Recommended by D.W. Gregory

Saw this at 59E59. Wow! What a knock-out. The story of a very young Hannah Arendt's arrest by the Gestapo and the intellectual wrestling match that follows is both terrifying and satisfying. So deftly rendered and absorbing.

A powerful play about hope and resilience in the face of impossible odds. Beautifully rendered, spare and lyrical.

This is such an exquisite play, so beautifully written. Married to traditional music of the people, it is simply a breathtaking experience. I read it a while ago and it still resonates in my mind. The world of the Shakers is fascinating, and T. Cat Ford knows it well, rendering it in affectionate detail. These characters have taken what we might think of a strange path, but their faith and strength is unmistakable.

Fans of pro wrestling will eat this up, but for skeptics of the WWE, this fast-paced comedy about two brothers trying to reclaim their star status in the ring will cause you to give this world a second look. Like the pro wrestling circus that made them, Eli and Jonas Dalton are loud, garish, over-the-top, and crazy for attention--part vaudeville, part circus act--but their love and need for each other cannot be denied. A truly entertaining ride.

12-37 is a captivating play about the connections between Irish and Jewish nationalism, and how the struggle to survive as a perpetual outsider inevitably leads to violence. At the center of the story are brothers Paul and Cecil, Irish Jews whose personal ambitions are sublimated to family demands and later, to political need. Though painted on a broad canvas, 12-37 deftly maintains its focus on the personal: the simple efforts of two men to find meaning and happiness in a world turned upside down.

This small play contains a huge lesson in the lingering, everyday cruelties of the Jim Crow South. When 60-something Lisa reconnects with Brenda at a class reunion, she discovers common ground: They both despised the same department store!! But when we hear from teenaged Brenda, who is black, and Lisa, who is white, we discover the vast differences in their lives. While Lisa recalls mere inconvenience, Brenda describes brutal mistreatment at the hands of a sales woman who denies her basic humanity. And yet for adult Lisa, the lesson is completely lost.

Compelling and poignant, 'Drive' takes us to a world not very far in the future, in which self-driving trucks displace working men and women, leaving them to struggle not only for survival, but for meaning. Yarchun writes with great empathy and authority about a subculture that is rarely examined so honestly. I read 'Drive' a few months ago, and these characters are still with me, so vividly has she drawn them.

You don't have to be a fan of gothic fiction to be enthralled by this fascinating glimpse into the private life of Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre. O'Grady offers a theory about an emotional affair that might have inspired the novel, but tells it through the eyes of Charlotte Bronte's friend and biographer, Mrs. Gaskell, whose desire to protect the author's reputation conflicts with her own need to ferret out the truth. O'Grady handles the material deftly, with both humor and lyricism, yet the tension never flags. Quite an achievement.

Saw the reading of this poignant and funny play at the NNPN showcase in December. Audrey is a rare find in contemporary theatre -- a genuine Southern regionalist on stage, who writes with deep emotion about matters of the heart. In all of her work, her characters are rich and engaging, but in 'Alabaster' she's truly hit her stride.

A beautifully written play with vividly realized characters living on the fringes. I loved the relationships between the older characters, juxtaposed against the young boy’s gnawing sense of loss and need to prove himself. It’s really a play about trust and how the inability to trust erodes our relationships with, well, anyone. I love the poetry of the play, the images, the richness of the world that the writer creates. Though it might be a challenge to produce -- and some actors might fear being upstaged by a dog -- I would dearly love to see it onstage.