Recommended by Donald E. Baker

Mary emerges from the jungle still very young, almost non-verbal, and exhibiting behaviors far more feline than human, but she has no difficulty running rings around the pompous child psychologist determined to civilize that feral child. As she becomes more comfortable with language, she reveals her secret identity and her mission to save the tigers of the world, bestowed upon her by the tigers themselves. This hilarious play with a serious message would be a romp for the right troupe of character actors--and a physically flexible younger actress. Highly recommended.

Love this play. Cassie needs attention, her grandmother provides it, and the two generations discover they have more in common with each other than they do with the generation in between. In the process, Cassie perhaps learns more about Gram than she ever wanted to know. This is a lovely intergenerational show that would be a delight to see on stage.

Martineau has created a fraught world in which five characters are all battling something emotionally or physically, and they take it out on themselves and each other. So many stresses, so many secrets, so much baggage from the past weighing them down has each of them near a breaking point. The writing keeps the audience as off balance as the people on stage, until the play provides a ray of hope in its satisfying conclusion Excellent work that will stick with you.

I love plays that take familiar characters and develop them in unexpected ways. There's little that can be more unexpected than to take J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan characters, age them into adults, and set them in a grungy Film Noir world where Barrie himself becomes the hard-boiled detective lured into a mystery by a beautiful woman--that would be Wendy. At its core this is a play about drug abuse and the appearance of a dangerous new drug called...well, read it and find out for yourself. Another wonderful work from the unique creative mind of Rachel Feeny-Williams.

These days nothing seems to get people's knickers in a twist faster than any hint of gender non-conformity. When an experienced teacher tries to ignore her school's guidelines on the use of students' preferred pronouns, she gets a huge surprise from a younger colleague. I love a play in which a willfully ignorant character gets their (don't they just hate "they" used as a singular?) comeuppance. A most timely play that will have you cheering at the end. Highly recommended.

Fortunately the theater world has become more sensitive to actors' comfort levels in scenes calling for close physical contact. An intimacy director has minutely choreographed an encounter between two older gay men cast in a groundbreaking production. The two rehearse their moves awkwardly but with increasing mutual interest. A funny, enlightening, and very satisfying play. Scott Sickles never fails to surprise and delight.

Cathro has structured this ingenious play as a fugue for six couples, full of overlapping themes and recurring leitmotivs, and the dialogue is as close to music as prose can get. Very highly recommended, whether or not you have any knowledge of the album that inspired it.

Thoughtful writing about the horrible reality of school shooting is necessary. In this excellent example, shots--we think--ring out and five panicky people take refuge in an office: three staff, a student, and a parent. As they debate school policy and their own course of action, they are all too willing to speculate on the shooter's identity based on one student's appearance and perceived attitudes. Then they discover that student hiding in a closet. It turns out neither he nor any of the others are what they first seemed. An insightful and important play.

Stories, especially our personal histories, are powerful. What we choose to reveal or conceal can heal or hurt—ourselves and our relationships. Vince Gatton illustrates that power forcefully in this excellent examination of two people dealing with life-changing events—marriage, baby, removal to a totally different environment. I highly recommend this beautiful, haunting play.

This play is a model for the writing of history or biography plays. The characters are so well drawn, their hopes and fears so clearly understood, the movement from one episode to the next so deft, the language so elevated--Scott Sickles' prodigious talent is on full display in this masterful work.