Recommended by Rachael Carnes

This incredible play shines a piercing bright light on a painful history - not going to say *what* exactly, to avoid spoiling Fisher's incredibly deft reveal - but this play's story world crafts and holds its dynamic tension with humanity and heart, it's relevant and timeless, an evergreen. Fisher's language choices are magnetic, with bold, relatable dialogue accented with gut-punch poetry. I'm grateful to have heard a reading of the piece at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, and I'm left with images, ideas and inquiry that will stay with me for a long, long time. Brilliant work.

Being dead - or rather, folks thinking you're dead - has its advantages, as this wry comedy underscores. It's a chance to reinvent, to reconnect, even with her own self. Why be what everyone thinks you should be? With a bracing pace, abounding theatricality, genuine characters and whip-smart dialogue, this play offers a feminist new lens on an old tale. A reading at the Great Plains Theatre Conference dazzled with its energy and boldness, and surprised - in judiciously applied moments of pure poetry.

A deep meditation on grief and its ability to capture and cage people in their moment of loss, exacerbated by pernicious, omnipresent social media. Wellman employs humor, and a slow, creeping dread that draws us into the world of these richly-hewn, deeply-broken characters. I heard a reading of the play as part of the Great Plains Theatre Conference, and was stunned by the dynamic tension, the investment in story, the well of hope and the devastating reveals. Wellman find capacity to express the new, within an age-old universal emotion grief. Brava.

Magnetic characters thrust into an impossible situation explore deeply-moving themes in this intense, relevant, human play, with a core of environmentalism and ethics rarely so well-dramatized, because: Fire. Not only are we tracking smoke jumpers, but the ante is pushed higher when we get from the start that they do so to fulfill the terms of their incarceration. As an Oregonian who has seen my state ravaged by wildfires - increasing each year in duration and frequency - this play hits home. A reading at the Great Plains Theatre Conference brought out McCloskey's deft storytelling. Brilliant, tragic, memorable.

Training a bright light on an oft-ignored yet utterly shameful - and lengthy - and *continuing* chapter in American history, the Eugenics movement and forced or coerced sterilization, this play grounds a horrific concept in the physical, in the emotional, creating a world that builds, pressurizing each moment to a crescendo of fear and pain and loss. I had the pleasure of seeing a reading of this work at the 2021 Great Plains Theatre Conference, and I cannot recommend this play more highly. Miss Cora, Uncle Jesse, Arthur and River, in particular, are indelibly beautiful, and deeply felt. Stunning work.

Asking big questions in a warm, relatable, smart way, Hoke's exploration of the almost-afterlife is a keenly theatrical, deeply-felt ensemble piece. Like 'Bus Stop' -- with donuts. Another gem - with a strong lead role for a woman - from a master writer. Check it out!

Eggnog as fodder for encumbered relationship drama! Yes! at once poignant and hilarious, this super-short gets at the heart of what we say and don't say to the ones we love. This would be a great addition to a wicked night of holiday shorts! And Eggnog season is, like, September - February, so that's pretty much all the time. So fun!

Hahaha - Did Richter and I have the same forced you-will-read-the-Greek-Classics college curriculum? It's high time someone take on these two titans, and I nerded out reading this delightful piece that pits two great minds in a dialogue more Abbott & Costello than fancy philosophizing. Seeing it performed on Zoom would lend another layer of the absurd. I'm seeing many erroneous filters and virtual backgrounds. Just remember to always back up your files! Or put it on the cloud!

Ooooooh fun. 8th-century Vampire Vikings?? Are you kidding me? Okay: YES, PLEASE, THANK YOU: What a fun premise, so theatrically devised. Prillaman's keen visual sense transports the reader into this intense world, but it's the dialogue that holds us in tension. Not easy, in a short play, to balance world-building, high-stakes, character and plot, but here ya go, a great example of bold thinking, and a refusal to make another play that takes place in a living room. (Although a living room with vampire Vikings could be great, too!)

This play combines two of my favorite things: Pirates and absurdism. What a freaking DELIGHT! All the pirates be multifaceted, the plot be cracking and the pacing yar! And when ye realize were written wit' de able help of the ship's automatic data validation function commonly found in word processors and text editing interfaces - Aye laddies, you'll be impressed with Cap'n Busser. ARRRRRRR.