Recommended by Nick Malakhow

A spectacular, original play that manages to conjure the exquisitely personal, confessional feel of a solo show while not sacrificing the audience's intricate understanding of the relationships between characters onstage (and off!). Rivers truly excels at crafting dialogue that sounds naturalistic while "sonically" also feeling lyrical and poetic--both at the individual line level and in the ways that the various characters' monologues interlace with one another. I would so love to see this onstage!

I loved reading about this constellation of characters and the ways each of their needs and wants bumped up against the needs and wants of one another. Dave did it all in a subtle and fine-tuned fashion and with an always conscious eye towards the intersectional identities of his characters. I especially appreciated the nuanced revelation Jamie has about Theresa after running to her as a potential "safe haven." I also loved the way that these characters "make their way" back to each other in messy, complex, and yet still hopeful ways.

A poignant and devastating exploration of loneliness, connection, mental health, and how we define self worth and meaning in life as those themes connect to celebrity, reality tv, and contemporary media. I found myself rooting for Stan and Evelyn throughout and being affected and gutted by the ups and downs of their time together. I did appreciate the structural connection to the earliest tragedies--the journey felt both inevitable and still shocking as new elements of it were revealed. I'd definitely be very interested in seeing this powerful work staged!

A bold, theatrical, and unique exploration of masculinity, family, connection, father-son relationships, and identity. I so loved the distinctly eclectic mix of allegorical/mythical theatrical devices and sequences with extremely human and recognizable moments between two people. I also loved the irregular rhythms of life and conversation captured within--the roleplay-driven father son conversations on drives, the profound exchanges during the mundane activity of shaving--and how many of them are taken and stretched and enlarged to symbolic proportions. I'd so love to see a fully realized production of it!

A sharply funny (hilarious even!) look into a fully realized future where technological dependence has taken on a new meaning. I love the theatrical conceit of phones being realized as humans and gaining sentience. It provides a direct but never overdone metaphor for the distinctly oxymoronic ways technology has changed/improved/ruined our lives--connected and detached people from one another, diluted and distorted information hunting while making us reliant on it...Zita's journey manages to be hilarious, cringeworthy at times, and a poignant exploration of someone trying to hold onto humanity and connection in a world sometimes preventing that.

Hilarious, fantastical, and poignant piece exploring love, friendship, masculinity, queerness, and how one's identity is tied to place and home. The theatrical vocabulary and world of this piece is so distinct and consistent throughout, and the heightened world is established quickly and escalated well so that it doesn't seem out of the ordinary for anthropomorphized fish to start talking and an uber-theatrical dream ballet-orgy-murder to occur. Beneath the bombast and intensity, Sven and Ole's relationship is recognizable in its yearning and ache. The moment between Sven and Lena at the end is wonderful. It's also freaking hilarious.

This is such a tender, original, and melancholy piece about relationships, love, and queerness graced with subtle humor. The triple casting heightens the parallels and universal truths of human connection across the ages. Where Tanner and Archie get with one another at the end feels both refreshingly honest yet natural and organic. The ending is hopeful and along the way a lot of truths are revealed about the anxieties and neuroses and hopes we bring into relationships and what we do when they aren't satisfied in easy or straightforward manners. I'd love to see this inventive piece staged!

A poignant and intimate exploration of family, grief, care-taking, and aging. I truly loved that Heather eschewed manufactured theatrics and unnecessarily life or death stakes in favor of telling a nuanced, complex, and human story. The running metaphors and motifs related to gaming were also perfect figurative complements to the literal story. The slow removal of possessions from the stage was another elegant, symbolic thread that illuminated the ebbs and flows of M and D's relationship and individual character arcs. Eager to see this onstage!

Beautifully done coming of age play that explores gender, gender identity, self image, body image, and the intersection of those things with adolescence. Jan Rosenberg mixes realistic and potent and poignant scenes with some fantastical and theatrically heightened elements to create an aesthetically cohesive and original play. Eager to see the development trajectory of this piece and a production of it up on its feet!

Really well-conceived and well-executed short piece that eschews any "traditional" structures and tropes of the 10 minute format. Rachael explores the intersection of regret, fate, and self-determination deftly in just a few pages! I loved the theatrical overture/shift at the end of the piece. It illuminates and makes a different sense of the first nine pages without feeling gimmicky. I'd love to see this performed!