Recommended by Rachael Carnes

What an inventive and hilarious piece! When all our societal support systems seem to be breaking down around us, Busser leans in hard on the 'customer care' experience - Creating this audio spectacle that's as funny and is it is a creepy Halloween delight. It's gonna take me a while to expunge some of these images from my mind... What fun. While theatres are shuttered - the audio drama lives on, and this is a GREAT one to consider for your next festival.

Another winner from Scott Mullen. I heard this as a radio play, produced by Open-Door Playhouse, and the clever set-up and sharp dialogue sing in that format, offering tons for two actors to work with. Why not give it a listen? https://www.opendoorplayhouse.org/episodes/theater2

Ohhhhh shivers! Plenty of zigzags and Halloween fun. I loved listening to this as a podcast with Cone Man Running productions. Boo!

So richly-detailed and evocative, I can't believe how much Cathro does with five pages. This would be an amazing study for an actor - who speaks no lines and says *everything* - creating a perfect little world that we watch unravel. Not written for Zoom - but I could see it adapt to that platform beautifully. Stunningly well-crafted.

Awww parenting is hard, as this lovely monologue underscores. What if that monster under your kid's bed reveals your own challenges and insecurities? Richter's rich world here is as theatrical as it is down-to-earth, a new spin on a familiar moment, that would be a great addition to a 10-minute play festival, and a wonderful audition piece, or scene study, too.

What a gem! Funny AND scary - Bavoso delivers a Halloween fright-fest with deeply-felt satirical subtext. Richly-drawn characters shine, with clever dialogue creating boundless opportunities for dynamics and fun. No spoilers - That ending. Holy cow!

I love it when I discover a writer on NPX who clearly loves history - And this smart, relatable play by Kurtz brings us to a wonderful moment, the kind of imaginings one might muse on a visit to a Paris museum or sidewalk café. I'm grateful for the distraction and the reminder that the more things change, for women, and women artists, the more they stay the same. A refreshing, relevant piece. I enjoyed all the music cues, too - They're the perfect addition to the piece's musical score.

My heart, what a lovely conversation. Gallagher gets into the space between the generations, their disconnect, their community - What we have in common. This rolls along so gently, would be so sweet onstage. A marvelous exploration about life and loss and all the good that goes in the middle. Adore.

There's much to admire in this play from Rinkel - it's boundlessly imaginative, casting us to a new Civil War (Well, that's not THAT difficult to imagine...) but we find ourselves at Coit Tower in San Francisco, where Rinkel explores this linguistic world-building in a way that's both jaw-dropping in its stilted, rhyming language play, and totally compelling and immediate. It's a tightrope and Rinkel walks it beautifully.

This play is smart, funny, topical, irreverent, and just delicious. I can't even begin to imagine how much fun it would be to play up the campy/gothic vibes with costumes and props and hair and -- eyeliner -- the mind reels. Another gem from the inventive mind of John Adams, who transports us to other times and worlds with the greatest of ease. This was the best time I've spent all day - reading this. Glorious! Put it on your Halloween docket, stat.