Recommended by Nick Malakhow

I was super drawn into this theatrical world from the start, and found each character so distinct and compelling and with clear and potent wants and needs (from themselves, from each other, from ghosts in their lives...). I also loved how Alberdi always went for nuance and complexity in both character actions/choices and theatrical devices. Such huge and varied themes--faith, intimacy, grief and loss, belief, identity--are handled with originality. This piece manages to be funny, unsettling, poignant, intimate, and sensual all at once! I'm eager to follow its developmental path and would love to see it onstage.

A trim, well-paced, character-driven play that explores recovery, grief, the push-pull of home, family, and what happens when all of those things intersect in a complex fashion. I appreciated how each character was flawed while also having their own personal moments of redemption. Saari also provided an insightful window into the town, its culture, and its tensions with the particular cross section of characters selected--an impressive feat to render the town with such detail with just four humans! Lastly, I appreciated the humor/drama balance here. I'd love to see it on its feet in production.

A wonderful, sharp, ensemble-piece filled with nuanced and complex femme characters. It also contains a spectacular reading of "Oleanna" that everyone who thinks they're familiar with the play or who thinks it's actually "good art" should take a listen to. The constellations of relationships we see--Andy and Jen, Jen and Laura, Andy and Laura, Leah and Andy, and, of course, all of them and their prof--are all very specific and fleshed out. An important examination of male privilege and abuse in academia, rehearsal rooms, and the world at large, and of what it takes to start dismantling it.

A nuanced, complex, and comprehensive examination of two humans and the ways their lives intersect with one another as they come of age and more fully understand their identities. I loved the irregular rhythms here that captured natural speech and the little seismic changes that make life what it is--short, revealing moments alternated with longer and more tension-filled and fraught scenes. I also loved the malleability of space and time and the theatricality of the piece. The focus on the characters is so razor-sharp, a creative production company would have a field day creating all of these different spaces.

I enjoyed the theatricality of this piece--malleable space/time, inventive use of a changing, abstract unit set, and the two sets of characters in different timelines. The conversations had here are all interesting and demand to be seen onstage--exploring dynamics of the individual and multi-armed struggles of an ethnically diverse group of people society lumps together as "same" based on the fact that they're Asian ...the ways people of historically marginalized identities are asked to either compromise for the sake of comfort OR stand their ground and eschew success. Gorgeous exploration of past and present.

A beautiful queer coming-of-age story. The interactions between Quentin and Zia are so delicately rendered. The escalating tensions and ways in which they gauge one another's identities and needs feel so organic and follow such a natural trajectory. I also loved the deeply intersectional nature of their conversations and how their experiences dovetail with and diverge from one another. Ayse, who could be portrayed as a "villain" in less skilled hands is sympathetic, and her loneliness and isolation is effectively illustrated and adds a necessary dimension to her arc. So many beautiful stage images as well!

A super theatrical epic that explores assimilation and belonging for several generations of Chinese and Chinese American women and manages to capture three (more technically!) very unique and historically vital socio-cultural and political contexts. The throughline of witty, funny, human dialogue keeps you engaged throughout and serves to really differentiate a huge ensemble of impressively eclectic personalities. The theatrically heightened moments that punctuate each scene thematically tie together what at first might appear to be disparate moments in time. I'd love to see this funny, insightful, compelling piece realized onstage!

Deeply unsettling--all the more because of how much the violence is perpetrated in search of belonging, normalcy, what Win is prevented from having in society. This would definitely be intense viewing, and I'd be interested to see a daring production team handle it with a nuanced hand.

A lot of unsettling themes and realities are explored here with a deft hand. Ashley Rose Wellman's eye for rendering complex characters navigating very particular forms of strife is fully employed here! Wellman's ability to juggle comedy with darkness is also so well utilized. Shelby is a compelling nucleus for the piece (in fact each of the characters is eternally fascinating and nuanced) and her journey is both hard to read about and handled with care. I appreciated that the ending felt like a messy and hopeful reminder that "normal," per se, isn't necessary for healing to begin.

A gorgeous, glorious exploration of family and intergenerational relationships and, ultimately, healing. I so loved how delicately drawn the characters were and how the slightly heightened and fabulistic exploration of the wildfires both heightened the stakes of the human story and served as a well-chosen extended metaphor--especially in the illustration of breath, breathing. Queerness and its intersection with family and religion is poignantly explored too in a way that casts aside huge fireworks and theatrics for little subtle, seismic shifts in relationships. I'd love to see this visualized onstage!