Recommended by Nick Malakhow

This piece provides a unique angle of looking at the fallout behind major mass tragedy. It raises fresh and original questions about how we cope and process in the wake of such tragedies and the ways in which events can haunt spaces other than the direct sites of impact. Silvia and Cat's central question about deciding to start a family provides a distinct and powerful axis around which these other characters (and their griefs that need outlets and processing) rotate. The piece is full of warm and tender humanity as well. Hope to see a production of this soon!

Seriously brilliant! Pitch-black and vicious in its comedy, but never bleak or heavy-handed. What reads as sort of free-flowing (as indicated by its own characters), is on the contrary really well structured and put together while always being consistently surprising (and shocking, and entertaining, and hilarious, and frightening). Extremely theatrical and the entire sequence from "All the World's a Stage" through the end was gutting and so extremely powerful. I was glad to see it end with hope and eyes towards the future. This needs to be staged now!

Wow! I knew this would be affecting, but did not realize how often during reading I would ugly-cry on public transit! This play is a veritable masterpiece itself. The nuanced and so-carefully stitched together and chosen scenes were the ultimate example of powerful "showing vs. telling" in script writing. I felt even for the characters I disagreed with. Though this tale was fairly geographically and socially self-contained, it pulsed with such incredible universality and truth--really moreso than other canonical AIDS crisis plays that I've seen or read. I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to see this in production.

The residual casualties of the 2016 election--complicated or torn friendships and socio-political reprioritizing on an individual and group scale--are vividly on display here in engaging and nuanced characters. All of the characters are rendered with a subtle and fine paintbrush, and their personalities are illustrated so adeptly in their relationships to and way of engaging with gaming. The games and the characters relationships to them are skillfully handled metaphors! The twists and turns both make sense but are satisfyingly surprising. I love seeing the genesis and evolution of this social microcosm both in the past and present scenes.

A beautifully observed and heart wrenchingly told story. While it tackles a timely and urgent subject in opioid addiction, it does so without didacticism or preaching to either its characters or audience. Each character is so fully rendered. I love reading a quiet drama such as this that focuses on the tiny seismic shifts in life that lead to new understandings. Hope to see this produced soon!

Astonishingly brilliant! This is an exquisitely vicious dark satire in which the inventive and wholly original humor is punctuated by some gutting truths (of course, these truths are fully on display in the satire as well, just skewed/skewered to oblivion). With an inventive and brilliant use of double-casting and outrageous stage directions that could be theatricalized in effective and unique ways, this piece is oh so theatrical as well. I sincerely hope I get to see a production of this some day soon.

A beautifully melancholy and unique slice of life. What a brilliant setting and use of that setting, and what vividly drawn and compelling characters. The scenes move briskly and, for such a quiet piece, it's filled with well-earned and surprising turns.

I was privileged to see a reading of this in Boston last year--Ida is a compelling and complex protagonist. Like any good historically informed piece of literature, this made me eager to learn more about Idawalley Lewis, while still providing a satisfying snippet of her life. The sizeable supporting cast is well-developed, and the play gives voice to a kind of subtle and nuanced narrative not commonly given airtime. Would love to see this play's continued journey!

I love how this piece is simultaneously whimsical in concept and execution, and grounded by its multi dimensional characters and poignant late-play twist. I was lucky enough to see a reading of this in in Boston. The unabashed, quirky humor and punny wordplay of the first 2/3rds of the play paid off as it came to a more sobering conclusion. These contrasting sections painted a unique portrait of two sisters' evolving relationships to one another and their own identities.

What a breath of fresh air to feel seen and heard by a small, nuanced, domestic drama, the likes of which the white hetero world has a stranglehold on! A beautifully complex discussion about identity, assimilation, heritage, lingering grief, and family trauma. I also appreciated the deeply intersectional exploration of identity-- it was astounding to see these family members' relationships to their own multiple identities identities come into conflict with one another. Everyone is written as a unique, genuine person with their own distinct voices. Hope to see this developed and produced soon!