Recommended by Rachael Carnes

"Immortality is the sound of your name on the lips of someone who learned it from stories."

Wow! This is just one example of the deft wordsmithing in Kantor's prescient, dynamic exploration of Greek myth, in which the writer smartly centers Iphigenia - letting her self-advocate for a better history. The tête-à-tête with Achilles reverberates with the story of every woman ever, who was just as accomplished as any man, but didn't get credit.

College professors or High School teachers who tackle the Greek classics: Introduce your students to *this play* - out loud. You're welcome.

A deeply-felt play about the spaces and distance among all of us these days, as we navigate the pandemic, yet Mabey builds worlds underneath, supporting connection and understanding about so much more, inviting the audience to relate to this organic, evergreen expression of humanity. Simply brilliant.

Eppich-Harris digs into the fertile soil of these challenging times, and encourages a conversation at once cellular, and celestial. There's something about time playing tricks, how days eek by and whole years just disappear in the wash of emotional labor. Written in 2020, I would be so curious where this world-weary character has been since then. My hunch is that her clear voice would only sing louder.

I'm a big fan of theatrical adaptations, and when I heard that TJ had tackled Dumas' swashbuckling epic - one of my faves, that I just re-read - I *had* to seek out this play. What a treat! Not only does the play embrace one of the funnest (and most-improbable plots) in all literature, but in its delightful pages, we get a love song to theatre, which I imagine most of us miss something fierce. Young explores Dumas' thematic footholds and takes the audience on a fantastic adventure, digging into the eternal questions while creating pure joy. Merci beaucoup, TJ!

Y'know when you're drawn into a play just for the title? Yeah — That's me with this one! And St. Croix permits you to set it in your neck of the woods, too. The Portland Society of Supernatural Beings has a nice ring to it. What world building! This play constructs more depth in the zoom-o-sphere than I've seen, a rich tapestry, an uncanny history - there's cracking humor, one liners - but St Croix digs into meaning, too. Looks for questions — that may not have answers. A gem.

Teeming with hilarious visuals, clapping dialogue keeping us laughing, with quirky turns of phrase and delightful character timing - Matthew's done it again. Taken a famous fairy tale, and made it new and fresh and oh so much fun.

Okay, this is pure delight. Crafted to perfection, with a deft reveal and giggles and guffaws on every page, this holiday play looks at blended family traditions from a new, arboreal POV. I can see why this gem has 50,000 productions: Everyone who receives it in a submission call for short holiday plays is like, "Well, we *have* to have the talking tree. DUH." I'm so glad I took a break from the holiday madness to enjoy this cup of cheer.

A sweet, charming holiday play, with fast-paced dialogue, fun visuals, and the spirit of the season. Cathro knits together a cast of characters who feel so real, and immediately likable. This one's like a cup of hot cocoa, maybe spiked with a little something. For me, this is the perfect holiday play, funny, accessible, offbeat, and communicating those evergreen messages we turn to year after year.

A grippingly cinematic one act, with Sickles penchant for fast-paced dialogue and characters we connect with, the moment is crystalline - Beautiful, elegant, broken. It's a holiday play in the sense of realism, the way loss and life happen despite the date on the calendar, and in the permeable interconnectedness of NYC, the way people sometimes come together is surprising ways. A stunning short piece.

Snappy great fun, with dialogue so trilling and twangy — I felt compelled to read it out loud! See if *you* can resist its charms. A funny-as-all-get-out holiday madcap that riffs like a breakaway run in a favorite musical theatre solo. This is comedy writing with the confidence to command, and the rhythm and imagery to bring out the giggles in the hardest of hearts.