Recommended by Rachael Carnes

I’m bowled over by this stunning piece, a masterwork of historical drama. In the rich character development, Lawing shares with us just enough context to connect us to a time, and with a subtle, succinct emotional dexterity, pulls our empathy to a deeply-felt human moment. This is the short play form at its finest.

If Joan were my pastor, I’d be a church regular. Wyndham crafts Joan’s spirit with candor and a capacity to invite empathy through humor. How is someone supposed to shepherd a persecuted flock? This play smartly puts us all in the congregation, imagining a clear-as-day environment and giving us a laser-focused purpose to be here. Joan’s sermon of radical love and acceptance is balm for the beleaguered soul.

Mother Jones is a titanic figure in American history (even if she was barely five feet tall) and Marchant's gorgeous play illuminates her spirited essence in the way historical drama can, and should: By digging into the formidable rhythms of Jones' undaunted leadership, and letting those efforts loose through the language of poetry. This is a beautifully-wrought play, casting a person from the past into the searing light of today, and helping us to know her better. (Makes me wish Mary Harris Jones were still here, to take on Jeff Bezos.) There's power in the unions! Brava.

A deeply-felt ode to friendship, and the ways in which the people we know, love and trust stay with us. There's a beauty to the physicality of this piece - maybe it's because I come from a long line of fishermen - I'm drawn to Swenson's depiction of that space, where kinship and connection reflects like sunshine in the water itself.

A lovely exploration on the 'entertainer' - dancelike, in its commitment to wistful nonverbal cues. Feeny-Williams taps into the trope that shows us that perhaps the fool knows more than anyone onstage. I would love to see this performed live!

Holy wow! Profane and irreverent and as I drink my morning coffee I am here for it. This is a wild two-hander, darting and weaving around myriad 'taboo' subjects with breakneck pacing and dialogue that snaps.

I love Lawing's work for just how human it is. From the jump, we're at the saddest moment — An ad-hoc funeral for a friend, cut down too soon, and humor bubbles up - as it often does at funerals or wakes - and gosh darn if these moments don't make me love these characters in an instant. Then, what they reveal, my heart. Lawing sets up the perfect serve and *thwack* — My mind is taken back in time and my emotions are with these men, so completely. By page 6: Tears. Then 7, PAGE EIGHT? Read it!!

If we don't know our history, we're doomed to repeat it, right? And here, Feeny-Williams reaches back into the vile miasma that descended, cult-like, on the 'good' leadership of Salem, MA, who of course didn't invent the idea that independent-minded women *must* be witches - they had 1,000 years of evidence to 'prove' it. Feeny-Williams' fabulously ferocious TABITHA captures these judge and executioners' misbegotten piety, like a cat pinning down a mouse's tail. If you hate being at the mercy of neoconservative politicians, you will LOVE seeing this young woman flip the script. Bring popcorn.

Sometimes the customer is NOT right. I've put in my time as a barista, and this play is balm for my weary shots-pulling soul. Andy tries! Andy really does everything humanly possible to make things okay for Janet. My grandmother used to say if you want to know how someone you're dating might treat you in a relationship down the road, watch how they interact with the people who serve them food and beverages... There's wisdom there, and there's wisdom baked into this cinnamon-swirled play, that offers a terrific vehicle for two actors.

Heartfelt and funny, Minigan's play deftly balances complex and interconnected familial emotions - a "group hallucination" - without being ham-fisted or maudlin. This is my favorite way to see and relate to drama, that is, within the confines of comedy. Smart, sharp dialogue and rich characterization bring this relatable family to life.