Recommended by Paul Donnelly

This very funny and quite moving play uses superhero tropes to explore serious issues of identity, authenticity, and cultural appropriation. It is richly layered and quite engaging. The only thing better than reading it would be to see it in production.

Gripping and mysterious, chilling in the best possible way. This is a human and humane ghost story, most discomforting at its most mundane. I'm not sure I can convey the depth of my enthusiasm and admiration for this piece without resorting to spoilers so I'll stop here, except to say that it also has moments of breathtaking theatricality and surprise.

Turns out the odd new family next door aren't Amish as Kevin guesses. The air of menace throughout is laced with humor and real pre-adolescent behavior and attitudes. And the pay-off is as deliciously horrifying as you could hope.

A wonderful take on parenting, Christmas traditions, and the possibility of taking both a tad too seriously.

A very funny play about a most unusual haunting and a beleaguered office worker who just wants a cup of coffee.

A funny look at the lengths to which people will go to not be their real selves on a first date.

A darkly comic vision of a family moving toward healing. Hurtling actually. From the tense and racially charged opening through an explosion of violence to the revelation of painful histories, this play grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go.

A charming and witty look at the downside of intergalactic commerce and the universal experience of job tedium, mixed with a sweet and tender reconciliation between a human and an alien. Or is that between an alien and a native of an invaded galaxy? For all its silliness, this piece is surprisingly thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Haven is a gorgeous, lyrical, searing meditation on loss and the emptiness that consumes a daughter grappling with the death of her famous mother and a man in search of his past. They are brought together by a literal hole that opens in front of her apartment building. As Matt repairs the hole, he helps Elise began to repair her soul. There is transcendence on many levels as this beautiful play reaches its moving conclusion.

What a witty take on the conventions of the "space, the final frontier" school of sci-fi! The mixture of romantic and professional tension plays out to a very satisfying, dare I say moving, conclusion.