Recommended by Nick Malakhow

DARLING is a poignant, intimate piece about loneliness, connection, and hope for a better life. Rucker gives us four vividly drawn characters with distinct personalities and voices, and she manages to get us to sympathize with them even when they make questionable choices. Pete's relationship with his father is both sweet and painful. Angie's desire to self-actualize and escape past patterns is palpable and runs in conflict with Dave's M.O. Angie and Pete feel like parallels but not in a heavy-handed way. On the contrary--the entire story progression and the ending are all nuanced and surprising.

FLUSH is a spectacular example of showing vs telling in theatrical terms. Calnek-Sugin's vividly realized and distinct characters connect, fracture, and realign throughout a series of poignant, funny, truthful, and sharp scenes. I loved the, at times, irregular rhythms of these vignettes, and sometimes superbly written, tense, longer scenes were interspersed with potent and brief moments. Subtlety is, overall, the name of the game here in this nuanced and thoughtful story. The location is also loaded and a wonderfully theatrical setting in and of itself. I'd love to see this on its feet!

What a fantastic piece! Carabatsos creates an atmospheric theatrical world with just a few characters and rhythmic, spare dialogue. I love the way that the piece winds back and forth through time and moves along at a steady yet constantly building pace. The use of the source material is also inspiring and helps me see that text in a new light--the roots of Rodion's (or Ross') desire to be exceptional feels clearly sprung from toxic and destructive tropes of masculinity and are effectively contrasted with the reasonable and incredibly justifiable anger, pain, and rage of the women represented here.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this tenderly-written story about family, grief, and coming of age. Salant writes with both an excellent grasp of his multi-dimensional characters and an intentional eye towards the ways their specific identities inform their lives. From Maura's haunting presence to David's several private moments of grief to Harold's poignant Bar Mitzvah speech, Salant has created a distinctly theatrical world that pairs comedy with pathos. I especially loved how moving truths and character developments were highlighted here without the need for histrionics or manufactured grand gestures. A moving and nuanced work!

Salant effectively utilizes the Sodom and Gomorrah story to both effectively condemn the horrifying acts perpetrated against Jews, members of the LGBTQ community, and other targeted groups, while also exploring the role misguided, hypocritical, and virulent righteousness can have in the oppression of marginalized folks. Salant mixes bold theatricality, dark humor, and several potent and gutting moments of tragedy. His use of some purposefully alienating theatrical conceits allows him to explore dark and disturbing material with enough of a distance to make his affecting points. I'd be interested in seeing the continued journey of this play!

In INUTIL, Alisha Espinosa incisively explores campus sexual assault while also having a broader discussion about the complex feelings that arise in the wake of and in response to injustice of various forms. That Lucia and Lilianna are visual artists is also magnified by the beautifully rendered stage pictures that Espinosa creates throughout. All of the characters are extremely well-rendered, and reveal themselves in both astutely-observed naturalistic scenes, private monologues, and dream-like moments. The ending is messy, heartbreaking, and illustrative of the collateral damage and lasting ripples that traumatic events have on individuals and communities.

What a beautifully-constructed play that makes such excellent and poignant use of double-casting. I loved how repeated gestures/tics were employed across generations. Donna Hoke explores homophobia and other kinds of prejudice, societal structures that keep us in cycles of oppression, and redemption in a briskly-moving 90-or-so minutes! I appreciated the way the play wound back and forth through time, yet always felt as if it was structurally moving forward at a steady clip. Hoke has rendered some very three-dimensional and vividly-realized characters here. The final stage image is gorgeous and well-earned. I'd love to see a production!

Ali MacLean has an incredible ability to build sympathetic, multi-dimensional characters who you root for even as they implode. Gen and Hugo's early interactions are as charming as their final interactions are wrenching and devastating. MacLean both shows the sometimes inescapable trap of a toxic relationship while simultaneously illustrating the slow-burn disease that is addiction. There are some huge, catastrophic events towards the end, but they are incredibly well-earned and foreshadowed. It is a testament to how wonderfully made these characters are that I can see the self-destruction and feel for them until the very end.

This is a brilliantly rendered theatrical world that respects and shows sensitivity towards its young ensemble, even as the characters aren't showing sensitivity to one another. The echoes of Greek tragedy (chorus, monologues, unity of space) are a perfect structure on which to build this insightful exploration of teenage social dynamics, particularly the ways that society puts young women/femme-identifying humans down and pits them against one another. The melancholic inevitability of the end is contemporary/ancient/timeless. Each character is compelling, nuanced, and well-drawn. The eye towards intersectionality here is also much appreciated. I'd love to see this performed!

This is such a sensitively written play--even when the characters themselves aren't being especially tender with one another. Buttrill has created four very nuanced and complex characters with potent desires and needs and imperfect ways of trying to achieve them. The teenage boys are written incredibly well, and I was especially thrilled to see that the "queer reveal" wasn't treated as a bomb so much as a moment of humanity and connection. The spare and lyrical choral odes help contribute to the melancholic atmosphere. I'd love to see this theatrical and compelling piece staged!