Recommended by Rachael Carnes

Another deeply empathetic piece from Wyndham, who documents American experience in a way that gets at the head and heart. This monologue strikes clear as a bell - In my day job, I work for a nonprofit that supports folx living with food and housing insecurities, a plight amplified a thousand-fold by Covid-19. The desperation in this mother's voice, her actions, are not only plausible, they're routine. Just last week, my organization supported a woman in just this situation, preyed upon by her landlord. It's bleak, but real, and Wyndham writes her like a Greek Chorus member, reflecting.

There's a deep spring of unconditional love welling in this beautiful monologue. Deray leaves a roadmap for any actor to take a journey back to the most memorable moments, and cast himself to the present and future. There's a stunning command of emotion here, in a way that is refreshingly candid and real. Ask any dad, he probably remembers what color shirt he was wearing on the day his baby was born. A hopeful, candid, realistic depiction of that father's journey. Love stays.

Funny and charming, with plenty of subtext in these crazy times. I enjoyed a zoom presentation of this play by the CONNECTIVE THEATRE COMPANY - and even in that brave new platform, so much humor, warmth and theatricality comes through.

YES! Stop everything and enjoy this gem. Snappy dialogue, hilarious and revealing lyrics - this is a marvelous vehicle for mature women actors. I wish I was 60 years old and could sing, or act, so I could be in this musical!!

I love this play, and still think about the wonderful production of it I saw at Oregon Contemporary Theatre last year. "Jeff" and "Bud" say everything in their dialogue and in the lingering subtext underneath the funny. Danley's penchant for snappy language, with a strong, driving forward movement, is here in full splendor. I can say with authority that the stage direction, "They all boogie down" is the permission we need right now. Read, consider, produce this play.

Bwahaha! This is delightful. Christopher's rollicking exploration - the parallels between mystical enchantments both ancient and contemporary, no spoilers! - can't mask the hilarious dysfunctions between these two characters in this richly-detailed, yet breezy, accessible piece. Gimme laugh right now, and let them have a touchstone of questioning, let the dialogue and action transport, and take me back to myself, like this play does. Great work! And thanks, NPX, always a treat to discover a new writer to follow.

This lovely ensemble piece would be a wonderful beginning for any troupe of actors - and particularly young performers. Though not written for Zoom or another video conference, as I read it over for the third time, my mind began to imagine the possibilities of adapting a piece like this for our new realities. Whether on a real stage, or a virtual one, Speckman's words ring true.

When life sends you assh*les, write a play. Middletown Williams taps into his penchant for clear-eyed societal observation, cached in relatable characters and dialogue, exposing in just a few pages the way pettiness and hypocrisy can try to pull someone under, while love, and self-knowledge will always float us higher. This play buoys my spirits today. Thank you.

Just perfect. Read, read again. Read a third time. Thank you.

A beautifully-crafted exploration of an increasingly relatable experience: Navigating life with the shadow of anxiety clinging closer each day. Haas tempers her protagonist's fears with a no-nonsense humanity. We care about 'Alice' and in the subtleties and sympathies within the piece, we see how we might overcome our obstacles, too. A play at once alive, engagingly theatrical, and internally resonant. It's the kind of poetry that soothes even from reading. Do yourself a favor, and read this play.