Recommended by Ian Thal

Katrin Arefy's THE LIVING ROOM AND DEATH may defy the conventions of naturalistic drama but its combination of absurdist poetry and comedy draws one in through its many variations on theme and motif. A family with its succession of significant others spend months waiting by the phone expecting word of impending death of a relative. Meanwhile they trade stories, pour drinks and, never manage to visit the hospital.

Sarah Siegel portrays the often fraught relationship between a mother and daughter, (further complicated by mental illness) in parallel with the relationship between the diaspora Jewish community and Israel. Imbued with both humor and magical realism, it touches upon both ancient and modern Jewish literature from the Pslams to Amos Oz, from queerness to Zionism, from folk dance to prayer.

Priyanka Shetty's #CHARLOTTESVILLE artfully weaves together interviews with residents of Charlottesville, Virginia in the aftermath of the 2017 Unite The Right rally, that brought tiki-torch-bearing marchers chanting "Jews will not replace us" to their city, the trial of the rally's organizers following the violence, and her own experiences of of discrimination as the first Indian grad student at UVA's drama department. This documentary play is urgent, and aptly meets our historical moment.

An entertaining satire on the media stemming from the premise of how would celebrity news programs handle a return of the Olympian pantheon? What will it do for ratings and the careers of the television hosts as they jockey to interview whichever deities cut the most impressive orbits. In the process, J.S. Puller makes the case that Demeter, goddess of grain and the harvest, and by extension, bran muffins, isn't a mere hippie goddess but the most important of them all.

Rebekka Kricheldorf's TESTOSTERONE is a wicked satire of masculinity, and economic and security disparities, that also parodies folktales and popular genres ranging from family drama, to action-exploitation, to romantic comedy.

Neil Blackadder’s translation of the original German deftly delivers every linguistic twist this genre mash-up throws at him: Whether recurring jokes, or pastiches of villainous, or antiheroic monologues, all while slipping in bits of American vernacular.

Bob Bartlett's LOVE AND VINYL is meant to be performed in record stores and unfold in real time. Witty, and often poetic, it is a reminder that the record store as an emotionally charged social space where people form their tastes and personal philosophies about the love of vinyl and the love between vinyl lovers. It’s an exquisite illustration that one’s philosophy of love is as individual as one’s taste in music.

Lou Jones' BREAKING THE CAMEL'S BACK is a linguistically rich and vividly told story of a young woman rummaging in her late grandmother's attic. The dialogue operates on so many levels from the often vapid commentary of social media, to a narration of how the dusty attic affects the protagonist's body, to rhymed verse. It all combines to make a world where Libby's extraordinary character development is believable.

The twisty exchange of innuendo between two strangers in coffeeshop appears to be the set-up for a tale of deceit, infidelity, and the attempt to avoid consequences, but appearances can be deceiving. THE PICKUP is deliciously entertaining.

A hilariously dark comedy about two women who who spend their days attending one funeral after another to check out the latest eligible widowers in town. Marj O'Neill-Butler strikes a balance between her heroines' morbid practicality, their contempt for the recently deceased whom they hope to replace, and their quest of love and security.

Though Sarah Siegel's GOING OFF SCRIPTURE has its surreal elements, the graphic portrayal of antisemitic violence and the atavism that drives it — as well as the way antisemitism intersects with misogyny and homophobia — is realistic.