Recommended by Donna Gordon

I especially like the hints of disaster and trauma in this piece. There's just enough truth to penetrate hum drum everyday life in Perseverance, although this truth can also be very personal for the lead character. Webb does a great job of balancing easy conversation with life's difficult questions such as saving a town from imploding onto itself. Or recovering from an experience so terrible that the memories are suppressed. The atmosphere of this small town is developed with a deft hand.

Another honest take on the world teens live in. We need statements about violence in our schools. Hageman in just a few words depicts the horror and also the compassion in the aftermath.

I would love to see this as I know so much of its effectiveness depends on visual imagery. Smith strongly makes her point that mental illness is not societal illness, such as gun violence, racism etc. This is a very important distinction so that the possibilities of combating the problems that populate the news can be fully realized. Though the community of Dorothy Lane has had a recession, this is distantly related, if at all, to schizophrenia. On the other hand, how we treat the mentally ill says alot about the success of our communities.

This is a most original look at the iconic Bronte's. By using a perspective including their one brother, a surprisingly intimate look at the sisters is achieved. The Bronte's played games like this, I'm sure, and included their dead sisters as a tribute. That would be very Victorian. Keeping suspense and a rollicking rhythm suits a tale for children and adults alike. History has never been so playful.

Art imitates life, within the play and while reading the play. Mason cleverly frames this scenario with haunting poetry, mostly about death, and advertisement for the masses. The structure is unique and the contrasts are stark. With the ironic ending, poetry becomes reality.

This theme is needed all the time, for all time, inhumane treatment . Carnes, with her considerable skill, focuses on children separated from parents, one aspect of this reoccurring devastation. Nothing brings civilization closer to a shipwreck than all the violent storms along the way. The structure is brilliant.

What do you say? What do you write about when a person is taking her last breaths from cancer? This is a difficult topic , handled here with finesse. Dresner makes you wonder about the mood of the minister-visitor.

This play does much to show the conflicts of people, authorities and nations. The Indian girl who is given a chance to get off the reservation but refuses it to help her suffering people; an interrogator who wants the truth but also seems to care about the prisoner; and the society that progresses in ways that leave behind vulnerable groups - all of these conflicts are captured in a brief ten minutes. A real tour-de-force!

The poetry is gorgeous, yet, as in life, the story evolves in the linear fashion we use to look at our own times, people and situations. Language is used the way Ms. Svich wants to use it, as is typical of a poet. The author, however, is also a playwright choosing various time frames and types of dialogue to express the relationship between B and H. I'm a fan of Lorca and any influence from him is welcome by me, as a reader and playwright. I would also love to read more of Fornes, knowing Svich follows her footsteps.

And so true that once raped, sex is cheapened. Once loss of self-esteem, it's easier the next time. That's what women look like, I'm not sure about the men. This is the college scene enhanced (if that's the right word) by drinking, after hours walks with rape dangers, and, above all, crushed expectations. Expectations aren't always good, but surely young people deserve more than this. Please report date rape and please prosecute so this doesn't become a farce.