Recommended by Lainie Vansant

Barbot does an excellent job blending genres and blurring lines in this top-notch example of Latinx/magical realism. I feel like I could read this over and over again and keep distilling new meaning from it. On top of that, the language is specific and natural. Don't miss this haunting piece!

These characters' veneer of happy smiles over desperation for freedom offers an excellent example of dark comedy and a great challenge for its actors. It's fun to read and I'm sure it would be fun to watch, but it makes my heart ache for these women at the same time.

This play raises interesting questions about our responsibilities to one another and to the children who come after us. Is there a 'right' or 'wrong' way to deal with trauma? This piece is sure to inspire conversation, and it's the right length to leave the audience wanting more!

"The problem with superhero movies..." This play tackles the many "problems" with superhero movies -- the false dichotomy between good and evil, the complacency they inspire, and the impracticality of capes -- while still displaying love for the genre in general and hope for those of us who are stuck being "REALS." It's a lot of fun but also makes you think, and it's a perfect script for a University black box. Check it out!

This is a sweet, natural story about siblings dealing with things in their own ways. It has Hageman's signature voice -- always refreshingly natural and effortlessly funny, with a good dose of heart as well.

Gunderson's world-building here is so subtle you start to wonder -- could it be now? Next week? Next year? She seamlessly blends a dark, imaginative setting with poetic language, human connections, and important dilemmas. A fascinating read that I'm sure would also be a lot of fun to design, direct, and watch!

Though this piece is full of silence and introspection, the conflict throughout is palpable and powerful. Burnet does a masterful job of feeding the audience clues as the script moves along and keeping us (or at least me) putting the puzzle together well into the script.

The soft, slow pace of this play contrasts with its heated conflict in a fascinating way that makes me as a reader really root for these two characters and their lost connection. Esmaeili does the important work here of bringing foreigners into a different space, which helped me empathize with people half a world away.

The way Gonzalez portrays the act of remembering in this piece really gets at the ambiguity and confusion that can fill up a traumatized mind. That trauma fills up this brief snapshot, but it makes me want a better life for the daughter in this play so badly. Even in her grief, she is feisty and lonely and complex, and I am drawn inexorably in by the need to know her story. Don't miss this fascinating play!

Earworm is structurally unique and poetically beautiful, but that doesn't begin to describe how it touched my heart to read it. Cook has created something both incredibly specific and beautifully relatable in this piece in a way that surprised and moved me. I would love to see this staged -- there is so much potential in Cook's design choices, and it's sure to move an audience!