Recommended by Rachael Carnes

A stunning dialogue between siblings, unpacking past and lurching tentatively towards the future. Augustin delves masterfully into their pain and trauma, lifting us up with perfectly positioned levity, and renewing our capacity to more fully understand what they've been through. A beautiful ode to the deep bond that can be shared by family members, accessible, real, and breaking into transporting poetry. I enjoyed a reading of this with the New Ambassadors in NYC (via Zoom) and would love to see it in full production ASAP. Such dynamic inventory for actors.

The complexities of this piece, each faceted with rich details and unique perspective, shine as Sellem expertly pivots and rotates our point of view. The work offers a new window on our locked-down Covid world, and finds a passageway into something older, and more prescient, than any pandemic crisis. Sellem finds the space between, here/now, me/you, us/them, and stretches and plays with that distance artfully, empathetically. A fascinating portrait, crystalizing a conversation that our collective existential situation throws us into, asking us to reckon with loss, faith... and a tentative hope.

A deeply-felt monologue about a member of the unprecedented collection of 2020 High School students who missed out on their senior year rituals. Here we find a high-achiever, who should be taking a victory lap, but instead, she's railing, questioning, how could this happen? When will it be over? How can she move forward? And... to what? Allen synthesizes the dynamics of this strange, confusing moment in time, hard for everyone, and particularly challenging for anyone ready to start their life after home and High School, and thwarted. Allen's engagement takes us to resolution, and hope, found within. Just lovely.

Oh, my heart. I'm so grateful for Marj's beautiful depiction of this moment, which is specifically detailed, yet accessibly universal. The sense of wanting to belong, and then finally belonging, aches throughout this monologue, giving us a window into what it feels like to 'not fit the type'. What is the type? The ingenue? The matron? O'Neill-Butler asks pointed questions about identity and assumptions, with her usual grace and empathy. A powerful audition piece, class study, or part of a line-up of short plays featuring voices we don't hear enough. Brava!

Oh, man. This play reminds me that while I pine for my pre-covid life, I cannot say I miss my cubicle!!! Husson delights in fast-paced rhythm and driving repetition in this bright workplace comedy, absurd yet totally relatable. There are chronic humming people, like these, and the cubicle mates like the one I said goodbye to in March, who ate baby carrots every single day at 2PM. SNAP SNAP SNAP. What is up with that?
A fun new writer to watch: Yay!

A resounding YES to what Goldman-Sherman has made here: A monologue that cuts to the bone, fast-paced, insistent and smart, but with a grounded, physically-felt emotional register. It's brilliant, really, the way the writer crafts this prismatic effect, forcing our perspective into the past and up to this moment and casting us upon the future, with breakneck dives and turns. Read this. Produce THIS.

A fascinating exploration of a great artist and a healing journey through past traumas and deep history. I enjoyed a reading of this work, sponsored by the Dramatists Guild Footlight Series, and was taken by Berman's language throughout, a lovely balance of accessibility and poetry.

Loewenstern starts these two on medium-high and turns up the heat. This play sizzles, like the steak it's cooking, the chemistry between 'Michelle' and 'Ben' charges through the discoveries they make, even at this critical juncture in their relationship. There's not a wasted line, not a moment tossed aside in this short, tense play, a goldmine for actors to swing from perilous emotional beat to beat.

This beautiful play took my imagination back to Iceland, and to the observations I made while touring this rugged, seemingly inhospitable landscape, descended upon by unchecked floods of tourists - like me. There's a send of wild eroding here, of secrets discovered, enchantments broken. Yet within the connection forged by these two characters, a tentative way forward? Russell captures a rare specificity, one that rises elegantly into universal socio-environmental themes. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot...

Haunting and lyrical, Cathro's dialogue reverberates with unspoken backstory, in a moment ripe with mystery, yet totally relatable, imaginable. There's an unlocked quality to the language here, a spacious confidence - And stakes as high as anything. This piece would be immediately transportive onstage.