Recommended by Rachael Carnes

Oh my! What a clever concept and rich, revealing execution. Lamedman's dialogue is deliciously inviting, and this piece would be a playground for a team to engage with. It has everything: Humor, sex, donuts. It predates Covid, but I can see this play working really well over Zoom, too. Great stuff!

A deeply-felt, brutally-honest portrayal of a relationship on the rocks. The want has faded, the need between the characters bullied by their relentless obligations, to children, work, family. This is a couple stretched and tethered by time, yet between them is a surprising depth of humanness, a balance of internal and external pressures that make this one of the most relatable, and dynamic, depictions of couples dysfunction I've had the pleasure to read. Hoke's a master of magnetic dialogue, and the story and its unforgettable characters, pulled me in and held my imagination, for every twist and turn.

A play about history needs to feel fresh and alive, contemporary, current, to work, and Kaplan's magical, magnetic, heartbreaking new take on these staggering literary figures does just that. Whether you're a Brontë-phile or a newcomer to their gothic world, these multi-faceted characters, with their dynamic dialogue, and their story's deeply-felt themes, will draw you in. A shoo-in for colleges and universities, this play seems tailor-made for students to sink their creative teeth into.

A fast-paced, rhythmic somersault between God and the Devil, though I feel like this could be the disagreeing voices in my head, too. Existential, stark and funny — Bringing the loftiest sovereigns down to our most base needs. We all want to belong, after all, and in our shared isolation, with no end in sight, I found this play deeply moving. It's a short play that asks Big Questions. I love that.

Oh, my heart. This! Such a stunningly visual, theatrical meditation on life, and living. In just a minute, Levine establishes two robust characters, moving dialogue, and a simple, arresting stage device that would be so effective, I'm sure. This play is like bringing home a bouquet and watching the flowers fade: There's beauty in each moment.

A gorgeous play - Wistful and hopeful - Remarkably candid, really. Rinkel has offered a glimpse into the world of the playwright in the midst of change and uncertainty, offering wisdom, humor and much-needed perspective. I'm grateful for the moment of uplift. Thank you!

Many writers have been responding to the Zoom-o-Sphere for months, and some are testing its boundaries, moving beyond sitting-and-talking into a new space, where the audience experiences the Zoom medium in a new way. In Carpe Denim, Simpatico distills a pressure-filled span of time into just a few minutes, capturing politics in the pandemic, and pushing Zoom theatre in a welcome new direction.

A telling and relatable play about the demands of maintaining a professional job performance under the strain of quarantine, and all its kids, pets, home travails. Maybe for some, working from home is a pleasure, but for many, the blurring boundaries create chaos and exhaustion. This play peers into the added pressure of Zoom, and the way we're now judged by the way we keep our home environments and the way our once personal spaces are on display.

Prescient and powerful, this play uses language confidently and accessibly. Though this is about another place and time, one cannot help but see in Davis's work, parallels to our current extremism, and the strength and courage of anyone who defies it.

Three's a crowd in this hilarious post-Covid romance. O'Neill-Butler's mountaintop is a breath of fresh air after a year of screens - But these lovebirds can't get any peace. Lots of possibilities for physical pratfalls and silliness in this comic gem.