Recommended by Ian Thal

The ghost of Johnny's mother has come to help him come to terms with his impending execution, and accept that in his life he has been an agent of compassion as well as violence. Despite the American setting, Naskova has structured this ghost story in a manner that reminds me of plays from the Japanese Noh repertoire, but the dialogue is also evocative with its vivid sensory descriptions of Johnny's final meal.

Part of what makes Travis Williams' horror story, THE QUAKE, so effective is how well he sketches out the characters of Jackie and Briggs, the friendship they share, and the community that's raised them; going from the mundane wrongness before the monstrous wrongness is revealed.

Even after a catastrophe of extraterrestrial origin strikes, leaving a mysterious crater, humans still have the human-scale problems. People still have traumas, addictions, awkward romances and friendships, and spiritual yearnings (whether through traditional or new age) as they attempt to make sense of a world rendered incomprehensible. When taken together, Fengar Gael's dialogue, characterization, ideas and images are mesmerizing.

When a being more ancient than humanity awakens, the apocalypse comes but not in the way tentpole movies have taught us to expect: Nihilistic dread meets comfy living rooms throughout the land, new-age hipsters discover new superfoods, baking enthusiasts experiment with new ingredients, and our new friends might want you to join their cult. Horrific and wickedly satirical; Audiences will discover their own allegorical meanings to Steve Yockey's SLEEPING GIANT.

Humanity has spread across much of the Milky Way Galaxy a yet it, and all other life is now being consumed by an organism whose existence can barely be understood: Even the most advanced artificial intelligence at Arianrhod Outpost, is forced to resort to analogies and metaphors. Dale has only several minutes to come to terms that he may be the final witness to the end of all life and yet, in this tense drama, realizes that there is still one thing left that gives life meaning.

A hilarious dark comedy perfect for a Halloween program. Did these weird sisters just forget to purchase everything on their Halloween shopping list this year? Or are they engaging in their annual private joke, that the audience is just lucky to eavesdrop on? Or is it possible that they really are they a death cult of two?

Anyone who has grown up with rumors and reports of poisoned treats during spooky season will have a nervous laugh.

A fun satire of the culture clash that happens when a community theater whose members have been together for decades discuss bringing their inclusive play submission guidelines up to the standards of 21st century best practices.

J. Lois Diamond's ALICIA isn't just a biographical tale of acclaimed ballet dancer Alicia Alonso's overcoming her loss of eyesight, but an epic setting her career against changing dance pedagogy from authoritarian to empowering, Cold War politics in which cultural exchanges were a form of soft-diplomacy, and how Alonso herself used her close relationship with the Castro regime in Cuba to advance her career on the international stage. A fascinating portrait of an artist and her times.

Fans know that Nora Louise Syran is too imaginative to simply retell the story of Robin Hood, instead, her GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD is a story about how Elinor, a young woman educated in a convent, attempts to assemble the disparate folktales and ballads into a cohesive story, even as she finds parallels in her own life and in the political life of 14th century England wracked by the Peasants' Revolt against Richard II's reign. Great metatheatricality!

Rex McGregor's THE MAMA AND THE PAPA is psychedelic satire about God and Mother Nature meeting in the midst of the 1960s counter-culture fueled by free-love, marijuana, LSD, and the Beatles, but it's also a debate about reproductive choice, the environment and pharmaceuticals!