Recommended by Rachael Carnes

Another exceptional slice of life from Goldman-Sherman. This short play is invested with deep inventory between a mother and her grown daughter, their relationship casting them both into that awkward, regressive space that the holidays just seem to encourage in all of us. Family! Argh! Goldman-Sherman has such a clear, confident, hilarious voice, and this play's a zinger for two actors.

I really needed a lunch break laugh and found a bunch here. This play's awesome. Starts out nutty and just keeps getting more absurd. What fun a team would have with this! A gem for colleges or any comedy fest.

Painful family dynamics reverberate in reaction to the external crisis of police brutality in Lidell’s drama. “The Talk” takes us on a journey — through history, literature — arriving at the fundamental emotions: fear, anger, love. A compelling narrative exploring timely themes.

I’ve admired pieces of this in 10-minute play format, but they couldn't prepare me for this full-length's big, beautiful leaps across time, exploring deep layers of meaning. DeVita’s smart script peers through the lens of the past, casting back to Pre-Roe V. Wade, Pre-Marriage Equality, to a raw, funny, analog childhood. And with incredible structural skill, DeVita carries us forward, to adulthood, as the generations reckon with the past, and move towards the future. PHILLIE’S TRILOGY tackles a myriad human complexities, with characters that shine, and dialogue that’s nothing short of magnetic. A truly breathtaking play.

Rosendorf's poetry leaps off the page, resonant and clear. The way the writer approaches using two languages, English and Spanish, drew me in as a reader, it's fluid, organic, and made me ask questions, in a good way, too. The spareness of the lines speaks to their craft: Restrained, energetic, alive. How can anything be so beautiful, and elicit such strong feelings of sadness, anger, fear, in a reader? This gorgeous play so deserves to be in full-production soon. Any creative team will find luminous words, like a pathway, illuminating. Simply stunning work.

Ooooo this is a fun one. Snappy dialogue and a creepy-as-hell-setting unite to create a terrifically engaging horror play. McVay's language world is confident as the piece veers in and out of common speech and a deliciously antiquated vernacular. Golly, I want to see this onstage! Alive with mystery and humor, it'd be a hit in any short play festival.

Donnelly unpacks a lot about workplace politics in this taut ten-minutes, with the put-upon employee awakening to the ethical dilemma her complicity puts her in, as her impossible boss forces her to look back on her former self. The tension is relatable — Most of us have probably found ourselves asked to turn a blind eye, or keep quiet, or just put up with the status quo, at one point or another. This play asks: What happens on the day we don't do that anymore?

What a lovely, mournful, yet humorous play about grief. Burdick takes us gently to a familiar moment, one we'll all likely face at some point or another, but one we're never prepared for: And within this scene, the situation is coaxed along by a patient and caring delivery driver. You never know where you'll find inspiration to move forward, maybe it won't come in the form of a Hallmark card or flowers, but in just being heard. A gentle, yet unique, exploration of a tough subject, this play offers a terrific role for a mature woman.

Perfection! This fabulous ten-minute play encapsulates so much of the new parent angst, the worry, the FEAR that — We're probably just messing our kids up. Such a smart premise, and the Baby Monitor as time portal is a brilliant piece of theatricality.

This play compressed the decades between my age now, and my teenage self, down to nothing, taking me right back to the uncertainties, the bravado, the insecurity, the need to fit in. Malakhow's dialogue is strong as ever in this short piece - Creating richly-detailed characters in just a few brush strokes, creating humor, reliability. There's a moment here, like a corner we haven't walked around yet, this mystery called growing up. We all have to do it someday, right? What if that moment is right now? I'll be thinking about their conversation for a good, long time.