Recommended by Donald E. Baker

Hellish they may be. But the four plays in this collection--infused with Scott Sickles's off-kilter wit, sense of Hitchcockian surprise, talent for intriguing characters, and suggestions for creative staging possibilities--are definitely delightful. If you can't produce these plays--and you should if at all possible--then treat yourself to a copy of your very own (available from Next Stage Press), and enjoy every page.

If you are dismayed at over-politicized American education today, just wait until you discover Baughfman's vision for it in the "not-too-distant future" (but after the Second Civil War). The state has decreed that humiliation in the form of branding the letter "F" on the faces of students is an appropriate way to encourage chronic disciplinary problems to mend their ways. But in Abraham's case, who is the real Failure--his mother, his sister, the school district, the $200,000 robotic instructor? Obviously inspired by "The Scarlet Letter," this play is unforgettable soul-churning social commentary.

Barry, an artist, is angry because he is literally losing his sight and with it his career. But during the course of this lovely short play he realizes that the greater losses were the people he rejected in the past. Ferguson's dialogue revealing the relationships between Barry and his grandfather and between Barry and his former girlfriend is tight and sharp. And by the end Barry discovers that perhaps not everything need be lost after all. "Losing Sight" is an affecting and satisfying work.

John Busser has, to say the least, a unique sense of humor--quirky, off the wall, over the top, a little naughty, and utterly delightful. All of that is on display in this collection of hilarious short plays. Get it from Next Stage Press, read it, and enjoy a good laugh--or seven. Or, better yet, produce any one, or ideally, devote an evening to all of them, and enjoy hearing your audience laughing themselves silly.

Most librarians are warriors determined to lead the forces of civilization against the constant threat of impending darkness. Such strength was certainly needed in 1930's Appalachia. The stalwart young woman telling this story to her equally stalwart horse as they traverse a literal wilderness possesses all the determination in the world. In Mary, Peel gives us a strong female character worthy of emulation in these equally threatening times.

Having once been the director of a supposedly haunted library in a gothic Victorian building, I couldn't resist reading this play. Peel perfectly paints a picture of how it feels to be in the dark, surrounded by old-building tricks of light and sound. And what the female half of the couple discovers there could not be a more perfect twist. It's a great, very atmospheric, monologue.

When the cast list includes a butler called Scurvy, you know you're in for a good time. This satiric comedy of manners (featuring an aristocratic family who display very few manners) is full of coincidences and misunderstandings that would be the envy of Wilde or of Gilbert and Sullivan. I think Noel Coward would have loved it. I know I did.

Caveat! Your bonus funnius will be tickled to the maximus by this hilarious farce that ought to be subtitled "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Coliseum." Norkin is an Imperator of wordplay, and in this panoply of shamelessness he has achieved a new height of low humor. When in Rome, have a good laugh! Two thumbs up!

In the context of a man examining himself and his relationships while battling a terminal illness, this play asks a big question: Without empathy are we truly human? While exploring this question, the man, the mother who treated his youthful swimming talent as a commodity, and the caregiver who models empathy through candles and crystals, all fundamentally change for the better and find new levels of their own humanities, in the man's case, even in the face of death. It is a profound and emotionally affecting work audiences will long remember.

Wow. There is one word of actual dialogue in this play and it's the last word. Instead, the two characters narrate their stage directions, and they do so actively, in character, and in doing so reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings as, perhaps, a world of possibilities opens up at first encounter. One hopes, after the curtain comes down, they have many more words to say to each other as their relationship deepens. This is a lovely, original, and exceedingly well executed work audiences will love.