Recommended by Paul Donnelly

A riotously funny spoof of the narrative of the heroic knight and the fearsome dragon. The dialogue is witty and filled with giggle inducing double entendres, and the two knights make a hysterical comic duo. Then we come to the dragon named Neil. Let's just say he is everything you might hope for in a dragon named Neil.

Oooh. What a deliciously comic explosion of pent-up rage at a new neighbor and her husband's obsessive lawn mowing. I wouldn't want to be either of these neighbors, but I was delighted to read this play and would be even more delighted by the opportunity to see it performed.

For the Bear a simple seeming plane ride is fraught with adventure. His perspective, as always, is amusing and the story he relates mixes the harrowing with the charming. The surprise ending is a particular delight.

An absorbing, moving and often funny exploration of the need to be respected for who we are. Claiming identity, whether non-binary or autistic or both or neither, is a critical step to self-acceptance, but having those identities respected in the world can be an exhausting struggle. Is This All This Is presents four complex and compelling characters stumbling toward connection. It is deeply heartening to see the ways that connections are ultimately made and respect is finally offered.

A supernatural thriller in which the damsel causes rather than experiences distress. Fisher doesn't realize just what trouble the tart-tongued and vivacious Honey represents. I remain creeped out by the story that is eventually revealed and the degree of danger Fisher faced.

We are invited here to laugh at Death. At first. Then Death is revealed to hold its inevitable sway in a way that is heartening and meaningful as Michael comes to literally embrace Death. This is a witty, engaging and ultimately moving look at one man's demise.

This is such a tension-filled and compelling portrait of a bully and a survivor teachers pitted against one another in a school setting. The portrait of the bully is harrowingly accurate and the portrait of the survivor reveals heartening resilience. This play has its clever twists and turns and surprises, and it is always gripping.

Martha ricochets most poignantly from despair to hope, from anger at Putin to a simple desire to be able to live her life. She chronicles the war's impact on her own psyche and on her whole country. She is a model of stalwart courage and fragile resilience. This is a moving record of one young woman's life in the midst of an unjust war.

It's hard to be two average little league dads when one of you is a therapist and the other is a client. So much comic gold is mined from the aspects of the client's issues that do leak out. The therapist sure has his hands full. It's also a wonder that his poor son Jarrod can concentrate at all with his lunatic father sitting behind home plate.

So many issues of real importance are raised in this heart-racing narrative. The meanings of family, of marriage, and of service are all movingly explored as we are drawn into the mystery of the accusations swirling around Hilda. The mystery hovers for me over even the last line.