Recommended by Shaun Leisher

Anna Langman has a true gift for world-building in her plays. This one is her world-building at its most absurdist and confounding. The world is an enigma but we can feel for it. We especially feel for Tomcat in their soliloquies as they just long to be understood. Long to be loved. Long to enjoy simple joys. This is a play I could experience a thousand times in the same production but still find new passages to walk down and caves to excavate.

I'm really anxious to see this play staged. It's full of fantasy and darkness as a way to show the pain of the main character, Dayo, and those in his life that care about him. McCready strikes a critical balance between depicting the global epidemic of Black men dying and the deeply personal inner demons that one man faces. The imagery in this play really makes me want to see what bold and adventurous actors, directors and designers can do with this world.

A play that works so well as a dystopian sci-fi genre piece while delving into the idea of trauma and pain that LGBTQ+ Black people go through. It's a play about survival and how that means something to different to each of these excellently crafted characters. McCreary shows a real skill for upping the stakes and creating tension but letting the audience breathe and laugh as well. A play that is so hopeful while still being a horrifying reminder of what it's like being queer and Black in America today.

It's a gorgeous love story and story about the creation of art featuring people that just aren't regularly represented in these stories. The authenticity McCreary brings to this play fill every page.

This is a play that will shock and disturb but it's one that needs to be seen. Wellman goes deep into the dark places of the teenage mind. The places that parents fear to believe exist. The places that are wondered about when tragedy strikes. This play left me breathless like great theatre should.

Love how this play uses mythology to explore this medical achievement and the ethics behind it. It gives a needed face and voice to those that are often forgotten for the sake of scientific discoveries.

I don't many playwrights that write about the complicated relationships between fathers and sons as well as Yilong Liu. This play at times feels like your typical "opposites attract" buddy comedy but it's also really diving into some deep waters pertaining to identity, heritage and the sacrifices we make for family. The use of technology and social media in this play is pure genius and heartbreaking. Can't wait to see this produced.

I love how this play uses texting to show the love and also the mystery in a relationship. It's a love story that is told in such a unique way in both its structure and how the couple at the center connect with and use each other.

This play is a perfect example of the specific being universal. Set against the backdrop of marriage equality becoming federal law, this is an intimate character study with rich roles for actors of Asian descent.

Was really blown away by the epic scale of this play and how it looks at sex in so many ways. Sex as liberation. Sex as a weapon. A weapon almost always aimed at women and so often paired with religion. The way Espinosa weaves so many threads between characters with wildly different views on sex is what makes this such a compelling piece. Will definitely be thinking about this play for a long time.