Recommended by Alexander Pine

Smartly structured dark comedy. Keeping a backyard play compelling is really tough, but this felt effortless. Foreclosure never stopped being clever, thanksin large part to the fantastic brashness of the purely desperate characters. The pain can be fun to watch and mirrors the infuriating ridiculousness of the housing crisis to begin with.

Aly sneaks in an ingenious, yet beautifully simple sci-fi allegory about the dangerous pitfalls and totalitarian leaning state of our current American mental health care system. But the real magic trick is her ability to reveal her world-building within a quick and perfectly charming interaction.

There is so much riveting longing within this piece; utterly elevating (no pun intended) the science fiction genre. I really love these ten minutes. Lindsay is brilliant at crafting perfect theatrical mechanisms for the stage, and the specificity of the protagonist’s emotional world drives the story; beautifully interlinking with the genre.

Flawlessly utilizing academia as a microcosm of how the White status-quo effortlessly manipulates systems designed for them. The Quaker setting heightens the trope of the well-meaning, but self-involved White progressive-aspiring community.

Malakhow’s most ingenious feat is depicting the enormity of both the school’s inner world and the larger systemic conflicts of our world with only four main characters.

It’s taut and gripping and I couldnt put it down.

A story that insightfully depicts how the idea of transition exists in both nuanced and literal ways; within an individual, a relationship, and culture. Megan confidently uses clever staging devices throughout. Fun to watch their lead character thinking aloud, not just to herself, but as an obstacle to even hold a conversation.

The quick-witted and acerbic first person narration works wonders to propel this forward-moving journey through heightened reality. Very touching moments of real pain and need for connection within the madness.

The specificity of this conversation never lets up. Painfully funny, poignant and entirely relatable.

The familiarity of the story is comforting, but the story is so well-constructed you can't help but be moved.

Relentless staccato-like momentum and insight. Just delightful!

Mr. Arsenault is able to incorporate his clinical understanding of PTSD in a cleverly staged and moving way within a short real-time situation.