Recommended by Rachael Carnes

A wrenching reminder, a call to action, poetic and resonant, powerful and true. How astonishing to consider how many more incidents of mass gun violence have happened since this play was written. So many, so commonplace, that our hearts and minds barely register them anymore. This play can help to change that.

This is just divine. An imaginative yet relatable setting, brave and lovable characters, clear, instantaneous conflict, and a reveal so poignant and timeless, it takes your breath away. No wonder this play's making its way around the world. The story is so unique, and so universal, at the very same time.

Gordon gets to the heart of High Treason and Anne's betrayal in this sweeping historical play. With echoes of Gunderson's "The Revolutionists" or in the literary genre, Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" -- it's so interesting to reframe a woman like Anne, caught up in the machinations of her day, trapped and declawed by the very people who would pretend to "keep" and "protect" her. This interesting play doesn't need a lavish production to communicate the core of Anne's fight, a fight she could never win.

A delicate intergenerational conversation, meeting at the intersection between painful memories and a hopeful future. Plummer (and Borg) pack these likable characters with inventory but what's most compelling is what they don't say, the quiet subtext that lingers in the air between them. This winning piece is relevant and timely, and about a moment that can't be forgotten.

My goodness. What an incredible play. Sickles has crafted an architecturally-rendered structure, with gorgeous bones and exquisite detailing. But it's the people, these characters, these kids - Teddy and Anzor - whose deep expression and imagination burn with a filament of bright energy, that refuses to fade away into the incongruous, tattered world around them. Without being ham-fisted or maudlin, Sickles takes on our political and environmental precariousness, our voyage into a strange new world. Not since seeing and reading EM Lewis's "Magellanica" has a play hit my head and my heart so hard. A beautiful work. Bravo!

Oh my heart. This monologue is the greatest! So much candor and caution, all rolled up into one budget-busting blowout meal. YOUNG MAN is adorable, instantly, magnetically sympathetic. But how will his admissions land? Is this the beginning of something beautiful, or the beginning of the end? Weaver captures a moment, in the orbiting lives between two humans, when they might represent something to each other ... almost as significant as fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

These characters leap off the page, warm and real, speaking a language at once supernatural and earthbound. O'Grady's penchant for rhythm and structure create a brilliant frame, but it's the poetry of her words, and the way that they hang like fragile jewels, that makes this play so completely compelling. A beautiful and moving meditation on grief, in its many morphing transmutations. Brava!

This was my second time reading this play, and I am so glad that I did. Burdick provides such an innovative window into the complexities of an educational environment, the way the political intricacies and delicate mechanical balance can all fall apart, like a house of cards. Populated with compelling, richly-drawn characters, this story would be at-home and understood in communities across the country. We all know these teachers and administrators. And we know this kid.

What a morbid delight this play is! Houg's cracking dialogue flows so easily, and his Doomsday BBQ is the perfect foil for this hilarious mixture of existential dread, day-to-day human foibles and lite cannibalism. I mean, a meteor might not be bearing down on all us right this very moment, but we can so relate to the plight of these characters. The world feels pretty tense! I can see a creative team having so much fun bringing this play into production.

Brilliant and timely, this tight-as-a-drum ten-minute play says everything. I hope it's performed in every corner of the U.S.! Bublitz hits this one over the fence in this important play that's sure to be read and shared and talked about for years to come.