Recommended by Paul Donnelly

This is an urgent exploration of a relationship torn apart by unexpressed expectations. Juxtaposing their painful recollections enables a build to a moment of real clarity for each. George and Hal are compellingly drawn and the play gives full voice to their separate journeys. This is a skillfully crafted and thoroughly engaging work.

Eerie and gripping, this story of loss and guilt and resurrection takes hold and doesn't let go. The narrative unfurls subtly at first but then builds to a frenzy of revelation and recrimination. This is a world of mystical forces and urgent hungers. The characters are suffused with elemental contradictions and complicated regrets. This is world-building and story-telling of the highest order.

The act of keeping secrets is almost more painful to the secret keeper than to the loved one from whom the secret is being kept. Little Black Dress is a deft and compelling exploration of the discovery and release of a secret and a heartening look at the way release of a secret can allow a relationship to deepen. There is impressive craft at work here in the levels of emotion undergirding natural dialogue.

An utterly charming and engaging depiction of two well-defined characters moving haltingly toward connection at what is clearly a miserable wedding reception. Their neurodivergence is authentically and humorously portrayed and adds to their attraction dynamic. This lovely play had me rooting for Bascom and Isaac from the get-go.

Two lonely survivors build a connection in a vividly rendered post-apocalyptic world. This play is a profound and gripping exploration of that need for connection and of dealing with grief and loss. The hypnotic and hallucinatory figure of Lobster Man heralds an irrevocable transition and leaves one of the survivors to fulfill a life sustaining promise. Mark and Christa are boon companions, to us as well as to each other, and it is exhilarating to share their well-crafted journey.

Michael's dream life has taken over his physical life in deeply unsettling ways. The play traces his frantic last-ditch effort to save his soul with escalating power and intensity. This piece offers two compelling and sympathetic characters engaged in a struggle with real weight and consequences.

Are freedom and commitment mutually exclusive? Or is that question a product of false and oppressive binary systems of thinking? These four complicated, vivid, engaging characters lurch and stumble their way to fluid terms of mutual engagement and a deliciously queered life together. The struggle to build to that life is also highly sensual and filled with moments of betrayed trust and unexpected revelation. This is a complex journey that is infinitely worth taking.

A lovely meditation on the joy of authentic connection and the question of what makes us human. From their earliest, fresh and funny meet-cute connection through the grappling with what memory means to their final incorporeal reunion, Gina and Keith are constantly engaging and constantly pulling us into their struggle with the very nature of reality.

Timothy's return to confront his abuser offers a thoroughly engrossing, if profoundly disturbing, exploration of the effects of early sexual trauma and white privilege. The impact ratchets up as we come to know why Timothy has chosen this night for the confrontation. The last few beats are simply shattering.

A painfully funny farce that hits close to the most unfunny bone. This witty and disturbing play takes the burgeoning movement toward censorship to a harrowingly logical conclusion. I couldn't help but laugh at the humorous setup and reveal, but then I couldn't help but shudder at how credible it all seemed.