone should win an award. I devoured it in one sitting, hoping against hope it wouldn't end. Easy to stage, and great roles for actors. Should be produced now!

A tight, sharp-edged triangle featuring three finely-etched characters, briskly poetic dialogue, and a story that isn't so much a morality tale as a morality maze. Is happiness a transaction? Does love really figure into it any more than symbolically? And what does it mean to be honest? You might find yourself mulling these questions and others as you follow the sure-footed way Donna Hoke lays out this alluring drama.

Andrea Carey has a wonderful touch with characters, especially the trio featured here in this bittersweet look at a woman dealing with divorce and middle-age along with the death of her mother and putting up (as well as putting up with) her needy, often overbearing father who no longer can live in his own house. And the painful portrait of her parents' marriage that comes through is very moving. But in the end there is hope -- hard-earned, to be sure, but that's the best kind. Enjoyed it very much!

A moving update of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, which, thankfully, brings Ariadne to the foreground. The witty mix of verse-like dialogue with contemporary, fragmented speech is a pleasure to imagine in the mouths of good actors. But it's the gradual revelation that dawns on both Ariadne and her brother, the Minotaur, that leaves you wondering who the real monster is and where your sympathies should lie. Simultaneously funny and sad, poetic and gritty. A beautifully executed work of pure theater.

Caught this on "Playing On Air," and was immediately drawn into a zone of war we don't often see -- the neighborhoods of everyday Iraqis trying to carry on their lives despite having forcibly been made targets. Where bombs go off with so much regularity they don't stop a daily trip to the grocer, even if one bomb just nearly obliterated the shop. The characters here are both hardened by and terrified of the reality besieging them. Routines become rituals of survival. And the need to find meaning somewhere manifests itself in the simplest of acts. Powerful and moving.