Recommended by Lisa Kenner Grissom

It’s rare when you see a play and find yourself both laughing hysterically and moved to tears. In The Super Variety Match Bonus Round, Deb Hiett takes a familiar subject – the grieving process – and explodes it in the most unique and inventive ways. The characters are beautifully drawn and the writing crackles, keeping audiences engaged at every turn.

I love this play for many reasons: I love sports, I love historical drama, and I love a good romance. This play has all three. In Low and Outside, Shari successfully captures the complicated racial politics of the time and shows us what it means to live under a dictatorship. Both the harshness and the beauty of of the Dominican Republic are woven throughout. I look forward to seeing this play on stage--or on the screen--in the future.

In Hungry, I am struck by Shari's skill at weaving together a story that is at once sharply satirical, highly theatrical, and also grounded in emotional truth. She skewers celebrity culture while at the same time peeling away the layers to show us the actual humans beneath. This play made me see the after-effects of celebrity stardom in a new light.

In this updated Cain and Abel story, Cassie tempts us with characters who possess competing motivations and secrets that live just below the surface. Cassie leads us in and out of the past with a haunting lyricism that ignites our interest in following these troubled brothers on their tragic journey.

In From The Deep, Cassie deftly crafts a suspenseful two-hander which is no easy feat. Each character’s plight is sharply drawn and I find myself invested at every turn. Cassie creates otherworldly worlds and alternate realities that test our perceptions and challenge our ideas of freedom and captivity.