Recommended by Rachael Carnes

A powerful clarion call out of history, bringing the Stonewall Riot to right now, right this very moment. Sylvia's warm, relatability draws us into her world, carefully and empathetically built by Burbano's skillful craft, and demands our empathy, and should ignite us to learn more. A perfect addition to any festival on human rights. Brilliant and heartbreaking.

A deeply humane inquiry into family history and the passages in our lives we carry forward to our children, our grandchildren, to the future. Stolowitz deftly crafts a tapestry of voices, threading colors and textures across time and space, tightly binding her careful research with vital storytelling. A recent sharing of an audio play of the work, via Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, OR, with the addition of compelling visual cues, rich sound design and a deft cast of two brilliant actor sharing 14 roles, is in a word, stunning.

Oh, this is fun. Like the way you get snapped into the shoulder thingy on a rollercoaster and then it goes up at a steep angle and you're like "Hang on? Where are we going?" fun. Prillaman somehow combines the repartee of a good intergenerational women's comedy and the Dark Lord himself. It's high time these tropes had a crossover episode! And as a mother, I can attest that there are definitely women this scary out there, and they know who they are. First rate work!

Oh my word. Insanely funny. I love the pace of this raring dialogue - great rhythm and punch all the way. It's a normalish setup - work environment - but that's where absurdism reigns supreme! Allen mines a zany situation for every pearl, and I can only imagine that onstage, this one would be a barn burner. Delightful!

Such a beautiful sense of family-is-as-family-does pervades the undercurrent of this funny, engaging play. Speckman darts masterfully through a range of emotions, hitting clear, compelling notes and leaving plenty of room for a team to explore.

Grief's never really gone. This lovely play explores the loft we might still discover, even when darkness fall. Warm, funny, theatrical: It's a hug. We need those right now.

An all-women cast, a clever setting and a dynamite idea - You had me at hello! I didn't know what to expect with this play, but I'm here for the magical world-building of it all, imaginative and visually and aurally nuanced, like an old radio serial drama. Also: Big Bonus is women fighting! Not cat fights, actually throwing kicks and punches. Skip WW84 and read this vehicle for stage combat for women instead!

A short play spanning decades, and getting at the heart of a conversation that's never really changed. Cokinos' play offers richly-developed roles for two women, and the chance to ponder where we've been, and how far we have to go on the journey.

Chemistry abounds in this delightful history play imagining Shakespeare alone in the room with his... muse? Rinkel's coloratura with language creates terrific diversionary dynamics, but underneath is a conversation about something rare and human, the desire to be wanted, to be loved, as an artist? By posterity, perhaps? As a person: Yes, please. But who is this figure "Shakespeare" - and what will his poems teach us? A brave, bold new work, reframing one of the world's greatest writers in a brilliant new light.

Oooooo isn't this a darkly fun play! Levine's sharp dialogue cages the listener, and the potboiler plot holds complete attention. This would be a delight to produce, and even more fun to see performed onstage!