Recommended by Nick Malakhow

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!

An absolutely extraordinary piece. Impeccably paced and structured, while somehow feeling organic and free flowing all at the same time. Has the kind of soul bearing storytelling quality of a perfect solo show, but obviously it is something else entirely. The most vivid and powerfully depicted example of the effects of trauma on an individual that I've read in a long time or quite possibly ever. Wrenching but far from "excessive"--every detail shared is carefully chosen and profoundly articulated.

An inventive, briskly moving, and darkly funny look at intergenerational relationships between female family members. The way each central character's media-related antagonist trails them helps physicalize in a gloriously theatrical manner the extent to which we rely on certain crutches to console us and help us come to terms with our grief. There are several surprising and well-earned twists! It would be delightful to see this onstage, and I hope it receives further development and production opportunities!

So sweet, small, and utterly human. Femia captures the pathos of loneliness and depression balanced with a pitch perfect thread of nuanced humor. The two central characters' evolving relationship/reconnection is profoundly truthful and full of a genuine ache for connection. As a bonus, each character's main supporting scene partner gets their own beautiful arcs. It's rare to see the plight of someone in a relationship with a person coping with mental illness in such a way that shows all of that "caretaker's" warts, missteps, and heartbreak so delicately. Truly a theatrical and sublime work!

I am always so consistently engrossed in Svich's spare, heightened, and fabulistic theatrical worlds. The characters are at once nuanced and dynamic while also retaining a mythic quality. In FUEL I feel like the world is constantly on the brink of erupting into flames. My director brain begins to flesh out the visual-aural landscape of this play quickly. Svich gives so much to work with on that front while also providing a gloriously multi-faceted script that leaves much room for individual interpretation. I sincerely hope to see a production of this soon!

This was a gloriously hilarious read. Rich satire with characters that are, at once, blazingly outlandish and full of nuance and heart. A well-observed, theatrically heightened view of relationships, longing, intimacy, and small liberal arts colleges. This had me in stitches throughout, but some of the scenes, particularly Jackie and Alaska's direct-address-"duet" of sorts rang with the brilliant truthfulness of totally uncensored inner life. I hope to see this someday!

What a joy to read so many young women rendered so deftly. Gina Femia captures the awkwardness and profundity of teenage identity formation with crisply naturalistic dialogue. As with all of Femia's plays, I didn't have to glance at the character list to start hearing their distinct and unique voices and telling them apart from the beginning. This play leans into questions of faith, organized religion, healing from trauma, and navigating one's identity within institutions or oppressive structures literally designed to keep one down. High schoolers should read and perform this piece.

Moss captures natural speech with an uncanny accuracy, highlighting the humor from the irregular timing and cadences of real conversations. An exceptionally interesting premise and wonderfully executed arc! This had me rolling around in stitches while also confronting some hard truths about intimacy and relationships.

As a career teacher, I love this piece. I can see where each adult character is coming from and how much they believe they're thinking in the interest of the child in question, when they so woefully miss the mark. When Michael speaks with his youthful honesty, naivete, and cynicism it's hard to see him as either the delinquent Celeste has made him out to be or the victim his mother has decided that he is. Love the combo of realism and heightened theatricality as well! Hope to see this produced soon.

A fierce and brazenly theatrical exploration of not just the specific incident at the heart of the play, but of intersectionally-conscious queer identity. This piece had me alternatingly laughing at its genius, gutted by its tragedy, and sobered by its commentary. Through a clever balance of nuanced humans whose lives we were peering into and fourth-wall breaking self-aware characters, Christopher examines how this tragedy's roots are interlaced strands of hatred, misogyny, homophobia, racism, and classism. The exploration and meditation on the idea of community within the queer culture is potent and so articulately expressed as well.