Recommended by Shaun Leisher

A play that deserves to be a staple in the canon of family dramas for the stage. Wallace has taken this well-worn trope and has imbued with so much originality and complexity. These characters subvert stereotypes from page one. This is a play where Black women get to be ambitious and Black men get to be soft. It's a brilliant ensemble piece that gives everyone a moment to shine. The monologues will be go-tos for college auditions. I guarantee it. This is the kind of play that needs to be on Broadway APSAP!

I'm such a big fan of plays that depict moments of mundane life in the face of the apocalypse. Great world building here that doesn't bog the reader down with exposition. We understand only what we need to and it was just enough for me. When the aliens invade, are we still going to be going back to shitty dive bars to get closure from our exes? This play didn't necessarily leave me wanting more from these two but it did make me imagine what the other stories being told in this reality would be like.

Gordon has written a coda for Measure For Measure that finds a way to give voice to Isabella's true feelings about marrying Vincentio after being struck silent after his proposal. he is a woman with few options and she doesn't find her voice until Mariana enters. Mariana is playful and a bit conniving in Gordon's reimagining and brings some real joy to this scenario. I loved the moments where the contemporary crosses over into the classical. This is going to be such a fun piece for actors.

This play is a love letter to everyone that is trying to support others while also being someone that needs support and attention as well. A play with no clear answers but will leave you with so many delicious questions to chew on. Brian has found a way to make the mundane and specificity of one's life into a compelling and universal piece of theatre. For those that love The Subtext and have been lucky enough to be loved and supported by Brian James Polak, read this play and fucking help get it produced!!

This play is a stark reminder of the dumpster fire of a planet we are leaving for young people. The decision to set this play in a school bathroom is inspired because no matter what is going on around them, teen girls will always be gathering in bathrooms to talk about boys and touch up their make-up. The dialogue conveys the inner lives of these characters and the realities of their outer world. I’m a big fan of all the details of the space and I’d love to see this be a staple at colleges and high schools.

I don't know if I need to see another production. I think I would just prefer playwrights write their own versions of their own hometowns. You can clearly tell Polak has a lot of love for where he came from but also knows that the town can do better. The way he's able to tackle issues like transness, the opium crisis and gun control while also keeping the play so grounded in humanity is awe-inspiring. I hope this play gets produced but more importantly I hope it inspires to people to make art about where they come from.

A family comedy that feels like it could be easily be a fairy tale. I enjoy how much expectations get subverted very quickly in this play. When I first started reading I was under the impression that it was going to be a intergenerational conflict play. It feels the mother is really painted as the antagonist as she shits all over her children's dreams. The genie in dumpling form is such funny character but they're also a very powerful plot device that helps these characters the downsides of getting what they wish.

With this one-act, Shaffer attempts to let us in to the lives of the front-line workers that serve us our much needed cups of joe but they do so without overwhelming us with too much exposition or unnecessary plot lines. We just get to know how they are feeling on this specific coffee shop shift. Add in the trapped people in the vault and expect much hijinks. The evocation of location is so effective. I know this coffee shop really well and can think of a couple that should host a production of this play.

A play that perfectly captures what is so magic about a specific location and the people that frequent it. A play that is simply telling a damn good story. And don't even get me started how all the roles are meant to be played by a single actor. This play isn't just a meal but a whole feast for a versatile actor. This would be such a blast for any actor and director to work on together. This is the kind of theatre that we need in our troubling times. A reminder that human connection is really all we have.

An absolutely hysterical show biz satire that deserves to be in the same conversation in a piece like Mel Brooks' The Producers in how they both are fearless when it comes to dissecting and skewering the absurdities of this industry. Malimban gives voice to things that I'm sure so many BIPOC actors experience but they go even deeper by showing the nuances that relate to those of the AAPI community. The theatricality of this play is also super fun and I love the choice to require all roles be played by Asian actors.