Recommended by Paul Donnelly

A charming celebration of simple human decency in the face of an uncaring world. There are grace note of wit and of poignancy throughout. The young boy, the homeless man, and the angel are all distinct and engaging characters. It is a pleasure to join them in this narrative.

Blind dates can be hell. Agreeing on a Christmas movie can be hell. Maggie & Jeff are forced to navigate these hells simultaneously to hysterical effect. This play wraps with a very witty compromise. And, for the record, Maggie is correct, Die Hard is not a Christmas movie!

What a hoot! And how encouraging to think that Shakespeare suffered the same doubts and despair as the rest of us. This play has a funny premise, engaging characters, many witty lines and a satisfying conclusion, a combination that can't be beat.

Bell and Watson must be stopped! That's the conclusion to which I came while reading this droll and witty spoof. The laugh out loud moments come fast and furious and the contemporary resonance is full of delicious irony. As much fun as this play is to read, it is clear it would be even more fun in production.

A grandmother/granddaughter bonding trip in which they play an old family mystery game melds seamlessly into an actual tragic mystery. The subtle build is absolutely engrossing and the payoff is both startling and credible.

The connection that emerges between this unlikely couple is revealed wittily and movingly in this well-crafted two-hander. The characters are vividly drawn and their neediness is revealed with great skill.

This extraordinary play offers a stirring and humane examination of the life and fate and feelings of the sole survivor of the House of Oedipus. The resonance of the current plague and the reliance on technology ups the ante. The mundane and the extraordinary aspects of therapy are well-represented. The final image is both searing and hopeful and the last line offers a witty kicker. i was held rapt throughout.

Four vivid and compelling characters, each with a moving backstory, reveal three vivid and compelling fantasy worlds (one world is shared by two brothers). The fantasy worlds are coping mechanisms that allow the characters to handle the abuse and disappointments, the grief and failures, that have marred their lives. As they share the final fantasy, the possibility of healing emerges. This play takes us on a wildly theatrical and richly imaginative journey.

This play seems to become more terrifyingly prescient with each passing day. It offers a gripping look at a not too distant future when the country is run by intolerant Christian fundamentalists and other citizens are reduced to a rag-tag resistance. The world-building of this play is first rate and the characters are complex and compelling. Let us hope that this credible dystopian vision doesn't come to pass.

What seems at first to be a layered, witty and a touch supernatural portrait of a group of patients in extremis is revealed to have quite another purpose in this quirky comedy