Recommended by Paul Donnelly

This is a surprising, touching, and convincing mother-daughter interaction. Abby is bold and trusting to make her request and Robyn is loving and accepting to accommodate that request. The world would be a better place if more of us followed this model of a parent/child relationship.

What a riotous mix of modern love and well-meaning parents. This piece turns so many aspects of the "meet the parents" narrative on their head to brilliant comic effect.

This is an amusing portrait of a couple trying to be less set in their sexual ways. Janet and Malcom are charming and credible, their situation is relatable, and their resolution is sweetly satisfying. But most importantly, this is a very, very funny play.

As someone who has made that call and learned that the answer was no, I was shaken to the core by Dzubak's raw and powerful work.

This charming and witty vignette offers a salute to the creative spirit while also acknowledging the dispiriting lack of creativity in much of contemporary popular culture. And it's much more fun than my description makes it sound!

If you want to conjure dark spirits of the universe, you got to focus, people. Focus. The failure of three of this hapless foursome to focus on the ritual at hand is hilarious. Although I don't think any of them are prepared for the outcome of the ritual. This is a darkly funny and thoroughly engaging portrait of four people who end up in over their heads.

The course of true love ne'er did run smooth ... especially not if it's married love. As Romeo learns just a beat too late. This deliciously cynical comedy turns Shakespearian romantic tropes on their deserved heads.

Rent-A-Stiff is deeply, darkly, hysterically funny. From the novel premise to the startling resolution, this play is thoroughly engaging and full of off-kilter wit. It is indeed ideal for performances dedicated to "Halloween, horror, or simply the strange and unusual."

Charming and very theatrical. Fiona and Amy are sharply drawn characters and the progressively more surreal advice Ranger Phil offers for dealing with bears is quite engaging. It's heartening to see Amy and Fiona in a better place after their encounter with a bear.

This play offers a clever conceit wittily rendered. Poor Spill Chick's poor spelling and the intrusions of autocorrect lead to a cascade of double entendres that both enhance and hobble the developing connection. Much as I enjoyed reading it, this piece would be really fun to see on its feet.