Recommended by Nick Malakhow

I just wanted to add my appreciation and praise to this amazing ten minute piece. A look at high school longing, love, and connection with a deeply intersectional focus and gets all of the nuances of its wonderful characters write. Pipes has created a perfect 10-minute piece that speaks such volumes in its short runtime.

How awesome it would be to see this as a site-specific piece in the bookstore. Berryman zeroes in on an intimate, complex set of relationships. The action comes in potent but subtle seismic shifts and well-timed revelations. The overall impression is of a group of friends damaged by past traumas and complicated feelings--it's at once sad and totally justified to see them split apart, especially when we get the sense that they all need contact and support. Finely woven threads of sexuality, mental health, and family stitch the overall tapestry of this piece together!

A heartbreaking, nuanced work populated by well-defined people and lightened by some wisely placed humor and humanity throughout. The specter of Terrence/Evelyn is at first cause for some humorous moments of mind-bending confusion for George, and then becomes a haunting herald into the play's sad, final moments. Donnelly captures unique and sympathetic humans all with different relationships to HIV and AIDS whose collisions and connections in this Rehoboth Beach oceanside home are poignant, hurtful, and, at times, healing. This play manages to be engaging and entertaining while also informative.

Awesome piece! The kinetic energy of these young women is propulsive as they explore intersections of race, gender expectations, sexuality, and faith. I'd loved the poignant saint presentations that punctuated the briskly-moving scenes and appreciated the way it ended with hope, togetherness, and looking forward even while all the way acknowledging the multitudinous and complex ways society pits women against one another. Beautiful! Also hilarious.

A moving rendering of an underrepresented narrative. Tal is a super compelling and engaging central character and the theatrical and unconventional way that the story unfolds (the repeated "runtime errors") mirrors in an intriguing way the trauma and stress he undergoes in the wake of his assault. The dynamic between Tal and Celia is rich, fascinating, and made complicated in a powerful way by Tal's erratic behavior and inability to share what has happened with him with his close confidant. I'd love to see this on its feet onstage!

A lyrical, poetic rendering of addiction and its impacts on users, their families, and their relations that has an almost parable-like quality. Menke utilizes meta-theatrical direct address combined with intimate, spare scenes to create a dynamic and theatrical play. It's also arranged so gorgeously on the page--its line breaks and fonts are truly part of the storytelling in an exciting and effective way.

Such an aesthetically distinct play that conjured such compelling stage images in my brain purely from reading the words on the page! A unique, funny, and unsettling piece that explores queer identity in an unconventional fashion.

What a wonderful, magical ensemble piece. The central relationship between Nathaniel and Ixchel is a breath of fresh air--to see young queer friends rendered onstage and going on a journey that is informed by the complexity of their identities while treating them with a gentleness and lightness is refreshing. This would be a field day for creative directors, movement directors, and designers of all sorts. I'd be eager to see this realized live!

In "Man of God," Anna Moench captures the kinetic energy of her characters with such a pitch perfect attention to voice and detail, I found it impossible to put this gripping, continuous conversation down. She uses dark humor and fantastical/horror elements to effectively juxtapose with the terrifying and wrenching truths she examines about sexual violence and the ways society pits women against one another. The camera is a clear but nuanced metaphor for the male gaze. I would so love to see this boldly theatrical, powerful, and darkly funny piece in production!

What a wonderful, tightly-written piece that explores the multi-pronged impacts of trauma that reverberate throughout one's life and relationships. I loved the framing of the piece with Alex's conversations with her therapist and the personal, theatrical monologues that punctuate her visits with each friend--the "what's going on inside/outside" dichotomy loads the scenes with weight and heft. Most importantly, Audrey illustrates just how different responses to a similar trauma can be and validates each and every response for all characters, which is helpful both for Alex's journey and for steering conversations about trauma towards healing and progress.