Recommended by Rachael Carnes

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.

I mean, poor Taylor. Or not? Why stop believing? Santa's been pretty great, so far! How do you get to 26, still harboring attachments to childhood myths? Because *parents* — Because they LOVE HER and like any good and decent parents, they just want her to be happy. Maybe it causes some relationship challenges for Taylor - but who cares? Love me, love my beliefs. A fun, festive holiday confection.

Okay, well, 'Crab Shack Jesus — He's a shoe whore' is kinda my favorite line in any holiday play, ever? Bless you, Kevin King for this irreverent confection. I snorted tea out my nose on page six. Like, fully. I had to stop reading and clean up my desk. This is wicked funny, and the perfect antidote to the forced treacle of the season. Gritting your teeth til 12/26? Well, belly up to the bar and enjoy a profane respite. I did!

And the chair lift loader spins round and round, and life's moments go up and down... Wyndham crafts a perfect moment here, revealing hopes, foibles, jocularities - And something deeper and sad. There's an Aristotelian elegance to this tight syllogism, drawing us in with laughs, and letting us sit with fear and loss. Perhaps the best character name in the history of theatre, or right up there, at least.

A family rift is temporarily healed, as new intrigues are uncovered in this page-turner. Nelms' dialogue spins us forward through a tightly-packed plot. No spoilers, but this one's got family dysfunction, darkly dramatic action, and is steeped in commentary on our perpetual news cycles.

Oh, such a vivid slice of life - exploring the distant past and deep, rich culture - in the present, and in the very real, very relatable sinews that tug at a mom and her teenage daughter. Ladva darts over and around language that trips through poetry and back to planet earth, and the rhythm of a contemporary family, as generations try to find and appreciate one another, even as they're growing and changing. Gorgeous!

A beautiful gem woven with light — and the incandescent awkwardness of teenagers. Syran crafts a lilting constellation that draws us into its tiny orbit and lets us see the heavens, in a moment. Just lovely!