Recommended by John Minigan

Maybe the only thing tougher than theater on zoom is getting sexy on zoom. This play does the "theater on zoom" thing brilliantly, bringing us up close to both characters and their combination of loneliness, hope, and awkwardness. Aptecker gives us a hilarious set-up and execution, and her characters highlight what isolation has done to us--and what isolation can sometimes push us to. Very funny, very human and, in the end, a little bit heartbreaking. You can't help but root for these characters, even while you understand that they can't get what they really want.

This ensemble play captures not just the history but the personal crises--ethical and emotional--of so many who lived through the era, weaving multiple threads in ways that bring what is for some an unknown past to life in compelling ways. The play resonates today, capturing the effect of national division on the individuals and on the country. Complex, engaging, and provocative work.

Emma Goldman-Sherman has crafted a brilliantly complex and resonant play about the dangerous normalization of all levels of patriarchal culture--from the centering of men in our politics and power to the sexual abuse of young girls. The play highlights one of the most painful aspects of the normalization: the way young girls internalize patterns of oppression and recapitulate them until tragedy forces confrontation and possible change. The play itself - through jumps in chronology, plasticity in roleplaying, juxtaposition of styles, and brilliant theatricality - does the same for the audience, making strange and therefore clear these patterns. Astonishing and heartbreaking.

This lovely and very funny play reminds us that sometimes it takes the unfamiliar to let us rediscover our true, joyful selves. The play gives us three crisply drawn characters and a central role whose change from closed and crotchety to open and accepting is completely earned in just a few pages. Laughter, compassion, and hope!

Mox Nox is a fascinating, resonant play, creating a world in which the characters (and audience) confront the consequences of our actions on personal and climate levels. The play also builds a world of isolation that feels particularly resonant. And it is brilliantly theatrical in its use of magic (yes, magic: levitation, disappearing bodies, sleight of hand with cards...) as a storytelling device, woven beautifully into the structure and never distracting from the human story at the play's core. Can't wait to see this one on stage,

Donna Hoke creates a piece that manages to blend the energies of farce, buddy flick, road flick, and quest narrative into a hugely entertaining and satisfying piece about women's friendship. Great roles for all three actors--two very specifically drawn women and a wild, multi-character, chameleon role for a third actor. Fun, funny, and fulfilling!

This is a piece that moves from charming to creepy to surprising in quick, deft turns. Are these two who they seem to be to the outside world? Are they who they tell themselves they are? Are any of us? Completely captivating and thought provoking tale of a maybe-not-quite-so chance encounter that will stay with you.

"The End Is Just the Beginning" captures not only the hilarious awkwardness of what may be the world's worst breakup of a friendship, but also a fear that resonates for all of us: that our tech may betray us and let others know what we really think and feel. Great roles for four actors, and brilliant use of the medium!

Like all the best science fiction, "The Elusive Pursuit..." grabs your attention first with a clear and compelling concept, then brings you into a deeper journey into powerful human issues: how our choices determine our happiness, regrets about paths not taken, the longing for happiness. And fate, in this case, provides a heartfelt and deeply satisfying path forward for its characters. Even when we haven't yet achieved maximum bliss, there's still hope.

J.Lois Diamond's Clare manages to be both sparklingly witty and darkly compelling. It paints a portrait of Clare Hollingworth through an interview with a young journalism student, and the portrait not only shows the facts of Hollingworth's remarkable career and life, but also poses questions of ethics in journalism, the legacy of colonialism, and the question of both professional and personal legacy. Great roles for the performers--would love to see this staged!