Recommended by Rachael Carnes

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.

Oof. Wow - in just one minute, Dooley creates a knife's edge tension. There's so much said in this short piece that reverberates with this moment, and all the ones that came before it, that would deny a woman's right to govern her own body. I can imagine this play onstage - powerful - and as a community conversation starter. Blistering in its truth, and heartbreaking in its delivery. This one will stick with me.

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.

A beautiful, funny, heartbreaking moment. We ask ourselves, as writers, "Why this moment? Why now?" and within this prism Leventman shines light on the tender past shared between Ted and Danny, and casts an array of possibilities into the future. He does all this with humor, and the emotional rivulets of what makes a longterm relationship both specific and universal. The richness of this work, humor layered over deep loss, gets its way into my heart. I'm grateful to have seen a gorgeous production of this play at last year's Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival. This play's a gem.

Well, this is delightful. Any anglophile's gonna love the Wodehouse vibes coupled with dank British history. It's funny and dark and would be a delicious addition to a short play festival. I love how visual it is, revealing these ridiculous moments at just the right junctures. Fun stuff!