Recommended by Donald E. Baker

This is an adult play in the best sense of that word. It's a pleasure watching three guys of very diverse backgrounds, who were only high school acquaintances, reconnect as mature men who face difficulties in their home and their work lives. As their friendships deepen, and they are willing to expose their own shortcomings, they support but also challenge each other and refuse to accept less than total honesty. Stories of straight male bonding are all too few. This is a good one, with realistic, emotional, complex characters. Excellent, engaging work.

Who besides Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn knew that demons suffer anxieties and fears and inadequacies and meet in support groups to help each other face those, well, internal demons? When one such meeting is interrupted by a human ("meat machine" in demon terms), three rather incompetent demons turn their attention to helping him cope with the loss of a beloved pet. Despite their worst efforts, they are successful. A very sweet and funny play that will challenge everything you've heard about the denizens of the dark world.

Apparently when you are battling your internal demons and are headed into The Darkness, you'd be fortunate to meet a half-demon and a wood troll to help you see your way back to the light. And send you on your way with a cute sign and a throw pillow. This is a very sweet fantasy play with a positive message, three terrific acting roles, and great opportunities for your local prop master and costumer to go overboard.

I had the privilege of participating in a reading of this spooky play. It's a ghost story and a love, or maybe obsession, story, and every element Rene Zabel has adorned it with--gothic setting, heightened language, tarot readings, the Poe-esque associations of a pet raven and the mysterious name Lenore--will ratchet up the suspenseful experience. Increasingly eerie reprises of a haunting Welsh melody will no doubt send shivers down the spines of the people in the audience. Producing "Lenore" would be a treat for everyone involved.

What a sweet activity to plan for a first date: watching a Christmas movie together. But as each of them objects to the other's suggestions, Maggie and Jeff discover their tastes in, and even definitions of, "Christmas movie" are diametrically opposed. And that's even before they finally get to the ultimate question of whether "Die Hard" qualifies. The two of them seem irredeemably incompatible. But you know what they say about the mutual attraction of opposites. Rachel Feeny-Williams's thoroughly amusing meet-cute rom-com is a lovely little gift for the holiday season.

St. Luke's telling is so seemingly innocuous: "there was no room for them in the inn." Well, that's what happens when you neglect to make reservations in advance, isn't it? To Joseph, dead tired and frustrated after dragging his very pregnant wife all over town looking for a vacancy, his encounters with unsympathetic innkeepers have left him operating on his last nerve. And now when the last "concierge" has the effrontery to suggest the stable as an alternative, that's almost the last straw--so to speak. The piece is a hilarious interpretation of may have really happened. I loved it.

Two cultures. Two sets of Christmas traditions. Two languages, so at least two different names for everything. There are a few misunderstandings, more than a little love, and more than a little cognac in this short-and-sweet holiday play.

It required a weirdly creative mind to come up with the recipe for this holiday treat. 1. Mash up a story right out of the Christmas cartoons with Little Red Riding Hood. 2. Mix in some romance and political satire. 3. Hide bits of familiar holiday carols amidst the dialogue. 4. And finally, toss in wry comments from a snowman named Frosti (with an i). Fortunately Peter Fenton's creative mind was up to the task and the result is a delicious Christmas confection worthy of annual rebroadcast on your favorite network.

This piece has everything one would want in a Christmas play. A family story--empty nesters finding it difficult facing their first holiday without their children--that many people will relate to. Grown children who still relate to each other like they did as children. Rediscovery of the joy of the season thanks to a little ghostly intervention. The characters, major and minor, are uniformly wonderful. There are comedic moments, and probably toward the end some the audience members will be reaching for their handkerchiefs. It's Christmas magic indeed and ideally should make its way into the seasonal repertoire.

What a great concept. A parody of an infomercial for a CD to help privileged white folks block out the uncomfortable societal demands of people unlike themselves. And for the truly affluent among them, the one percent who must drown out ninety-nine percent of the country, there is an even more effective, very exclusive (in both senses of the word) top-of-the-line version. Steven G. Martin has produced a very funny, very pointed satire that goes right to the heart of the American economic, cultural, and racial divide. Nice work indeed.