Recommended by Steven Hayet

  • Here There Be Pirates: A Ten-Minute Play
    24 Jul. 2020
    I was able to see Here There Be Pirates at The Barn Theatre and it was a big hit with the audience. When faced with the pressure of closing a high priced merger, don't buckle. Swashbuckle! An absurdly fun ten minutes. Read this play!
  • Suddenly Rippling, Out and Up [a 1-minute play]
    23 Jun. 2020
    A beautiful one minute play that'll tear at your heart. Martin puts so much into this little piece that perfectly encapsulates paternal love.
  • Three Year Summer
    13 Jun. 2020
    I was lucky to catch a reading of Three Year Summer at Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival. Berryman has written a fantastic play taking audiences way back to the time when we all waited with eager anticipation for the 5th Harry Potter book and a new broadband internet that doesn't tie up the phone line. Tommi and Pat’s relationship is absolutely adorable and perfectly captures the awkwardness of adolescence…even the weird parts.
  • Marianas Trench (Part One of The Second World Trilogy)
    6 Jun. 2020
    I was incredibly fortunate to see a reading of this play as part of Portland Stage's Livestream Series. Marianas Trench is an absolutely fantastic play. Sickles has a gift with words, even those that are [redacted]. Teddy and Anzor's pen-pal friendship will tug at your heart strings. This play will stick with you and have you thinking about it, and the world Sickles has created (or maybe predicted?) long after it ends. Can't wait to see it on stage. Well done!
  • Alice, Pursued by a Bear
    23 Mar. 2020
    An incredibly smart short play about friendship and anxiety. Haas’ choice to use a bear as the physical manifestation of Alice’s growing anxiousness is brilliant and gives directors ample opportunities for creative staging. So well done. Read it. Produce it. 
  • Vanilla
    21 Mar. 2020
    Wow. A beautiful and heartbreaking piece. In just one minute, Scott Sickles concisely and cleverly captures humanity's most basic need in a time we're supposed to be apart. Perfection in one page.
  • Corona with ICE
    21 Mar. 2020
    To quote Jed Bartlet, "What’s next?"
    We live in a world where society is always ready to move on and focus on now. In a time where many Americans' attentions are concentrated on who is hoarding toilet paper, we've swept under the rug the crucial issues that are more than a few news cycles old. In Corona with ICE, Franky Gonzalez cleverly reminds us that the arrival of a new problem does not fix the old ones.
  • Prometheus Shrugs
    15 Mar. 2020
    I love when a playwright can take a well known tale and flip it on its head. John Bavoso does that and then some with Prometheus Shrugs. Putting us in the shoes of the titan Prometheus and the bird sentenced to an eternity of eating liver, Bavoso has written an exceptionally charming and quirky comedy about friendship and the comfort of predictably. A perfect blend of heart and laughs, Prometheus Shrugs would be a highlight of any short play festival.
  • Ground Control to Baby Tom
    11 Mar. 2020
    What an interesting premise! A mission to have the first child born in space. Two potential mothers. One sample. Who decides which candidate gets to make history and which will forgo her dream of motherhood? A clever piece about rules, dreams, and who is in charge of them.
  • Eleanor Descending a Staircase
    26 Feb. 2020
    I don’t know if “Eleanor Descending a Staircase“ is art or if it’s anti-art, but I know it’s hysterical.
    Ian August has written a gem of a short play that takes us around the world with sharp, witty, Monty Python-esque banter. Great roles for strong comedic actors. "Eleanor" would provide a jolt of absurd fun to any short play line-up.

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