Recommended by Tom Rowan

This play takes starts with some of the familiar tropes from Agatha Christie mysteries and mixes in elements of farce, macabre visuals, and witty repartee to concoct an especially bubbly brew. There’s even some social satire that might ring relevant in this era of gaslighting and conspiracy theories. It’s an ensemble piece with juicy roles for all, and an especially rewarding tour-de-force lead for a versatile, charismatic actor, playing a legendary detective who may or may not be his own worst enemy.

This play convincingly takes you back to a very specific time and place. The author effortlessly evokes the 1970s period and the setting through shrewdly selected details, bringing the unique environment of the Playboy Club to life with the authority of lived experience. The dialogue is expert and the characters are sharply drawn and differentiated; all are written with respect for their individuality and their dreams but without stinting on the humor engendered by their foibles. Acting students should find this a particularly rich source of material for scene study classes and monologue auditions.

GODDESS OF THE HUNT features sharp, witty dialogue and wickedly ingenious plot twists that take what first seems to be a breezy comedy of manners to darker and darker places. The characters are expertly drawn, and DeVita also provides entertainingly detailed local color and some barbed and poignant commentary on growing older in the gay community.

Jamerson takes on many of the creaky tropes of murder mysteries and horror movies and rejuvenates them with period-perfect 1950’s-style dialogue, sly wit, and even a dash of Me-Too-era female empowerment. The large cast of characters gives every actor his or her big moment, and the play is also an invitation to inventive directors and designers to let their imaginations soar in creating high or low-tech special effects and shockers. Everyone in the audience, onstage, and behind the scenes will have a rollicking good time with this one.

Rinkel had done a clever job of finding clever contemporary parallels to Chaucer’s characters and situations, while his poetry retains some of the old-fashioned charm of the originals. The rhymes are often surprising and ingenious, and the meter pulses with a playful theatrical energy. The comic pacing is assured, and though the language is even raunchier and more scatological than Chaucer’s, the sophistication and playful wit of the verse keeps it from being offensive. This play provides a fantastic opportunity for a director and cast with a relish for physical comedy to let their imaginations run wild.

This well-written piece is an incisive character study. Abrams’s witty, well-observed dialogue keeps the comedic energy high even as the dysfunctional character relationships and twisted manipulations gradually reveal the sad desperation behind Lorraine’s kooky charm. Along the way we get provocative insights into the complexity of the love/hate relationships in families, the frustration of thwarted creative urges, and the many ways people find to avoid facing the reality of who they are. Lorraine/Lorelei is a tour de force role for an actress with emotional depth and crack comic timing.

Set in a conservative Christian Louisiana community in the early 1970s, this play gives us two families dealing, in very different ways, with crises involving a gay son and a lesbian daughter. Houk evokes the specific world of the play through canny selection of revealing details. He expertly renders the regional dialect while giving each character a believable individual voice within it. Family tensions and affections feel complex and real. Some of the characters make disturbing choices, while others rise to the challenges with unexpected grace, and it’s all written with compassion and insight. Worthwhile and stageworthy!

When three estranged siblings reunite in the house they grew up in for the funeral of their abusive, alcoholic father, they start seeing and hearing spooky things. Is Pa’s ghost reaching out from the beyond to do more damage, or are his victims simply haunted by years of trauma and guilt? With vivid dialogue and sharply drawn characters, this distinctive and original piece uses the traditional trappings of a ghost story to get at something deeper and more real, eventually offering hope for how a broken family might finally begin to heal.

With its abundance of sharp one-liners and double entendres, this script is in the fine tradition of Neil Simon’s “suite” plays: a reminder of how easily the cracks in relationships can be exacerbated by what was meant to be a relaxing vacation. Comedically awkward situations and eccentric characters guarantee laughs, but the writer also surprises by digging a bit deeper and providing something more thoughtful than the anticipated Hollywood ending. Two very rewarding roles for older actresses should make this an especially appealing choice for local theatre groups.

Complex relationships, vividly disturbing stories, and creepily convincing intimations of the supernatural come together in this expertly-written piece that keeps the audience guessing about what might really be going on. Gatton’s sharp ear for dialogue captures each character’s individual voice, and the well-observed domestic scenes feel personal and lived-in. But the play has larger resonances too: its scope expands almost imperceptibly as it examines and questions the bitter losses and hard-earned triumphs of the past several decades of American gay history. And it’s chock-full of fantastic audition monologues!