Recommended by Nick Malakhow

A taut and well-observed two person piece. In a succinct few scenes, Toby and Mercy emerge as fascinating characters whose parallels bring the unlikely pair together in an organic and satisfying arc. This is also my favorite genre--an excellent, intimate drama with a sense of humor to balance out the pathos and drama. I'd love to see this onstage!

Truly an awesome play--Lynett crafts several very compelling characters and places them in a potent and plausible situation. I love the way in which information is slowly revealed about various characters throughout (even to those related by blood and supposedly the closest!) through organic conversation and well used flashback and aside scenes. One of the play's biggest strengths is its totally human and humorous approach to big ideas and issues--it makes a political statement (several even) with a small and fairly self contained story. I would love to see this produced all over the country soon!

Beautiful piece with an evocative sense of place and extremely compelling characters. A funny, human, and poignantly wrenching story of healing from trauma and individual paths and roads to discovery. I truly hope I get to see this onstage soon!

A briskly moving and sharply satiric exploration of call out culture, the roots and evolution of public shaming, and the gears that turn in the minds of trolls. Idaszak has crafted very compelling and complex characters. How the story progresses is equally surprising as it is inevitable. I also love the way the piece demands creative staging and careful consideration of the role of the audience in a way that mirrors the very culture it is interrogating. Hilarious, dark, and exciting--I'd hope to see this of the moment play onstage soon!

What a wonderfully rendered exploration of gentrification and found family populated with dynamic and complex characters. I was most impressed by the nuanced and intersectionally rich cast that allowed for multi-layered conversations about privilege and identity. Ortiz also beautifully balanced comedy with drama, realism with some sublime and meta theatrical poetry. MinorityLand could be produced in any number of cities and speak to gentrification in an immediate and palpable way. I'd love to see this on its feet!

A superb, theatrical delight. Incorporating fantasy, ritual, black comedy, and incisive social critique, Christopher explores conversion therapy, homophobia, and misogyny in ways I've never seen it explored before. Perhaps most impressive is the way that this piece doesn't sacrifice nuance, intriguing relationships, and complex characters for style, despite the extremely heightened world these people are inhabiting. It would be a thrill to see this staged live!

A fast-paced roller coaster ride of a piece that uses exquisitely theatrical magic and compelling narration to explore mental health, trauma, teen relationships, and the puzzling and eternal questions asking us what are young people supposed to do with the anger and emotional weights that saddle them as they come of age and forge identities for themselves? I'm eager to see how this piece develops and hope to see its unique stage magic and narrative techniques come alive on its feet someday soon!

A tender and beautifully-realized play! Not only does "Can I Hold You?" capture an experience and voices truly not yet represented by the contemporary theater, but it takes that perspective and utilizes it to explore intimacy, friendship, and sexuality in a universal manner. Like the best "small stories," this play's specificity is its strength and the reason behind its universality. Barclay's characters speak with warmth and humor while navigating potent and complex conflicts. I hope to see this piece get developed and produced!

A thoroughly engrossing piece! Like all great science fiction, it tackles head on contemporary issues--here we are treated to a fascinating exploration of citizenship, immigration, nationalism, remnants of colonialism, and prejudice. The characters are nuanced and recognizable, and the world building natural and fully realized. Lam's clever sense of humor brings welcome moments of levity to some gutting truths and intense conversations about difference and intolerance that our contemporary world must reconcile ourselves with.

Sloth Levine has a knack for creating fantastical worlds that incorporate, illuminate, and interrogate queerness in new and interesting ways! Here, they use a satirical riff on the "Scooby Gang" to examine the processing of trauma and to ask what kinds of monsters keep us up at night. "Interrobangers" manages to be funny, whimsical, theatrically fantastical, and a little sexy while articulating some profound truths about queerness, otherness, and the compartmentalization of traumatic events. I love how spooky, ambiguous, hopeful, and satisfying the ending is. I look forward to following this play's trajectory as it develops!