Recommended by Rachael Carnes

This play talks around the toughest of circumstances with such humor and charm, I found myself immediately pulled into the world of these women. Heck, I liked the characters on the landing page: A play for four women in their fifties! Hear, hear. A lovely piece, theatrical, heartfelt. I can see brilliant productions. Perfect for a ten-minute festival. Brava!

What a delightfully weird play! I so admire a writer who goes *all in* on a play about any cephalopods, and Cohen has populated this four-hander (32-hander??) with a squiggly, tetchy crowd of insult-wielding creatures of the deep. A lot of fun for choreographers to make their tentacle-inspired movement come to life, and it's quite delicious to hear their grumpy banter. If I were costuming... I'd put them all in business suits. Anyway: A perfectly fun addition to your next ten-minute play festival.

A dizzyingly dysfunctional family conversation exposes an underbelly of toxic masculinity. Cole writes with big humor, and that's the driving rhythm of this piece, a trait I admire - Drawing us into a difficult moment through laughter is emotionally effective, and creates a lasting impression about the trauma we can find right at home.

I was so bummed that I missed the reading of this at the Midwestern Dramatist Center conference, because *everyone* was talking about what was soon dubbed "The Hot Dog" play. Braverman's absurdly philosophical ode to existential sausage products definitely lives up to the hype! A perfect short for comedy +/ hot dog play festivals.

A poignant reflection on grief, and the meaning of presence and moving on. There's a spaciousness in Esposito's humor here, though, a relationship between past and future explored through externalized inner-conflict. Humane, relatable, a thought-provoking piece at the Midwestern Dramatist Center conference.

Lyons Conlon's dialogue is just so magnetic in this powerful play. I became fully invested in the outcome at a reading at the Midwestern Dramatist Center conference, knowing full well, that as in life, sometimes Door A and Door B are both awful. What do we do when we're confronted with plausible futures? And what if, in making a choice, we're dragged headlong into the past? Three great roles for women, chockfull of the inventory they need to dig into dynamic performance.

A deeply moving play, that feels both regionally specific, and accessibly universal. Hightower explores many layers here, within a broken family, and a fracturing country. A theatrically visceral, sharply-written body of work, that would be so compelling in production.

A multi-layered conversation that draws focus not only to the dysfunction between the main characters, but lifts up into another, almost otherworldly space, where the presence of social media stands in as a sometimes Greek chorus, sometimes judge and jury — In this uniquely theatrical, yet totally emotionally accessible piece. Haller's sense of rhythm and robust wordsmithing charges forward with confidence, yet the play has a fragile, delicate quality for the reader, reflecting back to us our own momentary choices. A smart, creative play, that would be a dream to produce.

When the wheels come off your national narrative, and what you thought you knew, you realize was kinda-sorta a Big Lie, you find yourself wondering how anything about that long-con could be *funny*. Enter Gorman's nutty play - in which a troupe of Children's Theatre performers educate the kids about the brutal reality of "progress". This hilarious piece was a showstopper at the FunHouse Anthology in Seattle, and would be superb for edgy/weird festivals everywhere.

A warm, human portrait of change and the way two people who love each other can protect each other, sometimes even from the truth. The world needs more representation of maturity onstage, not as comic relief or curmudgeonly fodder, but as Williams so lovingly portrays these men, as a family, as lovers, on the edge of uncertainty.